Apush Essential Q’s #1

1. These natives and the colonists were far too different to be made united. America was at first discovered by Europeans, and I believe that it is very true that they brutally enslaved, killed, and conquered the Indians. Take Columbus for example. Sick, frustrated, angry, and unable to control the Spaniards on the island, Columbus blamed the Indians for his troubles and the very small production of gold. In January 1495 he seized over a thousand Indians to make them slaves. There can be no excuse for this, but it is very important to remember that it was against Spanish law and it made Queen Isabel very angry as soon as she found out about it. She told the Admirals that they should not enslave the natives and released the Indian captives who had been brought to Spain. Columbus and others like him were flawed and their flaws were of a kind very offensive to today's culture. But heroes and the inspiration they give are essential to uplift men and women; without them, none of the other colonists would know how to react to the natives.. It is right to criticize their failings, but wrong to deny their greatness and the inspiration they can give. Besides, if he didn’t do what he did, we wouldn’t be alive today. They replaced one civilization with another, as has been done many times before.

2. The colonists were very religious, or so they considered themselves to be. Columbus himself believed that it was god’s duty that he land in the New World. I believe however, that “God’s will” is just an excuse to get people to do what is wanted from them. When they arrived in South America for example, they killed off the Aztecs because of their religious sacrifices. They also received land in return. The colonists thought that god wanted to dispose of all of “Satan’s children.” The Indian culture was the main thing that made settlers view them as savages.

3. The Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. From early small settlements in the Caribbean, the Spanish gradually expanded their range over four centuries to include Central America, most of South America, and Mexico, At the beginning of the 19th century, the Spanish settlements in America began a series of movements, which resulted in Spain's loss of all of its colonies on the mainland of North, Central and South America by 1825. Unlike the Spanish, the Portuguese did not divide its colonial territory in America. Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas split the New World into Spanish and Portuguese zones in 1494. Portugal colonized parts of South America, but there were some failed attempts to settle in North America in today's Canada. During the 17th century, Dutch traders established trade posts and plantations throughout the Americas. Dutch settling in the new lands was not as common as with settlements of other European nations. Many of the Dutch settlements were lost or abandoned by the end of that century. Until 1809, many of the settlers of Sweden's colonies came to America particularly from the outlying regions of finland, where slash and burn agriculture was a way of life for many, and people were used to life as wilderness pioneers.The Swedes and brought their log house design to America, where it became the typical log cabin of pioneers. This British conquests upon the indigenous civilizations in the Americas introduced European diseases. Though many of the indigenous societies had a long history of warfare, they were not able to withstand the superior British force and eventually surrendered. Many of the conquered peoples vanished or were made of use somehow into the colonial system.

4. As the settlers continued to grow in population, they felt that they nedded more land. They only way they could get more land was to take it from the natives. This inevitably led to numerous conflicts. There was some trade with Indians despite all of the tensions. Usally, before the Euopeans tried to kill all the Indians off, they would try to convert the natives. Those who converted usally had intercourse with the Europeans. For the rest of the natives who refused to change religion, the settlers viewed them as inferior and not worthy of life. As these thoughts widened, the English felt that the new world was a place they did not want to share.

5. After the Glorious revolution of 1688 in England and the collapse of the dominion of New England in America, The English government made no serious effort to tighten its control over the colonies for over seventy years. The British government remained uncertain about the extent to which it was to interfere with colonial affairs. The colonies were left, within broad limits, to go their separate ways. Administration of the colony activities remained decentralized and inefficient. Despite their frequent resistance to the authority