COLONIAL EXPANSION

 

COLONIAL EXPANSION

In the end of the 16^th century, for various reasons many people left England. After the Wars of the Roses wealth was increasing and it served as an incentive for overseas enterprise. Colonies were founded in America and in the West Indian Islands because of the hard work of the adventurers. Important trade centres  were established in South Africa and India. Thus by the early decades of the decades of the 18^th century, there were thirteen colonies on the east coast of America, between Nova Scotia in the north and Florida in the south. These colonies were of three groups, namely New England colonies, the Middle Colonies and the Southern colonies.

In the early Elizabethan period, Sir Walter Raleigh made several attempts to establish colonies. His first settlement was on Roanoke island off the coast of North Carolina. It was named Virginia to honor Queen Elizabeth.. Later, Raleigh sold his rights to the Plymouth company and the London company. In 1607, the London company under the leadership of Captain John Smith made the first  permanent settlement. They called it as Jamestown in honor of James I. The colonist needed more labour for the development of their colony and it was solved by purchasing the negro slaves.

In 1620, a group of Puritans from Scotland migrated to America and establish a religious society there. These ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ set out from Plymouth harbor in England in a ship called the Mayflower and landed near Cape Cod. That place was named New Plymouth to commemorate the English port. In 1629,  the Puritans obtained a Charter from Charles I. Two more colonies were founded in New England in the early part of the 17^th century. In 1636, Roger Williams with his followers founded a small settlement called Providence. Thomas Hooker another religious leader settled at a place called New Haven and the colony was named Connecticut. Similarly, another colony called New Hampshire was formed .

In 1632, Charles I granted  a block of land to Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic, on the Potomac River. Thus in 1634, was founded the Maryland colony, the first Roman Catholic settlement in America.

The Dutch had formed the settlement-called a settlement of New Amsterdam near the mouth of the Hudson River. During the Dutch war in 1664, this area passed into the hands of the British and was named New York in honor of the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II, who later became James II. In 1681 Charles II gave William Penn, a Quaker, a large tract of land west of the Delaware River. This was named Pennsylvannia. Penn leased land in the south and the east , which became the colony of Delaware and New Jersey.In 1663, Charles II granted to eight noblemen called ‘Proprietors’ all the territory south of Virginia. It is called Carolina. In 1670, the city of Charleston was founded and later it was divided into two colonies, North and South Carolina.

By the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, England became the possessor of territories in all parts of the world.