chapter 1 contact in the new world...

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CHAPTER 1

Contact in the New World (Prehistory–1590)

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Chapter 1: Contact in the New World (Prehistory–1590)

Timeline 1492–1590

1492•ChristopherColumbuslandedontheislandofHispaniola,discoveringtheNewWorldfor15th-centuryEurope

1497•JohnCabotlandedinNewfoundland,beginningtheBritishcolonialpresenceinNorthAmerica

1513•VascoNúñezdeBalboacrossedtheIsthmusofPanamaandsawthePacificOcean•JuanPoncedeLeóndefeatedTlaxcala,asmallstateneighboringtheAztecempire

1520s•TheSpanishbeganconquestoftheMayancivilization

1521•HernánCortésdestroyedtheAztecempire

1524•GiovannidaVerrazzano,workingforFrance,exploredtheNorthAmericancoastline,frompresent-dayMainetoNorthCarolina

1542•HernandodeSotodiscoveredtheMississippiRiver,strengtheningSpanishclaimstoNorthAmerica’sinterior

1565•AdmiralPedroMenéndezdeAvilésfoundedSt.Augustine,Florida,thefirstSpanishsettlementintheNewWorld

1570s•TheIroquoisConfederacyestablished

1587•SirWalterRaleighfoundedRoanokeColony,thefirstEnglishsettlementintheNewWorld

1590•RoanokeColonyfounddeserted

Introduction

This chapter introduces some of the explorers who came to the New World to expand their homelands’ territory and access to natural resources. Individual countries had varying agendas and motives for New World exploration. For Spain, exploration provided an opportunity to move its large army of conquistadores out of the country. The conquistadores had a mission: to find wealth for the monarchy (and possibly a share for themselves). For England, establishing colonies and trade was a viable way to expand its economic foundation and to help finance the wars against France. For France, the New World provided a treasure trove of furs and new lands to be explored. The French raced to build relationships with the native peoples and to construct trading posts. For the Netherlands, and much of the rest of Europe, the New World was a place to expand their growing populations and to establish important trade routes.

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The European countries competed to settle the New World. However, few, if any, of the European explorers or their monarchs considered the indigenous peoples owners of the land they already inhabited. Most Europeans considered the natives unequal, and so they became subject to conquest, “taming” or “civilizing,” and conversion to Christianity.

While the early explorers pursued their monarchs’ desires, those who followed had more personal reasons for making the perilous journey from Europe to the New World. Some sought religious freedom, while others hoped the New World would present opportunities for individual advancement and financial security unavailable in their homelands.

The story of contact in the New World gives us a historical perspective of those explorations. Students should evaluate the types of discovery that occurred during the time period, and also consider the changes in Europe and the New World prior to American colonization.

Learning Objectives

After you complete this chapter you should be able to

•Define the key terms and explain their relevance within the context of American history

•Describe the evolution of North American indigenous cultures prior to and during initial European colonization

• Identify important early European explorers and describe their impact on North American exploration and colonization

• Explain events in Europe that either hindered or facilitated North American colonization

•Analyze factors that contributed to England’s successful colonization of the New World

Key Terms

BCE: an abbreviation for the phrase “before the common era,” which replaces “BC” in reference to ancient historical time periods

CE: an abbreviation for the phrase “common era,” which replaces “AD” in reference to historical and modern time periods

Columbian Exchange: a term that refers to the transfer of peoples, animals, plants, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds

cultural diffusion: the spread of European cultures throughout much of the North American continent, as the Europeans came into contact with the indigenous peoples

indigenous: a term referring to anything that originates and naturally occurs in a particular region

nomadic hunters and gatherers: the groups of people who set up temporary housing, hunt for game, collect other wild food sources, and then move to another area to begin the process again

subjugate: to defeat and make those conquered into prisoners or slaves

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PRINCIPLE BASIS OFSUBSISTENCE

FAR WEST

N O R T H W E S TCOAST

SOUTHWEST

PLAINS

EASTERNWOODLANDS

AR

CT

I C

S U B A R C T I C

Fish, shellfish, andsea mammals

Agriculturalproducts

Seeds, nuts, roots,and small game

Large game

0 1,000 Miles

0 1,000 Kilometers

PrincipleBasisofSubsistenceinEarlyNorthAmerica

Native Societies

When the first explorers sailed to North America’s shores, they found waters teeming with fish. Forests came down to the water’s edge in many places and extended as far as the eye could see. Depending on where the explorers landed, an assortment of climates and terrains were observed, including mountain ranges, deserts, and grasslands. The explorers would experience much of the continent’s plants, animals, and people, which were indigenous, a term referring to anything that originates and naturally occurs in a particular region.

Long before Columbus’s discoveries, North America’s indigenous peoples had developed societies with unique languages and customs. Empires of the Mayan Indians and the Aztec Indians existed in Central

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America and Mexico, respectively. Entire civilizations were also developed in what is now the United States. Two notable examples are the Anasazi Indians of the Southwest and the “Mound Builders” civilization in the Midwest and Southeast.

While dissimilarities existed between the indigenous groups, they had worked out a complex arrangement of trading and exchanging ideas. The different peoples traveled over long distances and managed to communicate in spite of language barriers, to participate in a barter system. The people advanced and improved their lives because of those beneficial exchanges. However, not all was peaceful, since the native peoples had to fight the environment to survive and, at times, fight with other tribes over precious resources.

The native peoples lived as nomadic hunters and gatherers for many centuries. Nomadic hunters and gatherers are groups of people who set up temporary housing, hunt for game, collect other wild food sources, and then move to another area to begin the process again. As resources depleted, the nomads moved to another area. Eventually, they settled into villages and permanently resided in hospitable areas. Their lifestyle shift was caused by a far-reaching phenomenon: a warming of the global climate caused changes in geographic patterns of plant growth, as well as the migration or extinction of large animal species. Over time, the native peoples adapted to the changing environment and started hunting and domesticating smaller animals, in addition to fishing, farming, and making pottery. The differences in their lives are evidenced by their funeral ceremonies. The earliest graves lacked any personal possessions in them because resources were too valuable to bury with the dead. Later, the graves began to contain personal items, showing that resources had become more plentiful.

Historians have yet to ascertain when the first people came into the Americas. One of the best approximations is 14,000 to 16,000 years ago. The first people probably came over the Bering Strait, which at the time was a solid landmass called Beringia. They probably followed their food source from one continent to another. By 1500, historians calculate that 50 to 75 million people lived in the Americas—10 million of those might have lived in the land area that is the United States today (Morison, 1994).

Indigenous Tribes in North AmericaBefore examining the history of North America’s indigenous tribes, we should discuss the method

historians and other scholars use to demarcate ancient and modern periods. When historians discuss time periods, they use two abbreviations to distinguish between ancient and modern times. BCE is an abbreviation for the phrase “before the common era,” which replaces “BC” in reference to ancient historical periods. In contrast, CE is an abbreviation for the phrase “common era,” which replaces “AD” in reference to historical and modern time periods. BCE refers to any event that took place prior to CE 1. For example, the pyramids in Egypt are believed to have been built around 2584 BCE, meaning that they were built 2,584 years prior to CE 1.

In the northeastern section of what became the United States, the human population increased from the Paleoindian Period (around 7000 BCE) to the Late Archaic Period (3000 BCE). The land along the shoreline where those people would have gathered has been lost, due to erosion and rising water tables. Evidence suggests that those people hunted deer, caribou, and sea mammals, which were plentiful at that time.

During the Late Archaic Period, climate changes caused vegetation to increase in the area. The rising sea levels provided lush places for beds of shellfish, oysters, scallops, and other species to thrive. Regional warming trends allowed the growth and spread of food-bearing trees, providing sources of nuts and fresh fruit for both humans and animals. Fish were also abundant because of those conditions. At one site discovered in Maine, archeological remains (e.g., bones, teeth, beaks, and claws) confirmed that people hunted deer, moose, seal, walrus, beaver, mink, sea mink (now extinct), river otter, bear, swordfish, cod, sturgeon, ducks, geese, loons, eagles, and shellfish (Kehoe, 1981).

A site found in central New York State, southeast of Lake Ontario, had once been a small village made up of about 27 houses, rectangular in shape and measuring approximately 16’ x 12’ (4.9 meters x 3.7 meters). The villagers used round hearth pits, as well as long beds, for roasting their foods; when the roasting pits were unearthed, they still contained remnants of charred acorns. Those people made wooden objects and used chisels, stone celts (similar to an axe with a hatchet-like cutting edge), and knives made

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from beaver teeth. Historians believe that the people also made canoes from trees. Archeological evidence of copper and slate, neither of which came from that area, proves that the people were trading with others from far distances (Kehoe, 1981).

The last part of the Late Archaic Period (roughly 1400–700 BCE) is remarkable because of the appearance of round soapstone bowls. Those vessels were probably used for cooking and would have been carried by nomadic hunters and gatherers wherever they went. The dishes could be found in burial sites, along with knives, pigment such as red ocher, an adz for shaping wood, a stone for keeping the adz sharpened, and some flint-like stones for starting fires (Kehoe, 1981).

The Early Woodland Period (roughly 700 BCE) was set apart from the other periods due to the advancement of pottery techniques and the emergence of tubular tobacco pipes. Tobacco was widely used during that time, and because the plant only grows in southern climates, the discovery indicates that trading occurred over long distances (Kehoe, 1981).

The Middle and Late Woodland Periods (CE 1–1250) were crowded with nomadic peoples. Again, ruins show the nomads’ houses were slightly larger than those studied in the Late Archaic Period. The houses were approximately 35’ x 20’ (10.7 meters x 6 meters). The construction was entirely different as well. Houses were built with long poles attached to bark slabs. Burial grounds revealed more personal items buried with the dead. Those items included bone and antler combs; bracelets and necklaces with hanging pendants; beads made from copper, stone, and shells; clothing with beading; tobacco pipes; and many types of tools. The custom of cremation, which had been found in burial sites dating back to the Late Archaic Period, seemed to have lost status during that period. However, bodies were still found to have pigment (red ocher) on them, showing a continuation of past burial rituals (Kehoe, 1981).

Domestic plants also appeared during the period, including maize, sunflowers, squash, and beans. Trading brought seeds and small plants up from the south, along with tobacco, copper, and slate, as southerners traded such items for furs and hides. A sequence of connected events seemed to transpire around the same time. The overall population increased, and the numbers in any given village or social clan grew. Travel became more difficult, so people were more stationary. As people settled, they transitioned from nomadic hunters and gatherers to farmers and hunters. They built permanent structures, such as corn-cribs, storage bins, and larger houses and meeting places. They could make larger pottery storage containers, because they did not have to worry about the weight and mobility of such items. The downside of the increasing tendency to settle was that it produced competition for farmland and hunting areas (Kehoe, 1981).

The stationary lifestyle led to armed conflict among different tribes. For protection, people were forced to build high walls around their villages. Battles were fierce and brutal. In many cases the losing tribe became the slaves of the victors. As the pressures of day-to-day life continued, some past rites and ceremonies were abandoned. For example, burial sites changed dramatically. The old ways were gone; graves became simple burial places. Though the dead were honored, they were no longer extravagantly celebrated, as the tribes shifted their focus to the concerns of the living and the everyday struggle to survive. Despite the difficulties associated with such a rapidly changing social environment, the native people’s greatest challenges would begin with the arrival of the Europeans.

As the Europeans began to explore and settle in their “New World,” they had an immense impact on the region’s indigenous economy. European trade, which had begun around the Late Woodland Period, shifted the balance of trading power from the Mississippi River to the Northeast. That shift occurred due to the increasing importance of the Northeast’s more direct shipping lanes to Europe, which took precedence over the established Spanish and French ports. The new settlers effectively removed the native people from the new trading patterns, except when the colonists had a need only the natives could fulfill. European settlement ultimately changed the native peoples’ lives in unimaginable ways (Kehoe, 1981).

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ChristopherColumbusplanninghisexpedition.

Exploration and the New World

In the 1400s, the New World provided an important opportunity for Europe. Around that time, major wars had depleted many European countries’ treasuries. The New World had an almost magical aura for European monarchs, whose quest for riches was both practical and personal. The interest in colonization was significant, but secondary to accessing the natural resources needed to rebuild their treasuries. The Catholic Church also encouraged new exploration, as a means to find new converts. Explorers sailed from various parts of Europe to the new land. The Norse (Viking) explorers were among the first to visit North America. They sailed into upper Newfoundland at a place called L’Anse aux Meadow, forming a settlement around CE 990. The Norsemen also explored Labrador, another area of Newfoundland (Ingstad & Ingstad, 2000).

Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, sailed for King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain. He sought for a new route to India for spices, which had tremendous value and were actually used as currency. Black pepper, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and many other spices were in high demand and fetched high prices. Prior to Portuguese explorers’ discovery that India and Asia could be reached by sailing around the tip of Africa, merchants had to travel to those regions over a long and dangerous land route. Sailing around the tip of Africa was an improvement, but still a long voyage.

Columbus believed that India could be reached by sailing west and that the route would be much shorter than sailing around the tip of Africa. During an attempt to discover a westward route in 1492, he

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reached the Western Hemisphere, previously unknown to Europeans. Because Columbus presumed he had reached Asia, he named the Caribbean islands on which he landed the Indies (after India) and named the native people Indians. After landing, Columbus took over the islands and subjugated the native peoples (subjugate means to defeat and make those conquered into prisoners or slaves). His four voyages brought attention and status to the New World, as well as tremendous wealth and prestige to his employers, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (Morison, 1994).

John Cabot was the first European explorer to see North America’s mainland. He sailed for King Henry VII of England from 1497 to 1498 on northern routes between England and Newfoundland; Cabot later explored Canada. Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian mapmaker, sailed to the New World on behalf of Portugal in 1497 and 1499. He is famous for mapping South America and pronouncing that North America was another continent; it was named America, after the explorer’s first name (Morison, 1994).

In 1513, Juan Ponce de León was the first European to land on Florida soil. Although de León claimed the land for Spain, he did not attempt to establish a settlement. Spanish settlement of Florida began almost 70 years later, when Spanish settlers came to Florida to establish St. Augustine, America’s oldest city, in 1585.

Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan undertook many voyages of exploration for his king, until a disagreement with the king led him to leave Portugal for Spain. Magellan began to sail for the Spanish monarch, Charles V, whom Magellan had convinced to finance a voyage that would circle the world. The trip lasted almost three years (1519–1522). Magellan originally left with five ships and full crews, but only one ship returned, and he was not on it. He had envisioned the crews’ ability to map the globe, and the crews completed their mission, despite Magellan’s death. While Magellan’s original maps were used for many years, they were revised over time, as new information became available (Morison, 1994).

The indigenous peoples were helpless in preventing the disaster that followed the European invasion. Explorers brought diseases against which they had no defense. In many cases native peoples also received brutal treatment from soldiers, priests, and politicians. Some scholars estimate that up to 90% of native peoples were killed due to contact with Europeans. The casualties were enormous in proportion to the

Population Decline in the New World

In the Spotlight

After Columbus’s arrival, Native Ameri-can populations declined precipitously.

Europeans brought incurable diseases, such as smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, diphtheria, influenza, malaria, yellow fever, and typhoid, to the Western Hemisphere. The diseases that sometimes devastated Europe and Asia also ravaged the New World’s native populations. Therefore, North America’s overall population decreased, despite the large numbers of settlers arriving daily. Although the exact number of

Native American deaths from diseases cannot be accurately counted, the number is be-lieved to be in the millions, and the diseases wiped out entire people groups.

AnillustrationofAztecssufferingfromsmallpox.

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sizes of their populations at the time of first contact. The natives were unable to build immunity to the diseases, and they perished in numbers that could not be recovered for many generations, if ever (Galeano, 1971/1997).

A New Age in Europe

A series of unfolding events contributed to masses of Europeans without homes looking for new places in which to settle. By the late 1400s and early 1500s, Portugal, Spain, France, and England had restructured their countries and achieved greater monarchical power. In Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married, combining their two empires and unifying Spain. With their combined forces and her wealth, they were able to finally defeat the Muslim Moors and force them out of Spain, after they had occupied the country for many years (Crow, 1992).

The war between England and France ended in the same period that the Spaniards freed themselves from the Moors. After the war, Louis XI reclaimed control of the French crown and encouraged financial revival. A civil war in England ended with the Tudor family ascending to the throne, and King Henry VII ended the use of peasant labor and the feudal system. Once those monarchs had control over their own kingdoms and saw improvements, they looked at lands far from home for new wealth and resources (Morison, 1994).

Throughout Europe, the Protestant Reformation brought its share of disorder and chaos. The movement initiated religious, political, and territorial competitions, particularly within the German territories. At the end of the Wars of Religion in France, the French Huguenots (Protestants) succeeded in gaining some rights to practice their religion (Furnas, 1969).

The Thirty Years War was fought between Catholic and Protestant princes. It left massive destruction and enormous loss of life in its wake. The religious minority group in any given area had to keep moving to avoid imprisonment, injury, and/or death. Many of those people left for the New World as soon as they had the financial means (Furnas, 1969).

Another factor influencing Europe at that time was the makeover of economic structures. In many European countries a profit-making revolution was occurring, with the need and desire to make money replacing the old ways. Old family money was being used to finance new ventures. Banks began to lend money to start-up enterprises, and suddenly a commercial revolution spread across Europe (Morison, 1994).

Problems with the Ottoman Empire had slowed trade with the Orient; therefore, many countries sought new routes. Scientific innovations immensely helped renew interests in traveling and exploration. Some of the newest technologies were the log line (a block fastened to a line and run out from a reel) to measure a ship’s speed, the compass, the astrolabe (an instrument that indicated a ship’s position, using the sun and stars as guides), the quadrant for determining latitude, and the traverse board. The latter instrument allowed sailors to know their position, using information from previous positions and speeds (Cuyvers, 2004).

All of those factors allowed European countries to look toward the New World, a place to seek wealth and new resources, which would increase power and prestige among other nations. The faraway lands could also be used to exile religious and political dissenters. In addition, some countries sought to start colonies in the New World, with their own citizens in good standing, as a means to create new economic markets.

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Settlement in the New World

As previously mentioned, the Spanish established St. Augustine, Florida, in 1585. St. Augustine became America’s first city. The French established Port Royal in Nova Scotia in 1604. The Dutch established several areas, including New Netherland (a group of towns, forts, and trading posts in the Hudson Valley, the coasts of Delaware Bay, and Long Island), Fort Orange (Albany, New York), New Amsterdam (New York City), Fort Nassau (Gloucester, New Jersey), and Wiltwyck (Kingston, New York) (Morison, 1994).

When the English decided to colonize, they took a different approach. They were not the first to arrive at the New World, yet they were the most successful at establishing colonies. Their success can be attributed to several factors. England is an island; hence its government spent more money on a navy than an army. Due to their naval power, the English had a superior ability to protect their colonies. The rivalries between other European nations also helped Britain. England created a flexible system known as the “balance of power,” which allowed for both safety at home and control over colonies in America, Asia, and Africa. With great skill and refinement, English diplomats kept their enemies at war with each other and stayed out of the trouble themselves (Luscombe, n.d.).

Another factor that helped England was Eastern Europe’s noninvolvement in the quest for territorial expansion and international trade. Central Europe had not consolidated; many small kingdoms still fought among themselves. To rival England, they would require strong, centralized governments with decisive plans and a willingness to invest in overseas exploration. Fortunately for England, those nations lacked both of those characteristics.

The few countries that might have challenged England seemed unprepared to make the sacrifice required for a significant colonization effort. The Dutch lost their holdings because of England’s superior naval power, while the French spent their resources on wars and constructing huge government buildings. The French seemed indisposed to invest in the future of their New World holdings. The French king had an opportunity to send the exiled Huguenots to the New World, but he refused to give them permission to go. France simply wanted to trade with the natives and set up small trading posts, not send French women or families to start communities (Luscombe, n.d.).

Like France, Spain initially did not invest in colonization. A religious country, Spain still practiced feudalism, a system in which rich men had large holdings and used peasants as laborers. The peasants could not move freely; they were tied to the land. The Spanish were not interested in commercial enterprise or in industrialization. The loss of the Spanish Armada to the English in 1588 was a decisive blow to any potential aggressive exploration and colonization (Crow, 1992).

Perhaps most importantly, the English sent common people to settle the land. They took a business approach to settling in the New World, providing money for supplies and men with leadership abilities to head expeditions. The British also sent women and families, to create the semblance of a basic English lifestyle for those who moved to the colonies (Crow, 1992).

AnengravingofSt.Augustine,Florida,in1686.

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From the beginning, the English colonists exhibited a spirit of cooperation, acceptance of authority, and self-regulation—all necessary traits for survival in a strange and often harsh land. In the late 1500s, a number of Englishmen attempted to start the first colony. Humphrey Gilbert started a colony in Newfoundland, but he disappeared, along with his ship and crew, during his second voyage. Walter Raleigh secured a government grant that gave him the rights of discovery and settlement in the New World, as well as the title Vice Regal and all the powers and privileges that came with the title. Raleigh sent men to survey Florida, the Carolina coasts, and the Chesapeake Bay.

In 1585, during a second voyage, Captain Ralph Lane dropped off 180 men, women, and children at Roanoke Island on the Carolina outer banks. The ship returned to England, and the next year it brought an additional 88 men, women, and children to the island. The colony’s governor, John White, made a book of watercolor drawings illustrating their life at Roanoke Island (Hulton & Beers Quin, 1964). In 1587, White sailed back to England for supplies. The ship was delayed and could not leave England because of the war between England and Spain. No ships returned for three years. In 1590, when the governor finally returned to the colony, it was empty. A message, CROATOAN, was found on a post. Governor White thought the message conveyed that the colonists had gone to stay with the local native tribe, the Croatoans. He saw no signs of trouble, and the agreed-upon distress signal—a Maltese cross—was not in evidence. However, the settlers were never found.

One of the missing was a child named Virginia Dare. Virginia Dare became a prominent figure in American mythology. Folk storytellers described Dare as sublimely pretty, with startling blue eyes and blond hair. Because some of the Croatoans had blue eyes and fair complexions well into the next century, some historians theorize that the settlers voluntarily left the colony and possibly intermarried with the natives. From that time, Roanoke was called the “Lost Colony” (Furnas, 1969).

As the exploration age ended and colonization continued, more problems arose between the natives and Europeans. One of colonization’s major impacts was an experience called the Columbian Exchange (Crosby, n.d.). The Columbian Exchange is a term that refers to the transfer of peoples, animals, plants, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds. As previously discussed in this chapter, European diseases killed a high percentage of indigenous peoples, who had no immunity to influenza, smallpox, and many other contagious diseases. In addition to the disease exchange, crop plants such as corn, white and sweet potatoes, and varieties of squash were introduced to Europe from the New World. Old World crops, such as wheat and rice, were introduced to the New World. Horses and cattle also played a role in the colonization process, providing many benefits as well as causing ecological damage (Crosby, n.d.).

Inevitably, contact and conflict increased proportionately. The conflict stemmed from a lack of understanding and communication between the explorers/colonists and the indigenous peoples, but in general the Europeans were intolerant of different cultures. The European ideal was complete cultural diffusion, the spread of European cultures throughout much of the North American continent, as the Europeans came into contact with indigenous peoples. As part of their culture, European ways of thinking and religious beliefs were rigid. They felt the natives were godless heathens. The Europeans worshipped only one God—to them, that was the only God that mattered.

Contrary to European beliefs, the natives were not godless. Most native tribes had a belief system comprised of mystical forces that linked human beings to all other living things; some tribes had one central spirit, and other tribes had many spirits. Later tribes believed in spiritual forces. Each animal, plant, tree, and manifestation of nature had a spirit that could be contacted directly or through a go-between, such as a shaman or medicine man. Many tribes held the same ideals. For example, most did not believe in the personal ownership of land and instead believed that natural resources belonged to the whole tribe. Though a tribe might defend land for its own use when other tribes tried to settle on it, no conflict or disharmony over resources or property erupted among tribe members. The radical difference between the native peoples’ concept of communal land and the European notion that the land could be owned by individuals was a major source of confusion and strife between the settlers and the native tribes (Josephy, Jr., 1991).

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Summary

The European explorers made many voyages to the New World. The Europeans’ impact on the indigenous peoples was far-reaching and negative. European diseases alone wiped out approximately 90% of the native populations in many areas of the New World. Over time, clear signs of cultural diffusion between the native peoples and the colonists developed. Both groups changed because of their exposure to other cultures and to different ways of living in the colonies, which were often a hostile environment. Of all the European countries, England was the most successful in colonizing the New World. The other prominent Western European countries—Spain, France, and the Netherlands—had their opportunities to challenge England’s colonial progress, but over time those nations were largely unsuccessful in maintaining a North American presence.

References

Crosby, A. (n.d.). The Columbian exchange. History now: American history online. Retrieved from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Website: http://www.historynow.org/06_2007/historian2.html

Crow, J. A. (1992). The epic of Latin America (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.Cuyvers, L. (2004). Setting sail: Ten thousand years of seafaring adventure. Windsor, CT: Tide-mark Press.Furnas, J. C. (1969). The Americans: A social history of the United States, 1587–1914. New York, NY: G. P.

Putnam’s Sons.Galeano, E. (1997). Open veins of Latin America: Five centuries of the pillage of a continent. New York, NY:

Monthly Review Press. (Original work published 1971)Hulton, P., & Beers Quin, D. (1964). The American Drawings of John White, 1577–1590 (Vols.1–2). Chapel

Hill: North Carolina University Press.Ingstad, H., & Ingstad, A. S. (2000). The Viking discovery of America: The excavation of a Norse settlement in

L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Breakwater Books.Josephy, A. M., Jr. (1991). The Indian heritage of America (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.Kehoe, A. B. (1981). North American Indians: A comprehensive account. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-

Hall.Luscombe, S. (n.d.). The British Empire. Retrieved from http://www.britishempire.co.uk/Morison, S. E. (1994). The Oxford history of the American people, volume one: Prehistory to 1789. New York,

NY: Meridian.

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