•Rise of merchant class – men wealthy from trade (not inheriting land/titles) are gaining more power and influence within their countries – everyone wants to get rich quick

•National pride – England, France, Spain & Portugal arise as nations instead of kingdoms, are competing to be the strongest power and need resources to do so

•Cash economy – Rulers want cash, not land or products, and need new sources of precious metals and raw materials

•Lack of natural resources – foresting and mining in Europe no longer possible

•New technology for boats and weaponry make it possible to get to new places and defend yourself once you’re there

• Spain – Mexico/Central America, South America, south and southwestern North America, Caribbean

• France – interior and northern North America, Haiti

• England – coastal North America, northern North America

Spanish:

• Motivation: “God, Gold, Glory” (spread Catholic faith, send gold to Spain, make Spain more powerful than other countries)

• Conquistadores – explorer/soldiers used military strength to overwhelm natives and take valuables (gold & silver)

• Pattern of settlement: Intermixed with local population; converted many to Catholicism; created class called mestizos (mixed). Highest class – Spanish; middle class – mixed Spanish/locals; lowest class - natives

English:

• Motivation: Private profit for explorers, taxes for the Crown; claim raw materials to sell to the government and on the market; personal freedoms

• Joint-stock companies were formed by investors to fund explorations and split any profits (like owning stock in a business). They were granted charters by the King to explore and set up settlements in certain regions claimed by England.

• Pattern of settlement: Create settlements and colonies populated with English settlers; pushed out natives or lived around them without integrating with them.

France:

• Motivation: profit primarily from fur trade; defeat British efforts at expansion; priests wanted to convert Native Americans

• Pattern of settlement: Few permanent settlements in the interior; mostly concentrated on St. Lawrence River (Quebec) area. More tolerant of Native American population than most European countries. Tolerated more easily by Native Americans because the French were (generally) not interested in creating settlements or claiming land for colonization. Single male trappers & explorers married into tribes.