1. European America

2. European Claims in the Western Hemisphere

3. Colonial Powers
Major Players:
Spain
Britain
France
Minor Players:
The Netherlands (New
Netherland, Aruba,
Curacao, Guiana)
Portugal (Brazil)
Russia (Alaska)

4. The Northwest Passage
Britain, France and the Netherlands all began looking for a
waterway through or around North America in the 1500s.
In the process, all three made land claims on North
America.
In the early 1600s, they began colonizing.
Britain (Jamestown, 1607)
France (Quebec, 1608)
Netherlands (Ft. Albany, 1611)

5. Characteristics of Spanish Colonies
Location: Modern-day Southwestern
U.S., Florida, Central America & the
Caribbean, most of South America.
Religion: Catholic (strictly enforced).
Economy: Mining and Large-scale
plantation agriculture.
Society: Four Social Classes (in
order from highest to
lowest): Peninsulares, Creoles,
Mestizos/Mulattos, Slaves/Native
Americans

6. Characteristics of British Colonies
Location: Atlantic Coast of North America
with small presence in the Caribbean
(Jamaica, the Bahamas)
Religion: Protestant (strictly enforced in
some places, not in others)
Economy: Trade and agriculture (large-scale
plantation-based where feasible).
Society: Self-Rule leads to a more mobile
society (for European males) in the
north. Slavery and the plantation system
was institutionalized in the South.

7. Characteristics of French colonies
Location: St. Lawrence
River (Canada), Great Lakes,
Mississippi River, Gulf Coast. Haiti
& a few Caribbean Islands.
Religion: Catholic, strictly enforced.
Economy: Fur trade in the North,
Sugar and plantation agriculture in
the South and the Caribbean.
Society: the focus on the fur trade
led to a high degree of intermarriage
between Frenchmen and Native
Americans.

8. Conflicts
Britain vs. France/Britain vs.
Netherlands: for control of the fur
trade in the Hudson River Valley and
the Great Lakes Region.
Conflicts in the Caribbean erupted
frequently between all nations
involved over trade.

9. Conclusion:
These conflicts between the colonial powers will eventually
lead 13 of Britain’s North American colonies to rebel against
British rule, which leads to the creation of the United
States.