Lesson 4: The French, Dutch, and English Colonies

Question 1

Alliance Definition

Answer 1

An agreement between nations to aid and protect one another

Question 2

Burgess Definition

Answer 2

A representative to the colonial Virginia government

Question 3

Charter Definition

Answer 3

A legal document giving certain rights to a person or company

Question 4

Indentured Servant Definition

Answer 4

A person who pledges to work for a master for a period until he or she pays off a debt, such as the cost of a voyage to a colony

Question 5

Jamestown Definition

Answer 5

In present-day Virginia, the site of the first successful English colony in the new world

Question 6

John Smith Definition

Answer 6

Strict leader of the Jamestown colony

Question 7

Roanoke Definition

Answer 7

An island off the coast of present-day North Carolina, and the site of the first English colony in the new world

Question 8

In 1517, what did German Monk Martin Luther do?

Answer 8

In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther publicly challenged many practices of the Catholic Church. Soon after, he split with the Church entirely.

Question 9

What did Martin Luther think was wrong with the Catholic Church?

Answer 9

Luther believed that the Church had become too worldly. He opposed the power of popes. He also objected to the Catholic teaching that believers could gain eternal life by performing good works. Luther argued that people could be saved only by faith in God.

Question 10

What happened as Martin Luther and his supports continued to protest? What name did they develop?

Answer 10

Because of their protests against the Church, Luther’s supporters became known as Protestants. The Protestant Reformation, as the new movement was known, divided Europe. Soon, the Protestants themselves split, forming many different churches.

Question 11

How did religion start to divide rulers by the late 1500s?

Answer 11

By the late 1500s, religion divided the states of Western Europe. Roman Catholic monarchs ruled Spain and France. A Protestant queen, Elizabeth I, ruled England. In the Netherlands, the Dutch people were mostly Protestant. They all no longer shared a common faith.

Question 12

How did European Religious Rivalries affect their settlement in the Americas?

Answer 12

As Europeans settled in the Americas, they brought their religious conflicts with them. Queen Elizabeth encouraged English adventurers to raid Spanish colonies and capture Spanish treasure fleets. Protestant England also competed with Catholic France for lands in North America.

Question 13

Although the English and the Dutch were Protestant, what did they compete for?

Answer 13

Not all rivalries were religious. Both the Netherlands and England were Protestant. Still, they competed for control of land in North America and for economic markets all over the world, including Asia.

Question 14

Why did Europeans want to explore America? Asian routes?

Answer 14

Like Columbus, Europeans continued during the 1500s to look for new ways to reach the riches of Asia. Magellan’s route around South America seemed long and difficult. Europeans wanted to discover a shorter northwest passage, or waterway through or around North America.

Question 15

What was Giovanni Caboto’s goal when setting out to sea? What did the English call him?

Answer 15

Giovanni Caboto, an Italian sea captain who the English called John Cabot, set out to find a northwest passage for the English. He was confident he had found such a passage, but he was mistaken. The “new-found land” that he thought he had found off the Asian coast in fact lay off the coast of North America. Today, Newfoundland is part of the easternmost province of Canada.

Question 16

Who did the French send in search of a Northwest Passage?

Answer 16

The French sent another Italian captain, Giovanni da Verrazano (vehr rah TSAH noh), in search of a northwest passage. Verrazano journeyed along the North American coast from the present-day Carolinas to Canada.

Question 17

True or False: After the Protestant Reformation, rivalries between Catholic and Protestant countries led them to compete over territories in the Americas.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

What did Jacques Cartier do for the French during the 1530s?

Answer 18

During the 1530s, Jacques Cartier (kar tee YAY), also sailing for the French, traveled more than halfway up the St. Lawrence River.

Question 19

What did the English explorer Henry Hudson do for the Dutch in 1609? The English?

Answer 19

In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson sailed for the Dutch. His ship, the Half Moon, entered present-day New York harbor. Hudson continued to sail some 150 miles up the river that now bears his name.
The following year, Hudson made a voyage into the far north—this time for the English. After spending a harsh winter in what is now called Hudson Bay, his crew rebelled. They set Hudson, his son, and seven loyal sailors adrift in a small boat. The boat and its crew were never seen again.

Question 20

What did explorers, such as Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, Giovanni Caboto, and Giovanni da Verrazano, who were looking for a northwest passage, do instead?

Answer 20

None of these explorers found a northwest passage to Asia. However, they did map and explore many parts of North America. The rulers of Western Europe began thinking about how to profit from the region’s rich resources through colonization.

Question 21

Who founded the first French settlement in North America? Where? When?

Answer 21

Samuel de Champlain (sham PLAYN) founded Port Royal, the first permanent French settlement in North America, in 1605.

Question 22

What did Samuel de Champlain do three years after he established Port Royal?

Answer 22

Three years later, he led another group of settlers along the route Cartier had pioneered. On a rocky cliff high above the St. Lawrence River, Champlain built a trading post known as Quebec (kwih BEK). The opportunity to create wealth through trade was one of the main reasons for French colonization in America.

Question 23

How did French rivalries influence colonization?

Answer 23

The French also wanted to surpass their rivals, the English. Many French settlers were looking for adventure and hoped to find their fortune in the New World.

Question 24

Unlike the Spanish, what did the French profit from in trade?

Answer 24

Unlike Spain’s American empire, New France had little gold or silver. Instead, the French profited from fishing, trapping, and trading.

Question 25

What were colonists who lived and worked in Native American lands beyond the French settlements come to be known as?

Answer 25

French colonists who lived and worked in Native American lands beyond the French settlements became known as coureurs de bois (koo RUHR duh BWAH), or “runners of the woods.” The French brought knives, kettles, cloth, and other items for trade with Native Americans. In return, the Indians gave them beaver skins and other furs that sold for high prices in Europe.

Question 26

How was the relationship between the French and the Indians?

Answer 26

Coureurs de bois established friendly relations with Native American groups. Unlike the Spanish, the French did not attempt to conquer the Indians. Also, because coureurs de bois did not establish farms, they did not interfere with Indian lands. Indians taught the French trapping and survival skills, such as how to make snowshoes and canoes. Many coureurs married Indian women.

Question 27

Who did Catholic missionaries travel with to the “New Land”?

Answer 27

Fur traders

Question 28

What is a missionary?

Answer 28

A missionary is a person who goes to another land to win converts for a religion.

Question 29

What did French Missionaries do?

Answer 29

French missionaries tried to convert Native Americans to Christianity. They also drew maps and wrote about the lands they explored.

Question 30

How did the French learn of the Mississippi River?

Answer 30

French trappers followed the St. Lawrence deep into the heart of North America. Led by Indian guides, they reached the Great Lakes. Here, Indians spoke of a mighty river, which they called Mississippi, or “Father of the Waters.”

Question 31

What are the details of French exploration of the Mississippi? Who did they name Louisiana after?

Answer 31

A French missionary, Father Jacques Marquette (mar KET), and a fur trader, Louis Joliet (joh lee ET), set out to reach the Mississippi in 1673. Led by Indian guides, they followed the river for more than 700 miles before turning back. Nine years later, Robert de La Salle completed the journey to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle named the region Louisiana in honor of the French king, Louis XIV.

Question 32

What did the French do to keep Spain and England out of Louisiana?

Answer 32

To keep Spain and England out of Louisiana, the French built forts in the north along the Great Lakes. Among them was Fort Detroit, built by Antoine Cadillac near Lake Erie. The French also built New Orleans, a fort near the mouth of the river. New Orleans grew into a busy trading center. French control of the network of waterways at the heart of North America gave the French a strategic advantage over the Spanish and the English.

Question 33

What was the Natchez Revolt?

Answer 33

French colonists imported thousands of Africans to work as slaves on plantations around New Orleans. Some enslaved Africans, however, joined with the Natchez Indians in a revolt against the French. The French put down the Natchez Revolt in 1729. Some enslaved Africans who fought on the side of the French received their freedom. In Louisiana, free and enslaved Africans together made up the majority of settlers.

Question 34

How was government in New France similar to the government in new Spain?

Answer 34

New France was governed much like New Spain. The French king controlled the government directly, and people had little freedom. A council appointed by the king made all decisions.

Question 35

What did Louis XIV do when he started to worry that too few settlers were moving to New France?

Answer 35

Louis XIV worried that too few French were moving to New France. In the 1660s, therefore, he sent about a thousand people to the colony, including many young women. Despite the king’s efforts to increase the population, New France grew slowly. Winters were harsh, and the short growing season made farming difficult. Only about 10,000 settlers lived in the colony by 1680. Of those, one third lived on farms along the St. Lawrence. Others chose to become coureurs de bois, living largely free of government control.

Question 36

What did the Dutch hope to do in the Americas, by colonizing, like the French?

Answer 36

Like the French, the Dutch hoped to profit from their discoveries in the Americas by colonizing.

Question 37

What did Peter Minuit do in 1626?

Answer 37

In 1626, Peter Minuit (MIN yoo wit) led a group of Dutch settlers to the mouth of the Hudson River. Other Dutch colonists had already settled on Manhattan Island and farther up the Hudson River. Minuit bought Manhattan Island from local Indians. Minuit called his settlement New Amsterdam. The entire colony was known as New Netherland (now known as New York).

Question 38

What ran down the center of Broad Street in New Amsterdam to support the transfer of goods?

Answer 38

A canal to transport goods runs down the center of Broad Street in New Amsterdam, an early Dutch settlement. New Amsterdam later became New York City.

Question 39

Who funded New Netherland?

Answer 39

New Netherland was privately funded by the Dutch West India Company. Many colonists immigrated to New Netherland hoping to profit from the region’s active fur trade.

Question 40

How did New Amsterdam grow? Who did they allow in their city?

Answer 40

From a tiny group of 30 houses, New Amsterdam grew into a busy port. The Dutch welcomed people of many nations, ethnic groups, and religions to their colony.

Question 41

What was the most important Dutch trading post along the Hudson River?

Answer 41

The Dutch also built trading posts along the Hudson River. The most important one was Fort Orange, today known as Albany. Dutch merchants became known for their good business sense.

Question 42

How did the Dutch enlarge New Netherland in 1655?

Answer 42

The Dutch enlarged New Netherland in 1655 by taking over the colony of New Sweden. The Swedes had established New Sweden along the Delaware River some 15 years earlier.

Question 43

Where did Dutch traders send furs?

Answer 43

The Netherlands; The packing list for the first shipment included “the skins of 7,246 beaver, 853 otter, 81 mink, 36 cat lynx, and 34 small rats.”

Question 44

Who did the Dutch become rivals with in the fur trade?

Answer 44

The Dutch and French became rivals in the fur trade. Both sought alliances with Native Americans. An alliance is an agreement between nations to aid and protect one another. The Dutch made friends with the Iroquois. The Hurons (HYOO rahnz) helped the French. Fighting raged for years among the Europeans and their Native American allies.

Question 45

What are examples of Dutch culture in the Americas?

Answer 45

The Dutch brought many of their customs from Europe to New Netherland. They liked to ice skate, and in winter, the frozen rivers and ponds filled with skaters. Every year on Saint Nicholas’s birthday, Dutch children put out their shoes to be filled with all sorts of presents. Known in Dutch as “Sinterklaas,” Saint Nicholas came to be called Santa Claus. Some Dutch words entered the English language. A Dutch master was a “boss”. The people of New Amsterdam sailed in “yachts”. Dutch children munched on “cookies” and rode through the snow on “sleighs”.

Question 46

What was the effect of the fur trade of the French and the Dutch? Diseases?

Answer 46

Dutch and French settlement on the east coast of North America brought major changes to Native Americans and the environment. As in New Spain, European diseases killed thousands of Indians, and rivalry over the fur trade increased between different European countries’ Native American allies. The scramble for furs also led to overtrapping. By 1640, trappers had almost wiped out the beavers on Iroquois lands in upstate New York.

Question 47

What was the effect of trade and religion on the Native Americans, brought by the French and the Dutch?

Answer 47

The arrival of Europeans affected Native Americans in other ways. Missionaries tried to convert Indians to Christianity. Indians eagerly adopted European trade goods, such as copper kettles and knives. They also bought muskets and gunpowder for hunting and warfare. Alcohol sold by European traders had a harsh effect on Native American life.

Question 48

What was the effect of European wars to conquer Indian land on the American Indians?

Answer 48

Europeans all waged warfare to seize Indian lands. As Indians were forced off their lands, they moved westward onto lands of other Indians, which sometimes led to violence between Native American groups. The conflict between Native Americans and Europeans would continue for many years.

Question 49

What did Sir Walter Raleigh do in 1585 with Queen Elizabeth’s permission?

Answer 49

With Queen Elizabeth’s permission, Sir Walter Raleigh raised money to outfit a colony in North America. In 1585, about 100 men set sail across the Atlantic. The colonists landed on Roanoke (ROH uh nohk), an island off the coast of present-day North Carolina. Within a year, however, the colonists had run short of food and were quarreling with neighboring Indians. When an English ship stopped in the harbor, the weary settlers sailed home.

Question 50

What did Sir Walter Raleigh do in 1587? What was Roanoke’s fate?

Answer 50

In 1587, Raleigh sent John White, one of the original colonists, back to Roanoke with a new group of settlers that included women and children. When supplies ran low, White returned to England, leaving behind 117 colonists. He planned to return in a few months. When he got back to England, however, he found the country was then preparing for war with Spain. It was three years before he was able to sail back to Roanoke. In 1587, Raleigh sent John White, one of the original colonists, back to Roanoke with a new group of settlers that included women and children. When supplies ran low, White returned to England, leaving behind 117 colonists. He planned to return in a few months. When he got back to England, however, he found the country was then preparing for war with Spain. It was three years before he was able to sail back to Roanoke.

Question 51

What happened after the failure of Roanoke, nearly 20 years after it?

Answer 51

After the failure of Roanoke, nearly 20 years passed before England again tried to establish a colony in North America. In 1606, the Virginia Company of London, a private company, received a charter from King James I. A charter is a legal document giving certain rights to a person or company. The royal charter gave the Virginia Company the right to settle lands along the east coast of North America. The charter also guaranteed that colonists of this land, called Virginia, would have the same rights as English citizens.

Question 52

What did the English do in the spring of 1607?

Answer 52

In the spring of 1607, a group of 105 colonists, funded by the Virginia Company, arrived in Virginia. They sailed into Chesapeake Bay and began building houses along the James River. They named their tiny outpost Jamestown after their king. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States.

Question 53

What were the English’s reasons for colonizing Jamestown and other colonies?

Answer 53

The settlers of Jamestown hoped to make a profit by finding gold or other riches. They also hoped to discover a water route to Asia. Furthermore, they wanted to claim the region for England

Question 54

What were some difficulties of the terrain in Jamestown?

Answer 54

The colonists soon discovered that Jamestown was located in a swampy area. The water was unhealthy, and mosquitoes spread malaria. Many settlers suffered or died from disease.

Question 55

Why did colonists settle Jamestown, according to Historians?

Answer 55

Historians have long debated the reason why the settlers chose the location they did. One of the main reasons was security: they located their settlement in a place where Spanish ships would be unlikely to find them. If the Spanish did discover Jamestown, its location would make it more easily defensible against Spanish ships.

Question 56

Was it easy to govern Jamestown?

Answer 56

Governing the colony also proved difficult. The Virginia Company had chosen a council of 13 men to rule the settlement. Members of the council quarreled with one another and did little to plan for the colony’s future. By the summer of 1608, the colony was near failure.

Question 57

Did the people of Jamestown have enough food?

Answer 57

Another major problem the Jamestown colonists faced was starvation. Their physical environment offered plenty of resources: fish to catch, plants to gather, and animals to hunt. However, many colonists were not used to living in the wilderness and did not know how to take advantage of these resources. Furthermore, the colonists did not spend enough time producing food. Captain John Smith, a young soldier and explorer, observed that the colonists were not planting enough crops. He complained that people wanted only to “dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold.” As they searched in vain for gold, the colony ran out of food.

Question 58

What did Captain John Smith do for Jamestown?

Answer 58

Smith helped to save the colony. He set up stern rules that forced colonists to work if they wished to eat. He also visited nearby Indian villages. Powhatan (pow uh TAN), the most powerful chief in the area, agreed to supply corn to the English.

Question 59

How long did peaceful relations, that John Smith helped develop, with the Indians and the English people at Jamestown last?

Answer 59

Peaceful relations with Native Americans did not last, however. Whenever the Indians failed to supply food, the colonists used force to seize what they needed. Once, Smith aimed a gun at Powhatan’s brother until the Indians provided corn to buy his freedom. Such incidents led to frequent and bloody warfare. Peace was restored briefly when the colonist John Rolfe married Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan.

Question 60

Wanted happened after John Smith returned back to Europe in 1609?

Answer 60

However, problems arose soon after John Smith returned to England in 1609. Desperate settlers cooked “dogs, cats, snakes, [and] toadstools” to survive. To keep warm, they broke up houses to burn as firewood. The colonists gradually learned to use the sources available in their environment to survive.

Question 61

When did Jamestown’s economy finally start to improve?

Answer 61

Jamestown’s economy finally improved after 1612, when colonists began growing tobacco. Europeans had learned about tobacco from Native Americans.

Question 62

True or False: The English exported the profitable tobacco back to England

Answer 62

True

Question 63

What did King James described pipe smoking as? How fast did it spread?

Answer 63

King James called pipe smoking “a vile custom.” Still, the new fad caught on quickly. By 1620, England was importing more than 30,000 pounds of tobacco a year. At last, Virginians had found a way to make their colony succeed.

Question 64

How did English immigrants to Virginia interact with their environment?

Answer 64

English immigrants to Virginia interacted with their environment by cutting down forests and planting the land with tobacco. Their interaction with the environment was different from that of other groups of immigrants to North America, such as the Dutch and the French, whose trading activity led to the near elimination of beaver populations in some areas.

Question 65

How did early governors sent by the Virginia Company rule the Jamestown colony?

Answer 65

For a time, the governors sent by the Virginia Company ran the colony like a military outpost. Each morning, a drumbeat summoned settlers to work at assigned tasks. Harsh laws imposed the death penalty even for small offenses, like stealing an ear of corn. Such conditions were unlikely to attract new colonists. As John Smith commented after his return to England, “No Man will go … to have less freedom there than here.”

Question 66

To attract more settlers, what did the Virginia Company change about the harsh rule of early governors in Jamestown?

Answer 66

To attract more settlers, the Virginia Company took steps to establish a more stable government. In 1619, it sent a new governor with orders to consult settlers on all important matters. Male settlers were allowed to elect burgesses, or representatives to the government.

Question 67

Where did burgesses in Jamestown meet and talk about?

Answer 67

The burgesses met in an assembly called the House of Burgesses. Together with the governor and his council, they made laws for the colony. The first session met in the Jamestown church in July and August 1619. In steamy weather, the burgesses sat in the church pews, while the governor and council took their places in the choir stalls.

Question 68

What did the House of Burgesses mark in English Colonies?

Answer 68

The House of Burgesses marked the beginning of representative government in the English colonies. In a representative government, voters elect representatives to make laws for them.

Question 69

What was Parliament divided into? Who had the right to vote after the Magna Carta?

Answer 69

Parliament was divided into the House of Lords, made up of nobles, and an elected House of Commons. Only rich men had the right to vote.

Question 70

Who could vote in Early Virginia? How about later?

Answer 70

At first, free Virginians had even greater rights than citizens in England. They did not have to own property in order to vote. In 1670, however, the colony restricted the vote to free, white, male property owners.
Despite these limits, representative government remained important. The idea took root that settlers should have a say in the affairs of the colony. Colonists came to refer to the Virginia Company’s 1619 frame of government as their own “Great Charter.”

Question 71

When did women arrive in Jamestown? What did they do?

Answer 71

The colony’s first women arrived in 1608—a “Mistress Forrest” and her maid, Anne Burras. Few others followed until 1619, when the Virginia Company sent about 100 women to help “make the men more settled.” This shipload of women quickly found husbands. The Virginia Company profited from the marriages because it charged each man who found a wife 150 pounds of tobacco. Life for women was a daily struggle. Women had to make everything from scratch—food, clothing, even medicines. Many died young from hard work or childbirth. By 1624, there were still fewer than 300 women in the Jamestown colony, compared to more than 1,000 men.

Question 72

How did Africans arrive in Jamestown?

Answer 72

Enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia early on. Recently discovered records show that at least 15 black men and 17 black women were already living there by 1619. That same year, a Dutch ship arrived with about 20 Africans. The Dutch sold the Africans to Virginians who needed laborers to grow tobacco. The colonists valued the agricultural skills that the Africans brought with them. From their perspective, the arrival of Africans meant the arrival of a labor force. From the enslaved Africans’ perspective, this was a journey into a brutal life of forced labor. About 300 Africans lived in Virginia by 1644. Some were slaves for life.

Question 73

What did some slaves serve as? What did they do?

Answer 73

Others worked as indentured servants, or people who were pledged to work for a master for a period until they paid off the cost of their voyage, and expected one day to own their own farms. Some Africans did become free planters. Anthony Johnson owned 250 acres of land and employed five servants to help him work it. For a time, free Africans in Virginia also had the right to vote. These newcomers from Africa helped to transform the environment of Virginia by cutting down forests and planting tobacco fields.

Question 74

What caused European newcomers to push into Indian lands?

Answer 74

Meanwhile, English settlers continued to arrive in Virginia, attracted by the promise of profits from tobacco. Wealthy planters, however, controlled the best lands near the coast. Many newcomers were indentured servants. When they finished their period of service, they looked for farmland. Because the best lands along the coast were taken, these and other newcomers had to push farther inland, onto Indian lands.

Question 75

What happened as English newcomers started conflicts with Native Americans because wealthy planters had the best lands on the coast so they went to Native American lands?

Answer 75

As in New England, conflicts over land led to fighting between some white settlers and Indians. After several bloody clashes, settlers called on the governor to take action against Native Americans. The governor refused. He was unwilling to act, in part because he profited from his own fur trade with Indians. Frontier settlers were furious.

Question 76

What did Nathanial Bacon do in 1676? What was the movement called?

Answer 76

Finally, in 1676, Nathaniel Bacon, an ambitious young planter, organized angry men and women on the frontier, including both black and white indentured servants. He raided Native American villages, regardless of whether the Indians there had been friendly to the colonists or not. Then, he led his followers to Jamestown and burned the capital. The uprising, known as Bacon’s Rebellion, lasted only a short time. When Bacon died suddenly, the revolt fell apart. The governor hanged 23 of Bacon’s followers. Still, he could not stop English settlers from moving onto Indian lands along the frontier, or the edge of the settlement.

Question 77

What did Virginia do in response of Bacon’s Rebellion?

Answer 77

Wealthy Virginians generally supported Governor Berkeley. They were alarmed that black and white indentured servants had joined together in a rebellion. In response, Virginia set up a system of laws replacing indentured servitude for Africans with a condition of lifelong slavery that would be passed on to enslaved Africans’ children. As slavery expanded, free African Americans also lost rights. By the early 1700s, free African American property owners could no longer vote.