Looking West Flashcards
When and what did Columbus discover
West Indies in 1492 whilst working for Spain
Why did the English want to beat Spain
English were Protestant and Spain was Catholic -> a fight to spread ideas
What did John Cabot discover and when
Newfoundland in 1497
When was Barbados discovered
1625
Why was Spain a threat
Had an earlier advantage in the Americas and Caribbean -> had the monopoly on all resources and trade as well as converting people to Catholicism
Difference between privateer and pirate
Privateer has permission from the monarch to attack foreign ships and steal as long as the stolen goods were shared with the monarch
How successful was English privateering
10-15% of all Spanish treasure ships were successfully captured
Give an example of one of Elizabeth’s sea dogs
John Hawkins
- in 1562, he came into possession of a cargo of 300 slaves after attacking a Portuguese fleet
What happened to the pirates
- by 1720, it was rare in the Caribbean
- monarchs stopped commissioning as many privateers because plantations became better way to profit
- navy began intense anti-piracy activity
Examples of British Settlement in the Americas
- Newfoundland
- Jamestown (1607)
- Barbados (1625)
- Bahamas (1718)
What % of all imports were sugar
20% of all imports in Europe were sugar by 1750
Why were enslaved Africans better than indentured labourers
- cheaper
- owned
- more consistent and could be brought to the Americas
Why go to the Americas?
- there were religious conflicts in Britain -> puritans and Catholics felt persecuted and left for freedom
- plantations could be profited off of -> had ‘cash crops’ like cotton, tobacco and sugar
How many white settlers were in Virginia
42,000 by 1700
Royal African Company
Started in 1672 and was endorsed by the king to trade slaves
Transported 60,000 slaves between 1680 and 1688
How much money did Britain make from slavery
£60 million between 1761 and 1808
What belief did slavery create
That Europeans were superior to Africans
Sir Walter Raleigh
- went to South America to hunt for gold in 1595 (El Dorado)
- in 1584, was laid to establish settlements in North America
How many colonies did Britain have in America
13
Virginia
1607
- good source of land for plantations
Massachusetts
1630
- Puritans wanted a place where they could be free to practice their religion
Georgia
1732
- needed a buffer zone between South Carolina and Florida (owned by Spain) to keep SC safe
What was the first colony established in North America
Roanoke in 1587
Jamestown was the project of what
Virginia Company
What was the main export of Jamestown? How many lbs were they producing a year?
Tobacco
3,000,000 lbs a year by 1680s
New Plymouth
- British Puritans arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower to escape persecution -> became the Pilgrim Fathers
What happened as a result of New Plymouth
More than 20,000 settlers arrived in Massachusetts between 1629 and 1640
Jamestown
Founded in 1607
Led by John Smith
Attack in 1622 where nearly 350 colonists died
The starving time
Winter 1609–1610
100s died from starvation
What did the number of Native Americans in ‘British’ territories reduce to
In 1500, there were around 560,000 but by 1700 there were less than 280,000
John Rolfe
Married Pocahontas and converted her to Christianity and changes her name to Rebecca
-> first interracial church wedding in US history
Causes of the War of Independence
- settlers built up a sense of independence of being American rather than British
- started to resent having to pay tax to English king
The Stamp Act
1765
- colonists in NA had to pay money to Britain to use special stamped paper
- colonists boycotted British products
Townshend Act
1767
- British put a tax on glass, lead and other things that was sold in NA
- more boycotting
Boston Massacre
1770
- a British tax collector was trying to gather money
- the colonists started throwing snowballs and British soldiers shot at them killing 5 colonists
Boston Tea Party
1773
- threw crates of tea into Boston Harbour in protest
Intolerable Acts
1774
- series of strict laws to punish the colonists
- closed down the Boston port
- banned polictical meetings without permission from the British government
- made colonists house and feed British troops stationed in the colonies
When was the Declaration of Independence signed
1776
When was the War of Independence
1775-1783
When did the British surrender
In Yorktown in 1781
They then signed the Peace Treaty in 1783
Advs and dis that Britain had
- more experienced fighters
- strong and stable government
- lots of money + best navy
- French hated them and helped cut off their supplies
- didn’t have enough soldiers to control all the land by force
- couldn’t operate away from harbours as they wouldn’t have access to supplies
Advs and dis that America had
- get money and manpower from allies -> France and Netherlands
- Britain distracted by other battles
- had a lot of land
- inexperienced fighters (Battle of Trenton 1776)
- less money
- had to travel far
Consequence of losing the American colonies on Britain
British trade with USA rose to the same as trade with colonies by 1785
And by 1792 trade between Britain and Europe had doubled
What happened to Britain after losing its American colonies
- DIDNT suffer a lot
- still had Canada and land in the Caribbean, India and Africa
- Britain began to expand in these regions building up the British Empire
What happened to Canada after British lost its American colonies
- stayed part of Britain (Quebec, Ontario etc)
- America lost 100,000 settlers to Canada who preferred to emigrate rather than live under the new government
What happened to Australia after Britain lost its American colonies
- Britain sent their criminals there
- Australia was loyal and provided a market for British goods
Who were the Huguenots
French Protestants in 16th and 17th century who followed the teachings of John Calvin
What happened during the French Wars of Religion
The French Catholics persecuted Protestants heavily -> August 1572, 70,000 French Protestants were killed
What was the new agreement that affected the Huguenots
Edict of Fontainebleau
When was the edict of Fontainebleau
1685
What did the Edict of Fontainebleau do
Made Protestantism illegal
How many Huguenots fled France as a result of the Edict of Fontainebleau
200,000
Why did the Huguenots flee to Britain?
- to escape persecution and Britain was a safe choice
-> because the king recently made the country from Catholic to Protestant during the English Reformation in the 1530s
Impact of Huguenots on Britain
- revitalised British industries like watch-making and gun-making
- started the new industry of paper making
- French lost many talented merchants and craftsmen
Gives facts about Huguenots and the paper industry
By the 1710s, Britain had 200 paper mills, supplying nearly 70% of Britains paper
British banknotes were printed by Huguenots business from 1712 onwards, for over 250 years
The Ulster Plantation
- in 1603 King James I became the first monarch to control Scotland, England and Ireland -> he was also Protestant
- from 1609 onwards people from England and Scotland were encouraged to move to Northern Ireland to make sure it support James
How did James pay for the Ulster Plantations?
- wealthy companies and landowners were offered huge areas of land that had been taken from the Irish population -> this was in reward for helping James financially
- the Mercer’s Company received up to 21,600 acres of land
Impact of the Ulster Plantations
- most settlers moved to find a better life but Irish people saw it as an invasion
- the population grew rapidly as thousands arrived
-> this created tensions between Protestants and Catholics
Jacobite Rebellions
Descendants of the Stuart’s tried to regain the throne through rebellions
-> they were defeated in the Battle of Culloden in 1746
Battle of Culloden
1746
- English defeated the Scots who were rebelling for a Stuart king
Why did the highland clearances happen
- Much of the land in the Highlands was owned by the Englishmen and rented by the Highlanders
- However the English landlords started to prefer the idea of having large sheep farms (made landlords more money) rather than renting land to farming families.
What were the highland clearances
- English began to remove all opposition like Scottish chiefs who supported Stuarts along with their clans
- many were forced to emigrate to the lowlands but many also went abroad
- laws were passed making their life harder and bagpipes were banned
How many families were evicted per day in the highland clearances
2000
