The incursion of the British in the process of colonization the American continent has certain particularities that significantly differ from the colonial experience promoted by the Portuguese and Spaniards. Among other reasons, we can point out the late colonization process, the spontaneous nature of the occupation of territories and the characteristics of the North American coast as fundamental points in the understanding of the English colonization.
Under Queen Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603), England joined the mercantilist economy by investing in the construction of new vessels and maritime trade. In this context, piracy became an important source of profits sustained in the assault of Spanish ships leaving the Caribbean bound for the Europe. During this same period they tried to undertake the colonization of the North American region with the organization of three expeditions commanded by Walter Raleigh.
The failure of these first expeditions it was only reversed with the creation of the colony of Virginia, in 1607. After that, the
british colonization process gained strength with the restriction policy, which expelled small farmers from their properties, forcing them to seek other possibilities in the New world. Concomitantly, the religious conflicts that gripped England after the anglican reform they also motivated the immigration of English Puritans to America.Mind Map: English Colonization
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In the year 1620, the Mayflower ship left the England with a group of artisans, petty bourgeois, merchants, peasants and small landowners interested in inhabiting a land where they could prosper and practice the Protestantism freely. Getting at North America that same year, settlers founded the colony of Plymouth - now the state of Massachusetts – which soon became the original point of the so-called New England.
Over time, this colonization process established through the autonomous action of certain individuals began to gain more diverse characteristics. In the northern region, the settlement colonization had to overcome great difficulties that with the subsequent consolidation of small properties and the use of free labor allowed the formation of a diversified trade sustained by the introduction of manufacture and the emergence of a consumer market.
In the southern region, geographic and climatic specificities provided a distinct colonization model. The subtropical climate, fertile soil and plains cut by navigable rivers consolidated a colonization model similar to the Iberian patterns. Thus, the system of plantations established the emergence of large farms monocultures tobacco, rice, indigo and cotton producers. As a result, the great demand for labor favored the adoption of slave labor from Africa.
Composing a late occupation process, the central region was marked by an economy that mixed the agricultural production with the development of manufacturing shopping centers. At first colonies Centrals appeared around 1681, with the founding of the colonies of Delaware and Pennsylvania. During the independence of the colonies, this region had great importance in organizing the actions that ended the british domination.
By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
*Mental Map by Daniel Neves
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/colonizacao-inglesa.htm