Sammy Dawson

Mr. Herrmann & Mr. Rutherford

AP History, period 4
19 August 2015

Clash of Cultures

1. Who was involved? Why them?

The countries who were involved were the English, Spanish, Dutch, French and
Portuguese. These people who clash with the indigenous people of the Americas when they
began to explore and colonize. These specific countries were involved because of their wealth,
their location near the sea, want for Indias goods and an inclination to convert the Native
Americans.
2. What did they want? Why?
These countries wanted the goods, such as silk and spices, from India. But because
Constantinople fell to the Turks, they no longer had the Silk Road to trade these goods. So they
looked to the Atlantic to find a new passage to the goods they wanted. They just happened to
bump into a whole new continent. Some countries also wanted to convert others to their religion,
whether it was Puritanism, Catholicism or Baptist.
3. What was the economical system that motivated them?
The economic system that motivated them was mercantilism. They wanted to maximize
imports and minimize exports in order to gain the most profit. This required colonies to be set
up in the Americas and regulated by the governments back in Europe. This happened while
looking for a trade route to the Indies, and along the way they found opportunities to make
money.
4. What was happening with the indigenous people at the time?

At the time, two main things were happening to the indigenous people of the Americas.
First, there land was being taken from them by the Europeans. Sometimes, though rarely, the
Europeans would purchase the land from the Native Americans, often times taking advantage of
the Indians lack of knowledge of European currency. The second thing was that millions of
indigenous people were dying from diseases they had no immunity to. Europeans came to the
Americas with sickness and disease these people had never seen, blindsiding and killing of
millions at a time. They had no defense against it.