The colonization of

America
-By Vlad Andrei Tudorascu
 The (*alleged*) Viking discovery
• The (*alleged*) Viking discovery and settlement began in  the late 10th century AD.
• It is said that Erik the Red was banished from Iceland and decided to explore the
southwestern coast of Greenland for 3 years. He made plans to build a settlement and
named the island Greenland to entice new settlers and eventually established his estate
Brattahlid

• Vinland
• In 985, while sailing from Iceland to Greenland with a migration fleet consisting of 400–
700 settlers and 25 other ships, a merchant named Bjarni Herjolfsson was blown off
course, and after three days' sailing he sighted land west of the fleet. Bjarni was only
interested in finding his father's farm, but he described his discovery to Leif Erikson who
explored the area in more detail and planted a small settlement fifteen years later.
• Vinland
• In 985, while sailing from Iceland to Greenland with a migration fleet consisting of
  
400–700 settlers and 25 other ships, a merchant named Bjarni Herjolfsson was
blown off course, and after three days' sailing he sighted land west of the fleet
(modern day Newfoundland). Bjarni was only interested in finding his father's
farm, but he described his discovery to Leif Erikson who explored the area in
more detail and planted a small settlement fifteen years later.
• The Icelandic sagas describe three separate areas discovered during this
exploration: Helluland, which means "land of the flat stones"; Markland, "the
land of forests", definitely of interest to settlers in Greenland where there were
few trees; and Vinland, "the land of wine", found somewhere south of Markland.
It was in Vinland that the settlement described in the sagas was founded.
 The Spanish
Conquests
Isabella of Castile, Queen of Castile and
her husband King Ferdinand, King
of Aragon, pursued a policy of joint rule of
their kingdoms and created a
single Spanish monarchy.
They approved the plan of the Genoese
sailor Christopher Columbus
To reach India by sailing west. funding
came from the queen of Castile, so the
profits from Spanish expedition flowed to
Castile. Spain would have complete
authority of these overseas colonies.
 .

• Christopher Columbus made four voyages to the West Indies as the

monarchs granted Columbus the governorship of the new territories,
and financed more of his journeys. He founded La Navidad on the
island later named Hispaniola (which is now divided between Haiti
and The Dominican Republic) in present day Haiti. Christopher
Columbus found several Caribbean islands, Hispaniola Island Cuba
and explored the coasts of Central and South America in four separate
Trans-Atlantic voyages.
Map of the
Americas in 1795 • Spain's overseas territories came
.
to include: all of continental
.
South America (except for
Brazil), all of Central America,
most of Hispaniola Island, and
most of modern day U.S.A
(except for the New England
area: Delaware, New York, etc).
 The English Colonies
In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both the Plymouth
Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing
permanent settlements in North America. In 1607, the London Company
established a permanent colony at Jamestown on the Chesapeake Bay,
but the Plymouth Company's Popham Colony was short-lived profitability
of growing tobacco, the settlement's population boomed from 400
settlers in 1617 to 1240 settlers in 1622. The London Company was
bankrupted in part due to frequent warring with nearby Native
Americans, leading the English crown to take direct control of the Colony
of Virginia In 
• Meanwhile, the Plymouth Council for New England sponsored several
colonization projects, including a colony established by a group of
English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims. In 1620,
the Mayflower transported the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, and the
Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony in Cape Cod. The Pilgrims
endured an extremely hard first winter, with 50-100 colonists dying. In
1621, Plymouth Colony was able to establish an alliance with the
nearby Wampanoag tribe, which helped the Plymouth Colony adopt
effective agricultural practices and engaged in the trade of fur and
other materials. While further up north the English also established
the settlement of Newfoundland (which stayed in the U.K until 1949).
French America
• The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and
continued on into the following centuries as France established
a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies
in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands,
and in South America. Most colonies were developed to export
products such as fish, rice, sugar, and furs.
• French America came to include (at one point in time): several
Caribbean, modern day Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, most of
Kentucky, Minnesota, Iowa, etc and a significant portion of Canada
(commonly referred to as Quebec)
•  Francis I, King of France. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born Giovanni
da Verrazzano to explore the region
between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean
and wealth. In 1534, Francis I of France sent Jacques Cartier on the
first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and
the St. Lawrence River. He founded New France by planting a cross on
the shore of the Gaspé Peninsula. The French subsequently tried to
establish several colonies throughout North America that failed, due
to weather, disease, or conflict with other European. As they
colonized the New World, the French established forts and
settlements that would become such cities
as Quebec and Montreal in Canada and Detroit, Green Bay, St.
Louis, Cape Girardeau, Mobile, Biloxi, Baton Rouge and New
Orleans in the United States.
The Dutch Colonies
• The Dutch colonization of the Americas began with the establishment
of Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas, which
preceded the much wider known colonisation activities of the Dutch
in Asia.
• The Dutch Colonies came to include: The Dutch Antilles (several
Caribbean Islands), The Dutch Virgin Islands, a portion of Brazil, The
city of Valdivia and some tiny colonies in North America.
The Russian Colony of Alaska
• The Russian colonization of the Americas covers the period from 1732
to 1867, when the Russian Empire claimed the territories of
the northern Pacific Coast territories in the Americas. Russian
expansion eastward began in 1552, and in 1639 Russian explorers
reached the Pacific Ocean. In 1725, Emperor Peter the Great ordered
navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific for potential
colonization..
• The Russian Crown was particularly pleased by the large number of
fur-bearing animals. A large amount of potential fur was pleasing to
the Tsar because heavy hunting in Siberia left the area without a large
population of fur-bearing animals. Russian hunters and trappers
developed a large maritime fur trade which caused a number of
conflicts between the native Aleut people and the Tsar's armies in the
1760s.
• Sadly in the year 1867, The Russian Empire sold all of it's Alaskan
territory to the U.S.A. for 2 cents an acre which came to a total of
$7,2 million ($109 million in modern money)  because of: the threat
of invasion by the british who still held all of Canada, the fact that the
cost of protecting this territory was to great and because of Russia's
economic troubles at the time.
The Portuguese Conquests
• Portugal was the leading country in the
European exploration of the world in
the 15th century. The Treaty of
Tordesillas in 1494 divided
the Earth outside Europe
into Castilian and Portuguese global
territorial hemispheres for exclusive
conquest and colonization.
• Portugal colonized parts of Brazil,
Uruguay and Venezuela
Bibleography
• Wikipedia.com:
• Spanish colonization of the americas 
• The Viking colonization of the americas
• English colonization of the americas
• French colonization of the americas
• Dutch colonization of the americas
• Russian colonization of the americas
• Portuguese colonization of the americas
• Treaty of Tordesillas
• Historylink.org