European Colonies in America during 17th Century

European Colonies in America during 17th Century

Introduction

The early periods of American history witnessed a massive wave to migration to North America from the Europe. The rate of migration and the number of people moving in and establishing colonies in America increased vastly for the three centuries. The migrants came as numerous groups in over-crowded ships. During the voyage, they lived on short food and necessity supplies, and many passengers also died during the journey.

England suffered severe difficulties in the early 17th century, which compelled the people to migrate from their homelands to the newfound state. People also migrated due to the political oppression and in the hope of finding a place to practice their religion and cultural rituals in a way different than the practice at their homelands (Hamby, 2007).

Discussion

Advent of Early Colonists

Earliest of the British colonies in the North America was the Jamestown. It consisted of a group of 100 men. These men had set out for a site which was around 60 kilometers far from the bay of River James. These men had fled from their homeland to avoid conflict with the Spanish, and to practice the religious beliefs freely. Settlers of the Jamestown had named their new settlement after their king James (Velm, 2013). Half of the settlers of the Jamestown were the working class who had done labor work and the other half consisted of the upper class who did not have any idea about working on the farms, hunting etc (Wiegand, 2009).

Religious Intentions

Having religious intentions, Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Similar to the settlers of Jamestown, the Puritans also came to America to flee the political and religious oppression. Named Puritans, they came with an intention to purify the Church of England (Velm, 2013). The Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay colonies were established by the people who had escaped due to severely worse economic condition at their homelands.

Leadership

The settlers of the Jamestown settled in Virginia to make profits and invest into their companies. The early settlements of the British colonies faced the same problem; they had a lack of leadership and economic prosperity. Not until, John Smith took charge of the Jamestown settlement; the settlers did not agree much on any issue and did not seem to have a coalition on any agreement (www.historyisfun.org). The Puritans in comparison were more organized and had a clear intention in their minds. They had arrived to purify the church. Moreover, they did not fall short of a good leadership. The Puritans had John Winthrop, an excellent leader. John Winthrop had served the Puritan for 19 years (Velm, 2013).

Early Difficulties

The settlement of the Jamestown was in a swamp which was malaria-ridden, so, the settlers of the Jamestown were sick with diseases and died of starvation. Their competition for land with the Native Americans rendered them in a weak position as compared to the Native Americans. In half a year, most settlers of the Jamestown were dead (Wiegand, ...