European Presence in North America PDF

## European Presence in North America The Spanish and the Portuguese were the early leaders in overseas exploration. They dominated the colonization of the New World through the 1500s. However, Spain and Portugal focused on Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. They left much of North...

## European Presence in North America The Spanish and the Portuguese were the early leaders in overseas exploration. They dominated the colonization of the New World through the 1500s. However, Spain and Portugal focused on Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. They left much of North America unexplored. The English, French, and Dutch explored North America. These nations then sought to expand their own empires there. As their empires grew throughout the 1500s and into the 1600s, Europeans acquired a new tool for understanding their world. The Mercator projection map had been created especially for sailors. Although the far northern and southern regions were distorted on the map, the regions where Europeans wanted to explore and claim land were shown fairly well. This map would have helped explorers plan their journeys. It also showed the vast areas where they might find great riches and expand their presence. ### English Presence in the New World In the late 1500s England decided to set up a permanent settlement in North America. This colony was to establish an English presence in the New World. Sir Walter Raleigh received a *charter*, a document giving him permission to start a colony. In 1584 he sent an expedition that landed in present-day Virginia and North Carolina. Raleigh named the entire area Virginia. The following year, Raleigh sent another group to found a colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The English colonists at Roanoke found life hard. They fought with Native Americans and had trouble finding and growing food. After only a year, the remaining colonists returned to England. John White, a talented artist, and 150 colonists resettled Roanoke in the spring of 1587. White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was the first English colonist born in North America. After a few months, White went back to England to get more supplies. War with Spain prevented White from returning for three years. When he came back, White found the colony deserted. The only clue he found to the fate of the colonists was the word Croatoan, the name of a nearby island, carved into a post. Did the colonists try to escape a Native American attack by fleeing to the island? Or did they intermarry and blend with the friendly Croatan tribe? White never found out. To this day, no one is certain what happened to the "lost colony" at Roanoke.