Contact and Colonies (1492–1763)
Contact and Colonies (1492–1763)
The meeting of two worlds after 1492 reshaped both. European empires planted colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, Native nations were devastated by disease yet remained powerful players, and the forced migration of enslaved Africans became central to the colonial economy. Out of this violent, creative mixing emerged the societies that would one day rebel.
2.1The Columbian ExchangeColumbus's voyages opened a two-way transfer of people, plants, animals, and microbes now called the Columbian Exchange. From the Americas…2.2Rival empiresSpain built the first and largest American empire, conquering the Aztec and Inca states and extracting silver that flowed across the globe…2.3Thirteen different coloniesThe English colonies were never a single society. New England, settled heavily by Puritans, built town-centered communities around…2.4Slavery takes rootEnslaved Africans were brought to the Americas beginning in the 1500s, and to England's mainland colonies from 1619 onward. Over time…2.5Early self-governmentEnglish colonists brought traditions of representative government and expanded them. Virginia's House of Burgesses (1619) and the Mayflower…2.6Meanwhile, elsewhere (1492–1763)While the colonies grew, Europe was convulsed by religion and dynastic war, from the Reformation to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)…