Whose Land Is It Anyway? Philip Burket
"Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World." –Christopher Columbus. This is the thought that went through every explorer as they embarked on a voyage to the “New World.” They’re leaving their whole lives behind in Europe to come into a completely new one. 3 main countries in particular explored and controlled the movement and direction of colonization in America. The 3 most powerful and dominant include Spain, France, and England.
The first and most ambitious of the three countries to colonize the New World is Spain. After the Crusades Spain became one of the most powerful nations in all of Europe. They began their mission of colonizing the New World to discover riches, spices, goods, and to convert Indians to Catholicism. After the early explorers, conquistadors and their armies went into the Americas, dominating all in their path. They started at Hispaniola, the island Columbus founded, and set out to explore more. Along the way, they met Indians, and many were converted to Catholicism or else they died at the point of a sword. From Hispaniola, the rest of the islands of the Caribbean were promptly taken over by Spanish conquerors. In 1513, Ponce De Leon went searching for the legendary fountain of youth, but in his hunt he founded Florida. Spanish conquerors such as Cortes began their capture of the North American mainland, first taking over the Aztecs. By 1533, Pizarro conquered the Incas of Peru. Later, Cabeza de Vaca discovered Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Spain would be credited with finding and exploring much of Southwest and Southeast America, and one group even discovered the Grand Canyon. The Spanish would cast a long legacy in America, but their power would fade later. After all the Spanish exploration, the French saw their chance to make a claim on the New World.
The defeat of the Spanish Armada gave France a window of opportunity to make a claim on land in the New World....