The Hanseatic League

Starting in 1492 when Christopher Columbus, a Spanish explorer, sailed the ocean blue and discovered the New World began this journey for the Spanish and New England colonies. A settlement had begun to develop as more expeditions sailed for the New World. The Spanish drive for mercantilism and the desire for the expansion of the joint-stock companies set them apart from New England. The English wanted religious persecution from Britain and the Anglican Church. The New England, the Middle, and the Chesapeake colonies held the most power in this time period. Wealth for the colonies was found in trading manufactured goods, raw materials, fur, and most important slaves. This brought much conflict between the colonies, causing the development of each to be deterred from the original path. It is in this context that the countries of Spain and New England had been attempting to establish life and wealth in the New World in opposite ways. Three noteworthy differences between the Spanish and New England colonies were their economic ideals, religious ways, and the manner in which the colonies treated the indigenous people are what set the two colonies apart from each other.

Early modern Europe, specifically Spain and England, was going through major growing pains in the period before discovery and settlement of the New World. Recovery from the Black Plague, religious reformation, and newly formed nation-states were on the forefront of these changes. The political environment, economy, and religion were all intertwined during the upheaval of the Old World which proved to be a driving force in the search for and eventual settlement of new lands.

When word of the economic potential of the New World traveled back to Europe, various companies quickly maneuvered to exploit it for their own gain (Graff 55). Ostensibly, Europeans held three reasons for colonizing the New World: "glory, God, and gold" (Graff 41) While there was some evidence of sincere religious fervor (Graff 27), more often than not, religious ideology gave way to glory and economic gain (Keen 55-56). Worse yet, religion became a thin facade for covering up the greed for economic gain (Keen 106-08). Ironically, the King James Bible of 1611, the very Bible that many Europeans held dear to their hearts, warns of the atrocities of greed in a most prophetic way. "For the Love of money is the root of all evil. . . ." (I Timothy 6:11). Nevertheless, to many Europeans, the New World represented an opportunity to make a fortune (Garraty 2). It was

It is evident that in 16th century Europe there existed both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas. As it can be said, “With the dawn of the 16th century, there came together in Europe both the motivation and the means to explore and colonize territory across the seas.” This statement is true to a large extent, especially in the areas of trade and technology. The physical means to explore and colonize came from the advances in technology that the Europeans had gone through, allowing them to sail far across the oceans and take over native populations easily. The motivation, on the other hand, came from trade-related reasons, such as the desire to trade new resources, to find gold, and to find new trade routes. Without the technology or trade at the dawn of the 16th century, there would not have been the means nor the motivation for Europeans to explore and colonize the New World.

This decade portrays the exploration of the Europeans to the American colonies which allowed England, France, Holland, Spain, and British to colonize with other lands and obtain power by expanding their territory. Nevertheless, England rose as the country with the dominant colonial power. Throughout this decade, the demand for silver and other valued items influenced trade globally by commercializing and strengthening European trade. In addition, the desire for power and control enriched the economy of the Europeans. The rise of European colonization also shaped cultural globalization since traders established various ethnic societies in foreign regions. European explorers were to stop at nothing in order to achieve success in expanding their

______ 1) How was the global trade network of the 15th century different from that of previous eras?

Trading during the Post-classical era from 1000-1450 C.E. were what the many civilizations at that time heavily relied on, it had flourished and arouse to the point where many alliances were created. Many big cities were most notably successful in their trading and alliances. Smaller cities were also able to succeed by having alliance with one another; German Hansa in North Europe and the Swahili cities along the coast of East Africa were among the most successful cities in their trade organizations. Hansa and Swahili shared many similarities; they both craved for money and desired to emphasize their trading sites to extend. Their differences were as important, they were different in their economical, cultural

For the people of Europe the Americas was a place to prosper, worship in there own way, and expand there kingdoms. The only problem is that they attempted to settle in their own way and all failed dismally. The New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southern Colonies grew differently in various ways, but each with the same state of mind, “do it our way”. Examining the three sets of colonies will prove that they were all different in religion, government, and ways of expansion.

Religious motives of the ‘Old Land’ of Europe’s exploration can be traced back to the days of the Crusades down to the 11th and 15th century, where the European Christians tried to invade and claim the city of Jerusalem from its Muslim control. The struggle between the Islamic rule and the European Christians planted the ideology of ‘Reconquista’ in the latter’s religion. It influenced the Christian religion with an air of religious intolerance. With the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, European Catholic’s interests in colonizing newer lands and declare global dominance earned a new momentum. And strong Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal were the

The world’s history had a turning point in the fifteenth century. The oceans were no longer an obstacle as previously seen to reach beyond. The Europeans felt inferior to the power and wealth of the Islamic world and saw the possibility to claim power and richness by conquering the oceans. During the 15th century and the 16th century Europeans established colonies in the Americas, the so called “New World”. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, most did not even consider that the peoples they encountered had cultural and religious traditions that were different from their own; most believed indigenous communities had no culture or religion at all.

In the New World from 1492 to 1700, Christopher Columbus, a Spanish explorer, discovered the New World and began bringing Spain more wealth. Bullion and indigenous people were being brought to Europe. More expeditions continued to the New World and eventually settlement began to establish. The New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Chesapeake areas became the major colonies in the New World. In 1619, slaves were shipped across the world to farm and mine the colonies to bring wealth to England. Conflict across the colonies occurred making the development of the colonies difficult. It is within this context that the Spain and England are trying to establish the New World and wealth but in different ways. There are three significant differences between the Spanish and New England colonies. Spain and England had their own perceptions of the role of religion, economic base, and treatment of indigenous people.

I was unaware of how grueling and unpredictable the process was. I did not realize that in order for New England colonists to make one a trade with a country that is owned by the British as well they would have to sell their goods to the merchants, the merchants had to try their hand overseas to see if they make safely into a new port with their goods, then they have to see if they can sell their goods at a lower price than they bought it for, and so many more steps. Learning about all the steps that people in the 17th century had to take to trade only a few goods makes me so grateful for how efficient getting products from other countries is now, and I believe the early trading system paved the way for our trading now which is very cool to me. In terms of the article, I read there were a lot of

In a time when Spanish and New England colonies journeyed to explore and to colonize the New World in the 1600’s. The colonies both looked to gain more power and wealth. It is in this context that the ways of the Spanish and English colonies varied when it came to settlement and survival on the land in the New World. The difference between the Spanish and New England colonies in the New World between 1492 to 1700 differed considerably in religious beliefs, economy, and treatment of the indigenous people because of the significant change that occurred when the colonies migrated into the New World.

In the early 1600’s, the Eastern Coast of North America proved to be the place where many Englishmen decided to settle after traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. Though many men and women traveled from England, coming from the same ethnicity, what they were seeking varied greatly; their economic, political, religious and social differences were drastically different. Those who migrated here had specific motives which led to different economies. The New England Settlers were in search of religious freedom whereas the Virginians were in search of profit.

The Schmalkaldic League was “an alliance of Lutheran princes and cities that pledged to protect each other from any religiously motivated attack.” In the beginning, the Schmalkaldic League was made up of eight princes and eleven cities; if one member of the league were to be attacked because of their religion; all the other league members would unite and support them (The Schmalkaldic League: Reformation War). The league was formed in response to the threat in 1530 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to get rid of Lutheranism within the empire and have all return to Catholicism. It was Charles V’s refusal to acknowledge the Augsburg Confession from the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 that lead to the formation of this league. Amongst the members, the league had a substantial military of 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. The Schmalkaldic League got its name from the location in which it had formed; they had formed in the small town of Schmalkalden, Germany (Schmalkaldic League). Due to other things happening during this time, Charles V did not have a lot of time to focus on the Schmalkaldic League, which led him to grant the league “free exercise of their religion until a church council or national diet could decide religious issues” (Graves). “The creation of leagues was common in the early modern Holy Roman Empire, especially during the Reformation” (The Schmalkaldic League: Reformation War). Even though the Schmalkaldic League had a large military force and was ready to