Discuss the Role of European Imperial Rivalry in the Founding of Colonies in North America
The wars between imperial powers played a pivotal role in the development of colonies in North America. Two of the colonial powers that had much influence in North America were French and English. These two imperial powers fought for centuries, each trying to expand its territories at the detriment of the other. By the end of the 15th century, adventurers, missionaries, explorers, conquerors, merchants, and missionaries were looking for new lands to exert control over. By the first half of the 17th centuries, Netherlands, Spain, France, and England were all in a competition for colonies and trade opportunities around the globe. Within no time, the desire to control key trade areas and land paved the way for imperial rivals. Competition for trade, exploration, land, and settlement resulted in the expansion of the economic systems of mercantilism and New World Imperialism. The more land each European power controlled, the smaller the land occupied by the indigenous Americans become (Symth, 2017).
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Discuss the Role of European Imperial Rivalry in the American Revolution
The imperial animosity in the Americas paved the way for the success of America’s struggle for independence. By the first half of the 18th century, the rivalry for the Americas was primarily between Spain, Great Britain, and France. However, other weaker colonial powers such as Russia, Netherlands, and Portugal also laid claim to a portion of the Americas. Each of the European empires claimed more territory that it was able to control. Consequently, in the North America, the indigenous communities retained control over much of the resources. Each European power tried to enter into commercial and political alliances with the various communities of American natives. This struggle between Europeans culminated in the Seven Years War that lasted between 1754 and 1763 and whose end was marked by the colonial powers signing the Treaty of Paris. However, France was left angry after much of its territories were taken over by British. As such, when the Britain’s American colonies started rebelling, the French government viewed it as an opportunity to get their revenge by attacking Britain. Thus, the American Revolution could not have been successful if the American movement for revolution did not take advantage of the rivalry between imperial powers (Imperial Rivalry in the Americas, 2017.
References
Imperial Rivalry in the Americas. (2017). Accessed on May 6, 2017. http://erenow.com/modern/americannation/304.html
Symth, B. (2017). Early European imperial colonization of the new world. Accessed on May 6, 2017. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/imperial-rivalries/resources/early-european-imperial-colonization-new-world
