After it was Spanish and French territory .. How did North America become English despite Britain’s delay in exploring it?

America celebrates annually the anniversary of the founding of the first British colony in America more than 4 centuries ago, as "Jamestown" constituted the first building block in the edifice of the United States system as we know it today, with its political, social, cultural, religious and economic dimensions that were affected by English culture, although England was late in exploring "New World" compared to other European countries in the Age of Great Exploration.

In his article on The Conversation, the American academic David Gering considers that English-language narratives of history tend to shed light on England's early settlement of what is known as the New World, but - in fact - England was under the rule of Queen Elizabeth (1558-) 1603) was a minor European player in the competition to explore the New World in comparison with Spain and France, and their presence in it lagged behind other European countries.

After England lost Calais - its last land in France - in 1558, and after witnessing two short royal reigns of King Edward VI (1547-1553) and Queen Mary (1553-1558), England could not compete with the rising and stable Spain with its abundant financial resources;

The latter was extremely rich thanks to the influx of gold and silver from the New World mines, especially from Potosí in present-day southwestern Bolivia.

A friendship that turned into a war

A professor of early British history at the University of Nottingham says that England and Spain were allies for a long time before the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and the first wife of King Henry VIII was Catherine of Aragon, Spain, and so was Queen Mary I's husband, King Philip II.

But subsurface animosities eventually turned into open warfare after England intervened in the Dutch Revolution, in support of the Dutch against Spanish control in 1585.

King Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) - husband of the Queen of England, and the king of Naples, Sicily and Portugal for different periods - had considered launching an attack on England before 1585, but the English involvement in the Netherlands alongside piracy on the seas by English ships and the English navigator Francis Drake, Vice Admiral, led to the move of the Spanish Armada in 1588 in an attempt to invade and subjugate England.

The Spanish fleet suffered a heavy defeat in the North Sea against the English naval fleet, which was supported by the Dutch fleet, and the defeat of the Armada was considered the largest battle that took place between England and Spain in the Anglo-Spanish War that lasted between 1585 and 1604, an event that reduced the prestige of the Catholic Spanish Empire that was challenged by the English merchants (Protestants) ) With more confidence in different places of the world.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada fleet in 1588 (foreign press)

And with enterprising naval military leaders, the independent English quickly found private investors to fund their voyages and activities in the New World.

This was seen as antagonizing Spain, but it was an opportunity to explore commercial enterprises, opportunities for trade and wealth, and the English queen encouraged sailors like Francis Drake to snatch Spanish ships and cities in the New World.

The landing of the "Mayflower" at the end of 1620 is an important historical milestone, due to the tremendous influence it brought to the New World with its cargo on people and English culture.

But in many ways, this ship does not just mark the beginning of an Anglo-American story, as it is just one part of a wider European story of exploration, settlement, displacement and subjugation of indigenous peoples.

The arrival of Mayflower's ship was followed by the establishment of the first successful English settlement in Jamestown in 1607, which came more than a century after the Spanish and Portuguese invasions of the New World and the Americas.

Sailing Columbus

Italian Christopher Columbus sailed in 1492 to the New World under the Spanish flag, followed by other Italians, including Amerigo Vespucci, under the Spanish and Portuguese flags shortly after, and Giovanni di Verrazano under the French flag in 1524.

The Italian explorer and traveler Giovanni Caputo (known in Britain as John Cabot) sailed under the English flag in the 1590s, but his efforts did not result in any permanent settlement by the English.

In contrast, Spanish exploration and colonization in the New World extended thousands of miles into the depths of South America and the plains of North America.

New Spain (Hispania Nova) dominated the early maps of the Western Hemisphere, and in these lands the Spanish government established full colonial rule and administration with churches and missionaries, to try to Christianize the indigenous people.

The lands claimed by Portugal in Brazil were also vast, easily distinguishable on ancient maps of their large area.

International recognition of Spanish and Portuguese territories and domination came with the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, and in the following years it obtained recognition from the Catholic Pope in Rome.

Not to lose the rivalry by 1550, the French had discovered vast lands in what is now Canada (Nova Francia), although settlement by the French in this area was limited.

Spain's activity was not limited to Central or South America, and Spanish exploration in North America continued to expand as the century progressed, so Hernando de Soto discovered Florida in the 1540s, while Francisco Coronado discovered the southwest at the same time.

As for what is now Mexico, it was completely occupied by Spain, including the capital, Mexico City, which was built on the ruins and ashes of the former Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.

The Spanish Empire expanded more and more throughout the world under King Philip II during the second half of the 16th century, especially when all Portuguese lands came under his control in 1580. Spanish power was majestic, even if reckless sailors like Drake angered Spain through Looting along the coast of South America in the 1570s.

The Spanish lands were so vast and far-reaching that Europeans - including the English - knew how the sun had never set on the Spanish Empire in the 16th century (long before the sun shone on the British Empire in the 19th century).

Catch up with the game

By the early 17th century, England was more confident of itself on the European level than it had been since the reign of Henry VIII, but it still had to catch up after being long late and entering great rivalry with Spain (which annexed Portuguese possessions), as well as the Netherlands and even The two Denmark soon became active in the exploration and annexation of lands in the Americas.

The British - led by private companies or religious refugees like Mayflower "pilgrims" - were in some ways late until the second half of the 17th century, and in the meantime the lands of the New World were an arena for competition between European peoples' cultures, conquest, settlement, and even the extermination of indigenous peoples, an issue that united Newly arrived Europeans.

Thus began the great mixing and integration of peoples in the Americas, and the English language prevailed in North America, while the Spanish and Portuguese languages ​​continued in Latin and Central America.

English settlement

By the early 17th century, the English became increasingly eager to establish a permanent colony in North America, after failing to do so in other American places such as Roanoke and Nunavut, and found a suitable place along the James River in present-day Virginia, and soon realized that the area was ideal for tobacco cultivation.

But the newcomers did not expect to settle in the perfect breeding ground for the bacteria that cause typhoid fever and dysentery, and from 1607 to 1624, about 7,300 immigrants - most of them young - traveled to Virginia, according to an article by Peter C. Mancall, professor of humanities at the University of Southern California. Conversation.

By 1625, there were only 1,200 survivors, and a local uprising of indigenous people and food shortages caused by the drought contributed to the high number of victims, most of whom died due to the outbreak.

The situation was so difficult, Mancall says, that some colonists resorted to eating cannibals.

Aware that such stories may discourage would-be immigrants from crossing the ocean, the Virginia Company in London circulated a brochure that acknowledged the problems, but stressed that the future will be brighter.

Thus English immigrants continued to arrive in search of work and escape the hardships of life in London, and many of the unemployed and desperate people agreed to become contract servants, meaning that they would work for farms in Virginia for a specified period of time in exchange for passing through the ocean and rewarding the end of the decade.

Thus, tobacco production increased, and despite the lower price due to the abundance of crops, farmers managed to accumulate great wealth, and the English settlement expanded in what is now the United States of America, whose first language is English.