After it was Spanish and French lands, how did North America become English despite Britain's delay in its exploration?

America celebrates annually the anniversary of the founding of the first British colony in America more than 4 centuries ago, as Jamestown formed 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 The "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-speaking history novels tend to highlight 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) A minor European player in the competition to explore the New World compared to Spain and France, and its presence was delayed from other European countries.

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

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

The friendship that turned into a war

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

But the hostilities beneath the surface eventually turned into open war after England intervened in the Dutch Revolt, supporting the Dutch against Spanish control in 1585.

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

The Spanish fleet suffered a heavy defeat in the North Sea in front of the English naval fleet, which was supported by the Dutch fleet, and the defeat of the Armada was considered the largest battle that occurred 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, which was challenged by English merchants (Protestants). ) with greater confidence in different parts of the world.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (Foreign Press)

With adventurous military naval commanders, the independent English soon found private investors to fund their travels and activities in the New World.

This was seen as an antagonism to Spain, but it was an opportunity to explore business, 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 landmark, due to the enormous influence it brought to the New World with its cargo of English population and culture.

But in many ways, this ship is not only the beginning of an Anglo-American story, because it is just one part of a broader European story of exploration, settlement, displacement and oppression of indigenous people.

The arrival of the Mayflower followed the establishment of the first successful English settlement at Jamestown in 1607, which came more than a century after the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of the New World and the Americas.

Columbus sailing

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

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 it was in these lands that the Spanish government established colonial rule and administration, complete with churches and missionaries, to try to Christianize the indigenous population.

The territories claimed by Portugal in Brazil were also vast, and can be easily distinguished on old maps for their large area.

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

In order not to lose the competition by 1550, the French discovered vast territories 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. Hernando de Soto discovered Florida in the 1540s, while Francisco Coronado discovered the southwest at the same time.

What is now Mexico was completely occupied by Spain, including the capital, Mexico City, which was built on the wreckage and ashes of the former Aztec city 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 by Looting along the coasts of South America in the 1570s.

The Spanish territory was so vast and so 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 rose over the British Empire in the 19th century).

catch up game

By the early 17th century, England was more self-confident in Europe than it had been since Henry VIII, but it still had to catch up, having fallen behind and in great competition with Spain (which included Portuguese possessions), the Netherlands and even the Netherlands. Denmark, which soon became active in the exploration and annexation of territories in the Americas.

The English, led by private companies or religious refugees such as the Mayflower "pilgrims", were in some ways late until the second half of the 17th century, during which time the New World lands were the arena of competition between European cultures, conquest, settlement and even extermination of the natives, an issue that united the 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 had become increasingly eager to establish a permanent colony in North America, after failing to do so in other American places such as Roanoke and Nunavut, finding a suitable place along the James River in present-day Virginia, and soon realizing that the area was ideal for growing tobacco.

But the newcomers did not expect that they had settled in an ideal breeding ground for the bacteria that cause typhoid fever and dysentery, and from 1607 to 1624, about 7,300 immigrants - mostly young people - traveled to Virginia, according to an article by Peter C. Mancal, professor of humanities at the University of Southern California for the website. Conversion.

By 1625, there were only 1,200 of them surviving, and a local indigenous uprising and drought-induced food shortages contributed to a high death toll, most of whom died from the outbreak.

Mancal says the situation was so dire that some colonists resorted to cannibals.

Realizing that such stories might discourage would-be immigrants from crossing the ocean, the Virginia Company in London circulated a brochure acknowledging the problems, but stressing that the future would be brighter.

And so English immigrants continued to arrive in search of work and escape the hardships of life in London, and many unemployed and desperate people agreed to become contract servants, meaning they would work for a Virginia farmer for a specified period of time in exchange for passage across the ocean and an end-of-decade bonus.

Thus, the production of tobacco rose, and although the price fell due to the abundance of the crop, the farmers were able to amass a great fortune, and the English settlement expanded in what is now the United States of America, of which English is their first language.