Download Social Studies Unit 2 – Review Sheet The first European explorers

Social Studies Unit 2 – Review Sheet
The first European explorers to North America were looking for a shorter,
safer sea route to Asia.
Some explorers were:
Christopher Columbus
Samuel de Champlain
Giovanni da Verrazano
Jacques Cartier
However, there were other reasons that drove the Europeans into taking
the treacherous journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
 Remember the 3 Gs!
 God – to spread their religion through missionary work
 Gold – to find resources that they could trade and sell back in
Europe in order to make a profit ($$$$)
 Glory – the fame that comes with settling a new land and
claiming it for your country. When land was claimed and
ruled by another country it was called a colony.
When the European explorers and settlers arrived in the New York region
they were looking to settle here. There were many natural resources that
made the area a good place to live including good farmland, trees,
forest animals, rivers, and an excellent harbor, which helped promote
travel and trade.
The Dutch West India Company was a Dutch company that traveled to
North America in hopes of growing rich by trading goods for fur. They
started a pretty successful fur trade with the help of natives. There were
many furry animals in the regions (especially along the Hudson River) that
they would hunt and skin.
In order to keep other countries from claiming their land, the Dutch
started a colony here. The area that they settled was named New
Amsterdam (Modern day Manhattan).
To encourage people from the Netherlands to move to New Amsterdam,
the Dutch offered land. People who eventually came to settle in New
Amsterdam came from many different countries, which made the colony
pretty diverse. The people of New Amsterdam were said to show
tolerance towards others. However, we cannot forget that they also had
brought slaves over to their new settlement.
In addition, the Native Americans were affected by the arrival of the
Dutch in a negative way. They often had to work together to fight against
the Dutch settlers who attacked them while searching for new land to
claim. They were forced to move off of their land. They also were
threatened by diseases that the Dutch brought with them.
During the late 1600s, the English became jealous of the colony that the
Dutch had set up. The English wanted to wage war against the Dutch
who had settled here. The governor of New Netherland, named Peter
Stuyvesant, spotted English war ships in New Amsterdam’s harbor, led by
colonel Richard Nicolls. The Dutch colonists did not want to fight. They
were outnumbered. They also knew that England had one of the most
powerful navies in the world, and so they definitely felt threatened by
them. The Dutch were also not so happy with their leader, Stuyvesant.
They felt many of his practices were unfair. They convinced Stuyvesant to
give up. The English soon took over.
The colony was renamed New York, after James, the Duke of York, who
now owned the land. New Amsterdam became New York City. Richard
Nicolls became New York’s first governor. He made laws that protected
colonists’ rights.
One important right in New York was trial by jury. A group of colonists
called a jury decided whether someone was innocent or guilty. New
Yorkers did have some rights that other English colonists did not have. For
example, since the Dutch had allowed women and free Africans to own
property, that right continued after the English took over.
New Yorkers wanted to ask for more rights, and so they called for an
assembly, a group elected by the people to make laws. James, the Duke
of York refused their request. But the New Yorkers did not give up! To
force him to listen, they stopped paying taxes (fees paid to the
government for services). Soon, James agreed to an assembly. The
assembly wrote a “Charter of Liberties” that listed all their rights. It was
New York’s first plan of government.
After the English took over, the population of New York city began to
grow. Originally, people lived on farms and there were no large cities.
However, more people began coming to New York because word spread
about the deep harbor. Ships carrying goods and people began to arrive
from Europe and from the other colonies.