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Old Friday, November 15, 2013
sadafnoorelahi sadafnoorelahi is offline
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@ Naveed bhutto. kindly make an outline of this part of the question.
Why England failed to take the initiative in the colonization of the American continent?


[B]What factors were responsible for the British interest in establishing their colonies in the areas that are now part of the United States of America? (20

Introduction: Europeans from the very begininning were interested in trade with the east. They held political, social, economic and often religious interests in india. they wanted to engage them in economic strangulations.
Many factors led to the british colonization of U.S.A

Search of new routes
in the past, the Europeans often used two routes to travel to east.
a) Sea route : it passed from red sea to the Indian ocean. This route was unsafe due to interception from pirates.
b) Land route : it passed through turkey and was blocked by the Turkish due to their religious rivalry with the west.

British were in search of the shortest route to india, with minimum expenditure. Such a quest led to the discovery of America.

Market of eastern goods

Eastern commodities had a lot of demand in British markets. Spices, cotton, silk, perfumes were purchased by the british in huge number. This also led to the transfer of hordes of gold from british to the east. Now the British wanted access to the east with minimum expenditure.

Renaissance:

15th century in the Europe was known to be the time of enlightenment or renaissance. Now the Europeans had enough money to spent on long distance ventures. They wanted to shed off their old practices of the dark ages.

Intellectual curiousity:

As this was the time of enlightenment, many Europeans including british were curious of exploring new routes and this led to the discovery and subsequent colonization of U.S.A.

Seafaring technologies:

In the past, ships were often not very well developed. However, advancement in science and technology led to the development of ships which could travel longer distances. This also caused the creation of better maps and navigational methods.as a result, british could now take long voyages to U.S.A.

Lust of wealth

Spanish and Portuguese citizens often carried ships loaded with gold and silver from U.S.A to their country. This also provoked the british. They also began to instigate individuals and companies to colonize unclaimed land of America

Imperial race:

Many European countries particularly, Spanish, portugues, French and even british began to compete for colonization of U.SA. it was a fight of which country would have how much land.

Royal patronage:

Early attempts made by the british failed due to the absence of royal patronage. However, when the king extended imperial support to the colonizers, british began to colonize the land quickly.

Population explosion

In the 15th century there were more than 100 million citizens in Europe. Primitive methods of agriculture was used. As a result, yield was low. to overcome the issue, Europeans, particularly british were in search of new land which could be exploited for agricultural needs. U.S.A offered them the land.

Religious factor

16th and 17th century of the Europe was known for religious tolerance and persecution. Often strict religious policies were implemented. Many individuals escaped their homelands and fled to the new world where they could enjoy religious liberties. Puritans from England fled to escape religious persecution laying the foundations of Massachusetts. Mary land and Virginia was also formed for a parallel cause.

Industrial growth:

This time in the Europe was known for advancement in science and technology which laid the basis of a strong industrial sector. Machines produced good quality products in bulk. As all of these products could not be consumed by the local market, therefore british were in search of a place where they could sell off their excess products. U.S.A offered them hope.

whiteman's burden: often british justify their colonization of other countries as a part of white man's burden i.e they were moved by the backwardness of other areas and colonized them for their betterment, to introduce new reforms and to help them develop along modern lines.

Critical analysis:
From the initial discovery of U.S.A by Christopher Columbus to the 16th century, land from north of mexico to the south of American continent was colonized by the Spanish and Portuguese. 17th century saw the colonization of rest of the land by the british. They were attracted to the new world by wealth, land, religious liberties, competition, and intellectual curiousity among other factors.
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