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Christopher Columbus sailed to what he believed was the Indies and sent information about the natives back to Spain. Spain saw here an opportunity for both fame and the potential for Catholic converts in the new world.
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The time when major empires where settling and profiting from new Colonies
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King Henry reforms the English Church and a separatist sect make a Pilgrimage to the new world. Henry's abuse of the gospel motivated these people out of the country and to the new world to form colonies to celebrate god the right way.
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Portugal discovers Brazil during it's age of discovery and holds on to the seemingly worthless colony for the sake of being an Empire. Eventually this pays off with a wealth of resources but at the time Brazil was a white elephant for Portugal
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England founds Jamestown in 1607 to grow crops and make the kingdom money. They were a vital component to one of the major ideas of empire building, mercantilism. Many colonies were meant to produce goods and wealth for their crown which is what Jamestown did
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Empires overstep their boundaries and the colonies they created have enough strength from the resources they were founded on to start becoming empires
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Boston was a bustling trade port for the colonies and was hit hard by the taxes and laws imposed after the Seven Years War. This violation of their independence motivated the colonies to revolt and served as inspiration for other revolutions in the hemisphere.
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The plantation colony of Haiti revolts against their French crown, inspired by the revolutions occurring in France and America. The closeness of the Haiti to the Americas no doubt contributed to the desire for revolution
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While their crown was fighting the Peninsular War, Spanish American colonies found new found freedoms. When the Spanish tried to take these away, the colonies fought multiple wars of independence to become their own countries. Once again, inspired in no small part by the French and American Revolutions
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The Peninsular War led to the Portuguese royalty fleeing to the strengthened Brazil. When the war ended, Dom Pedro stayed behind to rule this part of the empire and eventually became it's first emperor. It's able to become a kingdom due to it's booming resources and economy
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The period where these new countries started becoming Empires and the new ideas surrounding Empires
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America had been growing ever since they gained independence. Manifest Destiny meant expansion was their god given right. Alaska was bought from Russia, who sold it to them to keep the arctic circle out of British hands.
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After Alaska, America had its eyes on Hawaii not only to keep it out of European hands but in order to claim its resources for itself. Eventually they annexed it. America's desire for land and resources was seemingly the standard for many of these new empires.
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Japan, after defeating the much weaker Russian and Chinese Empires were able to take as much land as they saw fit in Asia. They saw the land as a way to grow and become powerful which was their goal in this new world
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Germany was broken after WWI and had a thirst for power that led to WWII. Hitler in the years leading up to the war annexed Austria and Poland in order to show his nation's strength. Germany had many ideas taken from America, perhaps this aggressive expansion came from here too.
