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Columbus, saling for Spain, "discovers" what come to be called the New World.
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Sailing for the French and looking for the Northwest Passage, Jacques Cartier explores and maps much of the Atlantic coast of northern North America and stakes France's clain to a New World Empire.
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The Spanish establish a fort, St. Sugustine, on the FLorida coast. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the continetal U.S. It was established, in part, to block French attempts to settle the area.
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The English attempt to settle teh New World, found Roanoke on a barrier island off the coast of present day Virgina adn North Carolina. By 1590, there was no sign of the colonists. The inhospitable climate and native population discouraged England from attempting colonization for decades.
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Queen Elizabeth I and her navy are able to repel a massive invasion force led by Phillip II of Spain. This victory soldified Elizabeth's hold on power and marked the beginning of the Spanish Empire's long, slow decline.
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The Eglish crown, still unwilling to pu tits own money behind colinization, authorized the establishe dof two joint stock companies to settle colonies in teh New World. The first to successfully establish a permanent settlement was teh Virginia Company. They built a small fort christianed Jamestown in honor of King James I. Short documentary about Jamestown
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Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and sea captain, founded a fort and trading post near a natural harbor along the St. Lawrence River. Quebec was the first of many French trading posts established in the St. Lawrence Valley which capitlaized on the lucrative fur trade with the native Americans in the Candaian interior.
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Sailing for the Dutch, the English sea captian Henry Hudson sailed into a large natural bay, then further up a navigable river, in present-day New York. Although not the first European to enter the area, he was hte one who brought its value to the attention of his employers. The Dutch later sent ships and colonists to establish trading posts with local native tribes. This area came to be known as New Netherlands and its largest post as New Amsterdam.
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Building on pre-existing Pueblo settlements, the Spanish founded the mission/fort/town of Sanata fe in late 1609/early 1610. It quicklu became the capital of the area and has remained so. It is the oldest capital city in the United States.
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Along with adventurers and entrepuneurs, a small group of radical religious sepratists came ashore near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Their settlement, known as Plymouth, was the first permanent English settlement in New England. In an effort to minimize conflict and give legitimacy to their venture, the men of the party signed the Mayflower Compact, the first written framework of self-government in the New World.
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The fur trade was so lucrative, the Dutch created a new company, the Dutch West Indian Company, to oversee its expansion. They built a substantial fort/trading post on Manhattan Island in the nautral bay of the Hudson River.
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After a few failed attempts, a massive colinization effort by Puritans resulted in the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Led by the Rev. John Winthrop, the colony prospered and grew, seeing over 30,000 settlers arrive in a span of ten years. While fleeing persecution in England, the Puritans became known as religiously intolerant with an almost theocratic form of government.
