Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Chapter 1, Lesson 2: European Exploration and Settlement (pp. 16-23)
I. Europeans Look to New Worlds
B. Many Protestants--a religious group which challenged the Catholic authorities--were persecuted and wanted a new place where they could worship as they pleased.
C. Inventions and improvements in sailing ships and navigation helped make long sea voyages easier.
II. Spain Leads the Way
B. Searching for gold, Spanish conquistadors and explorers explored Central and South America, and the southern regions of North America.
C. Spain became very wealthy from its exploration of the Americas, and claimed vast areas for Spanish settlement.
III. England, France, and the Netherlands Stake Claims
B. A series of discoveries by explorers working for England, France and the Netherlands led each of these European powers to claim land in the New World.
IV. Europeans Settle the New World
B. Spanish missionaries seeking to convert Native Americans to Christianity paved the way for Spanish settlement of Mexico and what is today the American West.
C. French settlers first came to North America to fish and trap in what is now Canada and the Great Lake region. The Dutch settled what is now New York City and New York State.
D. Despite early difficulties in Jamestown and Plymouth, the English established settlements in Virginia and New England.
Lesson at a Glance Outline
A. The Renaissance sparked people's imaginations and made them eager to explore the world.
A.To make its trade more profitable, Spain wanted to find a water route to Asia.
A. Concerned about Spain's growing wealth and power, other European countries sent out explorers to find the Northwest Passage, a northern waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
A. Problems in Europe drove people to seek a new life in the Americas in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
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