Aims and Motivation of Europeans

Carlie Horn

It is important to understand the different aims and motivation that each European nation had in exploring and settling in North America.At the beginning it was for the trade of riches,sugars,spices,and silks.Also they discovered new land, so that meant for expanding territory, and empire in a new kingdom and more land was in essence equal to power. The Spanish and Portugal lead the colonization. Then,the British,French,and many others followed. Many countries came over because it was untamed land,and no rules or regulations.Another reason people came over was to get closer in faith. The Puritans came over to the new land to get away from the English church. They thought the English church was corrupt and grew incomplete of it. They also thought everyone should abolish the bishops.
This led to Pilgrims and other Puritan like groups to leave to in hopes for reformation elsewhere. People who where at lower standard in society wanted to come to the new land to have a chance to own land and have power. The more land you owned the more power you got.These developments of religion, politics and economics lead to  colonization and expansion in North America and settlements altogether. One of the topics that I felt that was important in this chapter was when the Europeans came to America and how it shaped America.