American History thru 1877

Running Head :Developments in Europe that paved way for Columbus Voyage

In 1492 , Columbus set sail for Asia but found the Americas instead exploring several islands of the Caribbean Sea . In the following years Columbus made three more voyages , and many other Spaniards explored the Caribbean islands and mainland . During the late Middle Ages , Mongols threatened Europe with pillage and destruction . However , they also unified much of Eurasia , creating trade routes and communication lines stretching from Middle East to China . A series of Europeans took advantage of these to explore eastwards . The

trade routes between Europe and Middle East , however , was almost completely controlled by traders from the Italian city states . Upon the collapse of the Mongol Empire the trade routes to the east soon became far more difficul and dangerous . The Black Death would eventually also block travel and trade The land route to the East was controlled by Mideterranean commercialists and Islamic empires that both controlled the flow and price of goods . The rise of the expansionist Ottoman Empire has also further limited the possibilities of European overland trade . The Age of Exploration has begun . During the Rennaisance , scholars rediscovered the works of the ancient Greeks and Roman geographers . Christopher Columbus came to believe that he could reach Asia in the East by sailing West Instead , he found the New World . With the advances of navigation military technology and shipbuilding , the Europeans started to explore the world by ocean searching for trading partners , particularly of gold silver and spices . They sought a viable trade route which would be uncontested by those Mediterranean powers

Similarities and lesser differences among the Southern Colonies

The Virginia Company obtained a royal charter enabling each to found a colony , granting the right to coin money , raise revenue , and to make laws , but reserving much power to the king

The object of the lord proprietor , Baltimore , was twofold . He wished to found a state and become its ruler , for he was truly a man of the world he loved power and he loved wealth . Second , he wished to furnish a refuge for the oppressed of his own faith for the Roman Catholics , as well as the Puritans , were objects of persecution in England . He was granted charter to Maryland . He was required by the charter to send the king two Indian arrows each year , as a token of allegiance to the Crown and if any gold and silver were mined in Maryland , one fifth of it was to be paid to the king . But aside from this the proprietor was invested with almost kingly power . He could not tax his people without their consent , but he could coin money , make war and peace , pardon criminals establish courts , and grant titles of nobility . The charter , however provided that the laws be made by the proprietor and the freemen - democracy was beginning to emerge . It was the first colony in which religious toleration had a place

South Carolina differs from most of the colonies in not...