Why Britain Succeded in Colonising North America

Published 19 May 2017

The original owners of America are not well known. History however has it that several Indian tribal cultures lived in North America before the arrival of the first Europeans. Europeans only came to know of this “new world” in 15th century through a man known as Columbus (Krause, B. (2004). The first European explorers were the Scandinavians. This team was lead by Leif Eriksson and his men who later settled in north east coast of America. This opened up this continent for more visitors and explorers. With time, the English ruled this land and had greater possession compared to their rival parties like Spain, France and Netherlands. The reasons for this success are outlined below.

The English colonizers had a friendly way of treating the natives of the land (Wiki. answers, 2008). They dealt with them nicely and offered friendly terms. Some of the native inhabitants were given positions in leadership and the workers were paid well and promptly. This level of treatment was contrary to the styles of other colonial powers.

England also introduced Christianity. This worked well because most of these native Indians believed in religion. They embraced Christianity because it explained their belief on the creation of the world. This gave English colonial power favor with the locals.

English government exercised capitalism as a style of ruling. This encouraged many people to set up investments in the new colony in North America. This made it easy for the colonial rule to be put in place since many England citizens had occupied strategic locations in America. The government just moved in to take over the existing projects (Sparknotes 2008).
English colonies had constant support from the motherland. This made the conquest very easy because key resources were sent from home.
English colonies were governed by experienced staffs. These are people who must have held similar positions at home, and only got transfers to the new positions away from home.
Success must have come to the English people partly because they had mastery of the terrain and geography of the new world. This strong geographical locale made it easy to maneuver during wars. They also found it easy to move from place to place.
England as a country was more stable than other colonizers. Their good governance led by kings and queens provided a good economic backup during the conquest. Besides this, English army was also very strong and had superior weapons. These were used to fight the rival groups like France, Germany and also to fight against opposition from the native people.
English people approached North America with an attitude of settling. This made the locals to accept them, compared to other powers that came with a mentality of getting gold and riches (NC encyclopedia. 2008).
English middle class was wealthy and of great influence in the society. This made them venture out into the North America in pursuit of great opportunities. Their mother country later supported their initiative resulting into success of the colony. The naval force of England was also well trained and powerful. This team played a big role in concurring of the North American coast and in fighting other rival colonial powers (Bailey, T. Kennedy, D. Cohen, L 2000).

Conclusion

North America, earlier known as ‘new land’ was discovered by ancient explorers. The first European power to settle in this zone was Spain. Even though hey were the pioneers, they later failed because their policies sidelined the natives of the land. England later succeeded in their conquest because they were friendly to the locals and also received support from home.

Works cited

  • Bailey, T. Kennedy, D. Cohen, L. (2000). The American pageant: history of the republic. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  • Krause, B. (2004). American history. Cambridge: Harvard university press.
  • NC encyclopedia. (2008). First English Settlement in the New World.
  • Sparknotes (2008). The Early English Colonies
  • Wiki.answers. (2008). Why were the English colonies in North America successful?
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