european exploration and the colonization of the americas was mainly fueled by the necessity for resources and wealth the orient also known as the east with exotic products such as pottery silk and species soon became a magnet to european traders the trading route via the silk road however was under threat by the middle of the 15th century due to the rise in the power of the ottoman turks and the impairment of the mongol empire at the same time the development in shipbuilding and navigation made it possible for longer and further to travel this helped to secure the trading route with asia and unexpectedly led to the exploration of a new land which is later known as the americas european discovery of the americas in 1492 while on expeditions to find new trade routes from europe to asia christopher columbus an italian explorer accidentally discovered a new world that possessed all the natural wealth which the europeans sought so eagerly this new world or later known as the americas is the continents of the western hemisphere including north america which covers central america and the caribbean islands and south america before the arrival of european explorers the americas were home to tens of millions of native peoples that are now known collectively as american indians or native americans with great deposits of gold and other minerals as well as vast plains valleys and mountains this new land was viewed by the europeans as an enormous wilderness area with great economic potential and thus became the land of dreams for those who were longing for resources and wealth this period of exploration and discovery soon became an international race of major european powers spain france and england to increase their wealth and establish colonies around the world spanish empire in the americas the first european country to conquer and colonize the new world was spain by 1512 the larger caribbean islands were occupied by the spanish with the first spanish town established on the island of hispaniola and santo domingo becoming the first capital of spain's new world possessions other areas then settled by the spanish were cuba puerto rico and jamaica spanish conquistadors then sailed from the island harbors to explore the coasts and penetrate the continents in 1519 to 1521 they conquered the aztec empire in mexico and a few years later took control of the inca empire in peru after growing rich from vast deposits of gold and silver in mexico and peru spain organized further expeditions to the surrounding areas and soon settled most of central america and south america except for brazil which was colonized by the portuguese other conquistadors ventured north into the southern parts of what is now the united states in 1562 northern florida was settled by a group of french protestants hugonauts forcing the spanish to launch an expedition led by the explorer pedro menendez de aviles in 1565. most of the french colonists were killed and a spanish fort was built on the site of what is now saint augustine later in the 16th century spain began colonizing the region north of mexico in 1598 a group of spanish settlers arrived in the new mexico arizona area and the city of santa fe was founded in 1610. during the 1700s spain managed to colonize other outposts in north america texas and california after all spain possessed the largest land area of the colonial empires in the new world including several islands in the west indies all of mexico most of central america most of south america and what are now florida california and the u.s southwest the english colonies in the americas england also took part in the exploration and colonization of the americas and their most significant establishment proved to be the 13 colonies along north america's atlantic coastline in 1606 just a few months after king james the first granted charters to the london company and the plymouth company to establish permanent colonial settlements in north america three ships were sent by the london company to what is now virginia in 1607 they reached the chesapeake bay and headed about 60 miles up the james river where they built the first permanent colony called jamestown the second successful english settlement in america was the plymouth colony in what is now massachusetts in 1620 by the pilgrims following the success of the jamestown and plymouth colonies colonies were gradually established by the english in the region that became known as new england massachusetts bay another settlement established in 1629 was the landing place of the mayflower and the pilgrims as massachusetts prospered and expanded the settlers sought the new colonies in new england new hampshire was another piece of new england to be formed in 1632. connecticut and rhode island were formed in 1635 and 1636 respectively for people to have the opportunity to live and worship in accordance with their beliefs today new england also includes maine and vermont in the middle colonies new york was originally colonized by the dutch in 1626 with the name new netherland but then became the english colony in 1664. this colony also included the first permanent settlement in new jersey delaware as part of the swedish colony in new sweden was founded in 1638 and then became an english colony in 1664. in 1680 the quakers settled pennsylvania forming the last piece of the middle colonies in the southern colonies the english settled maryland to the north of virginia in 1634 and carolina in 1653 later split into north carolina and south carolina in 1729 georgia colony was established in 1732 as a buffer zone between the british colonies and spanish settlements in florida by the 17th century the english had taken the lead in colonizing north america with the formation of the 13 colonies which later became the 13 original states of the united states of america the french colonies in the americas france one of the two northern atlantic kingdoms besides england began sending ships to explore and colonize the americas in the 17th century in north america france established a large colony called new france seeing the potential for fur trading the founder of quebec in 1608 samuel de champlain attempted to explore the region and to build up the french fur trade with the help of the huron indians three years later he established the beginning of a settlement on huron island which is today the site of montreal in 1682 rene robert cavalier the most famous of all the explorers had his expedition descend the mississippi river from the illinois territory to the gulf of mexico and later claimed the entire territory for france many other french permanent settlements in north america were founded including detroit st louis baton rouge and new orleans down to the caribbean islands in south america by 1664 france controlled 14 islands in the caribbean with the principal possessions including saint domingue now haiti martinique guadalupe and dominica on the northeast coast of south america after numerous changes in control alternating between france britain the dutch the netherlands and portugal the colony of french guyana was finally confirmed as french in 1817. european migration to the united states and south america during the colonial era millions of people left europe and immigrated to the americas mostly in the united states and south america seeking either economic opportunities or religious freedom from 1815 to 1865 thousands of migrants sailed mainly from northern and western europe to america due to crop failure at that time all of ireland was part of the uk and most of the migrants were irish unskilled labor coming to america to avoid starvation also half of 5 million german coming to the u.s became former settlers in some areas that are now cities such as milwaukee st louis and cincinnati the influx of immigrants resulted in competition for jobs religious discrimination and protests across the country in the 1850s the anti-immigrant anti-catholic american party also called the know nothings attempted to put a curb on immigration and even won several governorships and legislative seats in the presidential election of 1856 following the civil war rapid industrialization and urbanization from 1880 to 1920 made the immigration situation a bigger wave the majority of more than 20 million immigrants were from central eastern and southern europe with different motivations such as job opportunities and freedom of religion in addition many africans were brought to america and sold into slavery the opium wars of the mid-19th century between great britain and china put china in debt and many chinese left the country to find work as a result asian immigrants mainly from china crossed the pacific to join the california gold rush the flare-up of world war one is the trend of immigration in 1917 congress enacted legislation in which immigrants over 16 years old were required to pass a literacy test and immigration quotas were established in the early 1920s later a system preferred immigrants from western europe over immigrants from asia called the immigration act of 1924 restricted entry to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in america as a result of the global depression in the 1930s and world war ii the immigration waves fell off congress passed special legislation enabling refugees from europe and the soviet union to enter the united states after the war people from cuba also gained admittance to enter the u.s after the cuba revolution in 1959. the immigration and nationality act of 1965 made the country experience a shift in immigration patterns today u.s immigrants are mostly from asia and latin america rather than europe thanks for watching if you find this information useful please give us a thumbs up and share it with your friends don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more videos of history