The Slow British

[SRP76]

Alright, maybe you historians can help me with something. I was reading through the world almanac, and got to the whole "New World" portion of the world history section. Something jumped out at me. Columbus landed at the Bahamas in 1492. Went back to Europe, and the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Every nation that could muster so much as a rowboat sent people across the Atlantic. Britain, Spain, France, even the Netherlands. But where I get lost is when it comes to setting up colonies. All the others (Spain especially) started "planting" people in the Americas almost the instant Columbus got back. This was a whole two continents of basically free territory, ripe for the grabbin'. But Britain did NOT try to grab a chunk - why?! It wasn't until 1607 that Britain put the settlement at Jamestown. That's a whopping 115 years after they realized the Americas existed. So just what the hell was the holdup? With the absolute greed that eveyone had in those days (and still has, actually), I can't imagine a decent reason for waiting over a century to try to steal some land. Especially since they watched every other swinging dick in the eastern hemisphere grabbing up the choice locations. Anyone have a good answer?

[EvilNed]

Jamestown was the first SUCCESFULL british colony, it wasn't the first one. There had been several earlier attempts, but due to problems with logistics and supplies the former ones went under. The answer is quite simple. The British Empire, greedy as it was, did try to capitalize on this new ripe continent. But the first few attempts failed and it took awhile for the ball to get rolling. There were problems with native americans, food, supplies and basicly people who knew how to survive in the wilderness. The Vikings set up at least one colony too, but this too met with disaster when they got into a fight with the local Skraelingar... That is, native americans. And how the conflict began is probably very trivial: Milk! Vikings offer native americans milk, as a token of their friendship. Native americans are lactose intolerant and think they've been poisoned. Native americans drive vikings out of america, and the hairy dudes go back to greenland and then iceland. Pretty much same thing could have happened to the english colonies.

[darth los]

The answer is quite simple. The British Empire, greedy as it was, did try to capitalize on this new ripe continent. But the first few attempts failed and it took awhile for the ball to get rolling. There were problems with native americans, food, supplies and basicly people who knew how to survive in the wilderness. Correct me if I'm wrong but are you saying the Spanish DIDN'T have those obstacles to overcome?

[Marie]

The Spanish had to acclimate too, but the other nations had one hurdle that the Spanish and Portugese didn't. The Pope officially divided the New World between Spain and Portugal, giving them the idea that they could arrest anybody not Spanish or Portugese starting to settle in the New World. M_

[darth los]

The Spanish had to acclimate too, but the other nations had one hurdle that the Spanish and Portugese didn't. The Pope officially divided the New World between Spain and Portugal, giving them the idea that they could arrest anybody not Spanish or Portugese starting to settle in the New World. M_ Thnx for clearing that up Marie. Now that you mention it that makes perfect sense. We might laugh at the Idea of a dude in a funny hat doing that today but the pope used to be Ultra Powerful and even had his own army. Kings used to have to ask his blessiing to go to war. No wonder they wanted to burn people like copernicus at the stake for merely suggesting something contrary to what the bible stated. If what they were saying were true then it would shake the foundations of the church's power. And no one, not even "holy men", relinquish their power easily.

[EvilNed]

The pope's power in medieval times is often overstated. But to some nations, he was really influential during various periods in times. To Portugal and Spain however, I'm sure he was a welcomed mediator in this dispute because they both gained something from it.