Before the English arrived in North America, the Spanish, the Dutch, the Swedish, and the French were already on the scene. This map shows the areas claimed by these European countries.

However, by the time British arrived in the New World and established their first permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607, much of the continent had already been claimed by other European nations.

All of the modern Southwest, including Texas and California, had been peopled by Spanish settlers for about a century. The entire expanse of land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains had at one point been claimed by France.

Many factors contributed to Britain's tardiness. England was not the most powerful European nation in the 16th century. Spain was most influential. Along with Portugal, Spain dominated New World exploration in the decades that followed Columbus. France, the Netherlands, and Sweden all showed greater interest in the Western Hemisphere than England did.

Late Expectations

One of England's most adventurous sea captains, Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a charter in 1584 to seek out new lands.

Although England was an island and therefore a seafaring nation, Spain was the undisputed superpower of the seas in the 16th century. Many of England's adventurous sea captains found that plundering Spanish ships was a far simpler means of acquiring wealth than establishing colonies.

Sea Dogs and the Spanish Armada

The legend of Pocahontas takes many forms, as do paintings of the famous Native American. This romantic portrait shows Pocahontas in a very feminine pose. This portrait of Pocahontas was done while she was in London with her husband, John Rolfe. How does it differ from the romantic portrait to the left?

This battle marked the beginning of the end of Spain's domination of Europe and the Western Hemisphere. More importantly for England, it marked the dawn of the era of permanent ENGLISH SETTLEMENT of the New World.