The three main colonial empires in the New World were the British, French, and Spanish empires. They had various differences in societal, economic, political, and religious outlooks. They also left behind some legacies, which even today seem to resonate. The British Colonial Empire thought that gold was everywhere, but they never found any. They had money from mercantile trade colonies and they were economically independent by 1750.
When it came to religion, the British Empire had many religious refugees and their religion varied colony by colony. They were often Anglican though, which is also known as Anglicanism. “Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures” (Anglicanism, 2011). England had a self-owned government and salutary neglect until 1763; along with mercantilism, which varied colony by colony as well.
England was considered an outcast, and their economic foundation in the North East was codfish. In the South, theirs were sugar, tobacco, cotton, indigo, rice and peppers state-sponsored monopolies, capitalistic, or corporate charter. Farmers invested in and then sold land. Some of England’s legacies consisted of Anglo-Saxon, language, heritage, similar political systems, capitalism, individualism, common legal systems, and their emphasis on rights. The French Colonial Empire was a Catholic Empire, also known as the Black Robes.
Their economic base was selling fur and later after 1830, they were selling timber. The French motivation for colonizing was the North West passage, the tight traction on global competition with England, and Spain. The French government was controlled by Champlain, a Royal Governor, who was thought to be invincible. However, France had a minimal population problem. The French Colonial Empire left behind legacies such as French Canadians, separatism, upper and Lower Canada, and Quebec province’s unique status.
The Spanish Colonial Empire was a Catholic empire. Their motivation for colonizing was gold, trade routes, Catholicism, conquistadors, and they sought global power and control. Catholicism worked and their religion stayed Catholic. Spain’s economic plantation was for sugar, gold, and pirates. In the mid sixteenth century, Spain made almost one million dollars in gold and silver. The Spanish Empire political government was local carbides, but under crown authority as administered through viceroys, they were tightly governed.
Spain’s legacies they left behind are Latin America today: Catholic religion, and the Spanish language. The Spanish Empire laid the foundations of a truly global trade by opening up vast intercontinental trade routes. There were three major colonial empires in the New World. The three empires consisted of the British, the French, and the Spanish. They had several differences in economic, political, societal, and religious views; but left behind legacies, which have resonated themselves even still today.
