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Article: North America
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NORTH AMERICA
English interest in North America began soon after Christopher Columbus's first discoveries when John Cabot (c. 1450
–
c. 1499), a Venetian sailor, was commissioned by Henry VII in 1497 to find a northwest route to the East. The voyage proved ineffectual and for the next seventy years England remained on the sidelines of westward exploration, largely because of political and religious divisions at home. Interest did not really revive until the fourth quarter of the sixteenth century, when the success of the Spanish and Portuguese empires demonstrated the economic and strategic value of having colonies. Since the North American continent remained largely free of ...