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The Regions of MODULE

British Colonies: 2.3a
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The South and the

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British West Indies

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FOCUS

Module 1.7 discussed the ways historians understand events by studying and interpreting their
effects. When historians examine events and developments through the lens of causation,
they study the interplay of both causes and effects to come to a better understanding of their
significance. This analysis can be deepened by explaining not only how one event led to other
events, but also discussing reasons why later events were affected. With this approach to studying
history, we can understand the relationships between historical developments as a chain reaction,
each producing the next.
As you examine the ripple effects caused by historical developments, pay close attention to
the beginning of this module, which explains how the financial success of early English plantation
economies led to the founding of new colonies in North America, and note the ways the rapid
expansion of these economies fostered conflicts with American Indian nations. Ultimately, varying
settlement patterns, relations with native peoples, economies, and geography caused differences
between southern British colonies in North America. Consider these factors while reading about
this region.

Economic Causes of
English Colonization

Changes in the English economy, which occurred throughout western Europe as a
result of the Columbian Exchange, shaped British efforts to compete with Spain for
North America during the early seventeenth century. As the sixteenth century came
to a close, inflation posed a major challenge for the ruling class and a threat to the inflation
economic stability of England. Costly wars with France, the conquest of Ireland, and, When prices rise because
most significantly, the influx of Spanish silver all contributed to the crippling increase in of a decline in the value
prices that in turn diminished nobles’ traditional sources of wealth. Much of the nobil- of money because of its
ity responded to these challenges by seeking new sources of wealth from colonies across overabundance.
the Atlantic Ocean.
The monarchy’s and the nobility’s efforts to seek new sources of wealth in the
Western Hemisphere began with English colonial outposts, starting with Jamestown,
located in modern Virginia, in 1607. This venture was fundamentally profit-seeking
from the very beginning. Likewise, hard economic times created a large landless pop-
ulation available for colonial settlement. English elites took advantage of this situation

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