Massachusetts Bay Colony Research Paper

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The American continent was a new place where each country could place a seed in it and develop it in their own unique way. Two great empires in the 17th century, Spain and England, both jumped on this opportunity settling two different areas two different ways, with some comparable methods. The Spanish settlements in the southwest and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England in the 17th century differed from one another in the way they interacted with Native Americans, and the reason for the settlement. However the two settlements also were comparable in the of what their country desired from the settlements, and how important religion was to the settlers. The Spanish and the English always differed from one another and their colonization…show more content…
In the Massachusetts Bay Colony the English government benefitted from the mercantilist practices put upon the Puritans. Mercantilism is the practice in which the colonies have to supply England with raw materials and return received manufactured goods. The Bay Colony had a surplus of lumber, beaver pelts, and they were excellent ship builders. They supplied England with all these goods and many more. Also, navigation acts first implemented in 1651 restricted the colonies trade. They had to ship through English ports and on English ships if they wanted to trade with other countries for the government could make as much money off of taxes and off of the colony. As well as Massachusetts, the mercantilist system and navigation acts also were practiced in the Chesapeake colonies such as Virginia and Maryland. Just at the Puritans supplied timber, beaver pelts, and ship parts Virginia and Maryland supplied England with tobacco from the establishment of Jamestown in 1607 to the American Revolution in 1776. The colonies use for England was to make as much money as possible off of the colonies to be as rich and as powerful as they could. The Spanish settlements served the same purpose to Spain as the Massachusetts Bay Colony did to England. Historians may try to say that it wasn’t exactly a mercantilist system, but overall the two networks were the same. Instead of giving materials such as lumber and pelts to Spain the conquistadors of the southwest supplied their motherland with riches. The conquistadores, implying their encomienda system, would enslave Native Americans forcing them to mine gold and silver for them. In addition, they would steal the Native Americans gold ornaments. The conquistadors would keep a certain amount and give the rest to Spain. In both the Spanish southwest and the Massachusetts Bay
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