The French, the Spanish, and the British Empires were the main empires in the New World. These empires had various differences in their economic, political, and social outlooks. By 1750s, these empires were economically independent and had enough money in from trade in their colonies. These Western Europe colonial empires started in the late 15th century. Money and advancement of wealth were the main sources of inspiration of these empires to seek colonies. They also intended to gain sufficient resources to support them in the wars and battles for supremacy against each other. During this era to the 20th century’s World War One and Two, the entire European continent was caught in a vicious cycle of wars with nations battling out against each other. This paper gives a comparison of the three New World empires in term of their religious, economic, and social aspects as well the legacies that each empire left that still lives.
Spain
Spain was the first European colonial empires. The reign of Christopher Columbus of the 15th century saw the Spanish first contracts and colonies. This empire reaped profits and rewards of pioneering new trade routes and discovery of local populations and first resources. Due to the proceeds, which Spain reaped from its colonies such as the Americas. After accumulating sufficient wealth from the Americas, the Spanish empire became powerful in the 16th century, but later declined in the 17th century. By the wake of the 19th century, Spain had lost all her American colonies to war with the British, Dutch, and the United States as well as revolt such as in the Central and South America. The Spanish empire left a linguistic and cultural legacy that resonates today. There are approximately over 400 million Spanish speakers today, which classify the Spanish language as the world’s second most spoken language after English language because England had more colonies than Spain. The rise of the European dominance of global affairs in the 15th century came as a result of the Spanish establishment in conjunction with the Portuguese Empire. The Spanish empire was majorly characterized with Christianity with most of the population belonging to the Catholic Church. This empire helped in sustaining the church in Europe during that time when it was under pressure. The Catholic Church emerged to be the largest Christian denomination in Europe, and now in the world. The Spanish traded their plants such as Wheat, apples and barley, and animals such as sheep, cattle, donkeys, and pigs among many others. In return, the Spanish received several commodities from America including chocolate, tobacco, vanilla, rubber, nuts, berries, and agave, which they transported back to their country, and sold to other neighboring nations. The Spanish Empire had several political goals in entering the Americas and other colonies. First, they intended to exploit and trade in the Americas silver, gold, and sugar as well as other products of the Asian continent such as spices, porcelain, and silk. They also undermined the French powers in the Eastern Borders and sought to overcome its military. Additionally, due to the rising Protestant Reformations, the Spanish sought to defend Catholicism in these territories as well as against the Islam religion in the Ottoman Empire.
England
The British Empire began its colonization much later in the early 17th century. The first British colonies were the Ireland, and later they moved to North America, then to Asia (Australia, New Zealand, and India). Finally, the British came to Africa where they colonized several countries. The British carved for gold, and they thought that everywhere they went they could find the gold, which they were prepared financially to mine and transport back to their countries. As compared to the other New World empires, England was the most successful empire shortly before the First World War since it had the largest empire of the three in terms of population and landmass. The English gained command over around 25% of the earth’s entire land mass with millions of people. For instance, India alone had 400 million people. After the severe financial strains of the World Wars, England became bankrupt, and unable to finance the large bases of military forces in different destination thereby leading to their defeat by different countries. The Second World War saw the colonies granted independence by their British rulers. When it came to religion, the British empires was characterized with several religious refugees, and their religion varied with different colonies. However, most of the colonies were Anglicans, and the religion was referred to 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). Until 1763, England had a self-owned government salutary neglect alongside mercantilism that varied with the colonies as well. They were considered as outcasts, and their economic foundation in the North East was codfish. However, in the south, tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, pepper, and rice state –sponsored monopolies, corporate, or monopolistic charters helped in developing the empire. Farmers during the British rule sold and invested in land. Some of the British legacies include heritage, the English language, Anglo-Saxon, capitalism, similar political systems, common legal systems, individualism, and the emphasis on rights.
The French
Catholicism, also known as the Black Robes, characterized the French colonial empire. They majorly sold fur as their main economic stronghold, and later sold timber after the 1830. The North West passage, coupled with the global competition with Spain and England motivated the French to colonization. Champlain, a Royal Governor, whom people thought to be invincible, controlled the French Empire. Until the defeat of Napoleon in the 19th Century, the French empire was the most powerful in the 17th century. They also colonized several nations of Americas, Asia, and Africa, but failed to reap equal benefits as their counterparts because the British and the Spanish military were stronger than the former. Just as the other empires, the French empire left a legacy of language and culture. The French colonies still speak French language and have several cultural ties with the French.
The similarities between these empires is the fact that they had stronger military than their colonies, which helped them to safely secure their entrance into the foreign territories as well as protect their borders from external intrusion. Additionally, they deceived their colonies when they first entered their lands, and acted friendly before taking control of their land. Additionally, during their reign, they enslaved the locals, especially in Africa, where they extended to sell the slaves and transport them to labor in the Americas in their plantations and factories in poor conditions.
