THE EUROPEAN INVASION OF AMERICA

I. Spanish Conquest

• Columbus and the Caribbean
  
• Cortes and Mexico
  
• Demographic consequences
  
• African slavery

II. Early Encounters in the Eastern Woodlands

• European explorers, fishermen, and traders
• Native perceptions
• Commerce and its implications

III. Dynamics of English Expansion

• Early English reluctance to colonize
• Sexual Politics of Henry VIII
• Profits
• Poverty
• Population
• Protestantism
• Patriotism

IV. Precedent: the Irish Model

• Extermination and "plantation"
• Fate of Sir Humphrey Gilbert

V. The "Lost Colony" of Roanoke