Jamestown, Quebec, Santa Fe

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If 1492 began a period of exploration, 1607 inaugurated another momentous chapter in world history- the colonization of America north of Mexico. This process of colonization was not just a westward movement. True, English Jamestown was founded in 1607, but the center of French influence, Quebec, followed the next year, and Santa Fe, the main source of Hispanic culture, came another year later. Jamestown, Que bec, Santa Fe: Three American Beginnings traces the little- known story of the creation of three centers from which English, French, and Spanish influence radiated out into a continent. It shows the English expanding north from Virginia to New England and south to Carolina; the French moving south from the St Lawrence down the Mississippi to Louisiana; and New Mexicans migrating both west and east into Arizona and across the plains of Texas. All three colonies had to deal with native people already there. There were significant commonalities and profound differences in how they interacted with Native Americans, and in their respective political, social, economic, and religious systems. The authors argue convincingly that what happened in the 1600s set in motion many of the forces that have shaped our society ever since and inaugurated some of our nation's enduring challenges: church- state conflict, multiculturalism, participatory politics, economic individualism, racial inequity, and Indian dispossession.