Title: Why did the English want colonies? - History Is Fun
Headings: Why did the English want colonies?
Why did the English want colonies?
Content: One of these ways was to invest in colonies. At the same time these Englishmen were looking for ways to invest their wealth, others were not so fortunate. The small farmers, who for generations had rented their small plots of land from large landowners, lost their farms and their jobs when the land was enclosed with fences to raise sheep. Men, women and children were uprooted and drifted from the countryside to towns and cities looking for work. Many were reduced to begging or to stealing to survive. Migrating to a new world seemed a hopeful choice for many of these people, as it did for English leaders who saw colonies as a way to solve the problem of the growing numbers of displaced and poor people. Employments of Englishmen, Theodor de Bry
England also looked at the settlement of colonies as a way of fulfilling its desire to sell more goods and resources to other countries than it bought. If colonies could send raw materials, such as lumber, from the abundance of natural resources available in the colonies, then England would not have to buy these from other countries. At the same time, the colonists could be a market for England’s manufactured goods. The English knew that establishing colonies was an expensive and risky business.