Canary Islands

Examples of Canary Islands in the following topics:

• The Rise of the African Slave Trade

  • In the 15th century, the Spanish invaded and colonized the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa under the direction of the Kingdom of Castille.
  • They also captured indigenous Canary Islanders to use as slaves both on the Islands and across the Christian Mediterranean.
  • In the 16th century, the Portuguese settlers found that the Canary Islands were ideal for growing sugar, and they forcefully converted much of the land to the production of wine and sugar.
  • Using the Canary Islands as a naval base, they performed raids to capture slaves and sell them in the Mediterranean.
  • The Spanish were the first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New World on islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola.

• The Exploration of Christopher Columbus

  • He first sailed to the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Africa, which were ruled by the Crown of Castile; here he restocked his provisions and made repairs.
  • No one knows which modern day island in the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos this name corresponds to, but the prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk, or San Salvador Island.
  • He then sailed to the island of Madeira and spent time with the Portuguese captain, João Gonçalves da Câmara, before sailing to the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.
  • Columbus landed on the south coast of the island of Trinidad on July 31, 1498.
  • On June 15, they landed at Carbet, on the island of Martinique (Martinica).

• The Spanish-American War

  • The victor gained several island possessions spanning the globe, which caused a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism.
  • Spain retained only a handful of overseas holdings: Spanish West Africa, Spanish Guinea, Spanish Sahara, Spanish Morocco, and the Canary Islands.

• The Expansion of Europe

  • The lure of profit pushed explorers to seek new trade routes to the Spice Islands and eliminate Muslim middlemen.
  • Riding the trade winds westward across the Atlantic Ocean with the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, Columbus landed on an island he called San Salvador, in the present-day Bahamas, five weeks after embarking from Spain.
  • Columbus' second voyage landed in the Caribbean, on an island he named Dominica, and continued northward through the Lesser and Greater Antilles.
  • On his third voyage, Columbus landed on the Portuguese Porto Santo Island before continuing on to Madeira; the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa; Trinidad, off the coast of present-day Venezuela; and mainland South America.

• Rhode Island

  • Rhode Island was formed as an English colony by Roger Williams and others fleeing prosecution from Puritans.
  • Williams named the other islands in the Narragansett Bay after virtues: Patience Island, Prudence Island, and Hope Island.
  • In 1637, Hutchinson also purchased land on Aquidneck Island from the American Indians, settling in Pocasset, now known as Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
  • During King Philip's War (1675–1676), both sides regularly violated Rhode Island's neutrality.
  • Discuss the founding of the Rhode Island Colony and Providence Plantations

• Ellis Island

  • America's first federal immigration station was established in 1890 on Ellis Island.
  • Generally, immigrants who were approved spent from two to five hours at Ellis Island.
  • Ellis Island was sometimes known as "The Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island" because of the 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage.
  • The first Ellis Island Immigration Station opened in 1892.
  • Nearly 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States through Ellis Island.

• Leapfrogging to Tokyo

  • Leapfrogging originated from island hopping - a strategy, with which leapfrogging is sometimes misleadingly confused.
  • Island hopping entailed taking over an island and establishing a military base there.
  • The base was in turn used as a launching point for the attack and takeover of another island.
  • The result of island hopping was a chain of established bases while the result of leapfrogging was subduing certain strategically important islands while destroying military bases on other islands and thus isolating them in the process.
  • Forces led by Admiral Chester Nimitz, with a smaller land force and larger fleet, would advance north towards the island and capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Marianas, going generally in the direction of the Bonin Islands.

• The Guadalcanal Campaign

  • To further those goals, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain and Guam.
  • The Allies chose the Solomon Islands (a protectorate of the United Kingdom), specifically the southern Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Island, as the first target.
  • By August 1942, the Japanese had about 900 naval troops on Tulagi and nearby islands and 2,800 personnel on Guadalcanal.
  • On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.
  • Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.

• The Dorr Rebellion

  • The Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island was an uprising of men who wanted to see greater, faster expansion of white male suffrage.
  • Under Rhode Island's charter, only white male landowners could vote.
  • By 1841, Rhode Island was one of the few states without universal suffrage for white men.
  • A polemic from Rhode Island (1844) in support of the Dorrite cause.
  • Describe the circumstances surrounding the Dorr Rebellion and its effect on the Rhode Island constitution

• War, Empire, and an Emerging American World Power

  • Although it was made clear that no attempt at annexation of Cuba would be made and that the island's independence would be guaranteed, Spain considered this a wanton intervention in its internal affairs and severed diplomatic relations with the United States.
  • Likewise, the other insurgents accepted American rule and peace prevailed, except in some remote islands under Muslim control.
  • The enthusiasm shown in 1898-99 for colonies cooled off, and Roosevelt saw the islands as "our heel of Achilles. " He told Taft in 1907, "I should be glad to see the islands made independent, with perhaps some kind of international guarantee for the preservation of order, or with some warning on our part that if they did not keep order we would have to interfere again. " By then the President and his foreign policy advisers turned away from Asian issues to concentrate on Latin America, and Roosevelt redirected Philippine policy to prepare the islands to become the first Western colony in Asia to achieve self-government.
  • The Filipinos fought side by side with the Americans when the Japanese invaded in 1941, and aided the American re-conquest of the islands in 1944-45.
  • A cartoon of Uncle Sam seated in restaurant looking at the bill of fare containing "Cuba steak," "Porto Rico pig," the "Philippine Islands" and the "Sandwich Islands" (Hawaii) and saying "Well, I hardly know which to take first!