attention to Central and South America.
Englishman John Rut, sailing for Henry VIII, was next along the coast in 1527. First probing northward in search of passage to the Orient, Rut returned to Cape Breton and sailed down along the American shores, "oftentimes putting [his] . . . men on land to search the state of those unknown regions." Rut sailed all the way to the West Indies before returning to England, but he found nothing really new, and his return coincided with mounting domestic problems in England. His efforts were of little import, and after Rut's voyage the Maine coast saw few European visitors for several decades.
At first glance, these early sixteenth-century voyages appear to be random and unrelated expeditions that passed by chance along the Maine coast. Each, however, was part of a broader pattern. The quarter century between the arrival of Cabot in 1497 and Rut in 1527 brought an explosion of new information about the Americas, as nation after nation sent expeditions westward. This was a period of high adventure and dizzying expansion of knowledge about the unknown western continent. But after Rut's voyage, the surge toward North America receded as quickly as it had developed. Failure to discover a Northwest Passage dampened enthusiasm for North America. Magellan's circumvention of the globe (1519--22) drove home the immense distance between Europe, America, and the Orient, and Portuguese explorers found easier passage to India by sailing eastward around Africa. Spain and Portugal were increasingly occupied in South and Central America, and neither England nor France, for the time being, retained much interest in the Gulf of Maine.
By the early seventeenth century, France was once again ready to move into Maine; but after Verrazano's voyage, French explorers had shifted their attention to the St. Lawrence region. French explorers returned to Maine, but the region would remain an outpost of the French North American empire that was centered to the north and east.
For the English, the sixteenth century had been a period of vigorous internal growth, centralization, and consolidation, during which monarchs brought the Church under state control and secured the hinterlands in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The country experienced impressive economic and maritime development, building an essential foundation for overseas empire. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 signaled England's readiness to take its place in the New World.
By the time England and France renewed their New World activities, the nature of exploration had changed greatly. One of the most obvious differences was the withdrawal of the crowns of both nations from direct participation. Far too often these New World expeditions had proved unprofitable, and monarchs chose to grant private individuals or organizations permission to carry out the various projects in return for a portion of the anticipated profits. More important was a growing emphasis on colonization. Earlier explorers, interested in the Orient, had merely searched for passages through or around the New World, while others hoped to establish trading bases with the North American natives. But no passages were found, and the Indians proved to be indifferent trading partners. It was obvious that a different approach was necessary; colonization would provide a settled population from which the home country could extract New World wealth.
Several examples existed that France and England found encouraging. The Spanish had developed a spectacularly successful colonial system, and the Portuguese were beginning to reap the rewards of Brazilian activity. English colonizing in northern Ireland had not only enriched the colonizers but was desirable for nationalistic reasons: it supplied England with cheap raw materials, provided markets for manufactured goods, offered convenient places to send idle populations, and helped bolster maritime and naval strength. Enthusiasts argued these precedents in both England and France during the late 1500s.
Explorers and Colonizers, 1579--1607
The second 