ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by silk farming,

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the most fashionable agricultural pursuit.

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Yeah. The silk tie I want.

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All right, first up, the excerpt.

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Hey, is that from those worms? That spit out the silk? Cool.

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All right. [ mumbles ]

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All right, and now the question:

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According to the excerpt,

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how were the economic strategies of the English colonies

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different from those of other European nations?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ] All right, here we go.

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Europeans were literally and figuratively

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all over the map during the Age of Exploration,

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with each country taking a different approach to

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colonizing the Americas.

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Let's see which answer best describes how the English

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distinguished themselves from the rest.

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All right. Were the economic strategies of the English colonies

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different because A - the Spanish had better

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trade relationships with Native Americans?

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Hmm. Well, actually, it was the French and Dutch

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who traded with Native Americans to get their precious furs,

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not iron ore, mind you.

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The Spanish and English relied more on enslavement

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and marginalization. Effective, sure, but, uh,

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not very well-received. So that knocks out A and D.

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Did England's approach differ from other European countries because B -

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Dutch colonists had a long-established and profitable silk trade?

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Hmm. Well, the excerpt refers to

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"skillful men from Naples or Siciliy

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to teach us the art" of making silk.

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That's Italy, not the Netherlands.

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So it's a-not-a B, either.

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Which means that the economic strategies of the English colonies were

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different from other European nations because C -

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the English based their colonies on the development of agriculture.

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Even though it took Virginians a little while to get the hang of things,

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the introduction of tobacco really turned things around

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and the colony was soon soiled with profits. [ chuckles ]

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So C is the right answer.

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As those tobacco plantations took off,

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agriculture became Virginia's economic savior.

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"Holy smoke" is right.

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[ angelic harmony ]

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