Beginning of the American History

Have you ever wondered when the history of the United States started? Read this post to find out...

When to date the start of the history of the United States is debated among historians. Older textbooks start with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. The information in this blog post is from an article on Christopher Columbus on wikipedia.  

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 Native Americans (Indians) lived in what is now the United States for thousands of years and developed complex cultures before European colonists began to arrive, mostly from England, (Spain and also France). Europeans brought horses, cattle (cows), and hogs (pigs) to the Americas and, in turn, took back to Europe maize (corn) , turkeys, potatoes, tobacco, beans, and squash (pumpkins). Many explorers and early settlers died after being exposed to new diseases in the America.

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Colonial America was defined by a labor shortage that employed forms of unfree labor such as slavery and indentured servitude (A person under contract to work for another person for a definite period of time, usually without pay but in exchange for free passage to a new country). Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America arrived as servants.

Spanish explorers were the first Europeans with Christopher Columbus' second expedition. Small Spanish settlements eventually grew to become important cities, such as San Antonio, Albuquerque, Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

New Netherland was a 17th-century Dutch colony centered on present-day New York City and the Hudson River, the Dutch traded furs with the Native Americans to the north.

New France was the area colonized by France. There were few permanent settlers outside Quebec and Acadia, but the French had far-reaching trading relationships with Native Americans throughout the Great Lakes and Midwest. French villages along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers were based in farming communities. The French established plantations in Louisiana.

The first successful English colony, Jamestown, was established in 1607 (based on tobacco).

The largest conflicts between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century were King Philip's War in New England and the Yamasee War in South Carolina.

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FUTURE RESEARCH: I plan on researching the Revolutionary war and Civil War. 

The Middle Colonies, consisting of the present-day states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The first attempted English settlement south of Virginia was the Province of Carolina, with Georgia Colony.