AMERICA: DISCOVERY, CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT
Pre-Columbian Period
The first settlers in America were Native Americans, or American Indians. Their origin is not known. Some claim they migrated from Asia, but that makes little sense because American Indians are very different in many ways from Chinese and Asian Indians. Even their blood types are typically different.
When talking about Indian cultures, keep in mind that the Indians in what is now the United States were a diverse selection of cultures, which included nomads from the Great Plains in the Midwest, Indian settlements in the West, and among Eastern tribes there were quasi-governmental systems with formal treaties. Most tribes did not have a formal monetary systems, but the Cherokee and the Iroquois Nations did have business transactions. None of the tribes of the North American continent had any formal writing systems. The Indians did introduce tobacco and corn to Europeans, which became widely popular back in Europe. Europeans also brought new things to the Indians, such as horses and guns. Would Indians have developed a higher civilization, if they had been left undisturbed?
The first European discovery of the New world is ascribed to Vikings. Modern historians claim that the Viking Leif Ericson established a "Vinland" colony around A.D. 1000 on the island now known as Newfoundland, in the far east of Canada. There is limited physical evidence of the colony and it is not known what eventually happened to it. The colony, if it did exist, did not last long, and there is no sign of any Viking colony in what is now the United States.
Exploration (Columbian Period)
It took enormous courage, determination and financial support to sail west into the complete unknown. It also took more than a desire to get rich, because there were easier ways to make money. That additional desire was a passion to spread Christianity to new civilizations. In 1482, Christopher Columbus sought financing to sail west in order to find an easier way to reach the Far East, by sailing westward rather than going eastward from Europe to reach India and Japan. Columbus tried Portugal for raising money, but it already had its own successful explorers. Portugal declined to support him, but Columbus persisted for ten more years.
In 1492 Spain drove out the last of the Muslims and re-established itself as a Christian nation, and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain granted Columbus's request for funding his voyage in that same year. Spain continues to honor Columbus Day just as the United States does. Having secured his funding, Columbus assembled his ships and crew and set out in August of 1492 to reach the Orient.
Columbus set sail in three ships. On Christmas eve, December 24, 1492, one of Columbus's ships, the Santa Maria, reached the island of Haiti. Columbus named the settlement "La Navidad," meaning "The Nativity," and dropped off 40 men with a promise to return to them the next year. Columbus then wrote for the King and Queen of Spain in his Journal: "In all the world there can be no better or gentler people. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms." But Columbus had grossly underestimated the size of the world, and when he reached San Salvador, Haiti (Hispaniola) and Cuba he thought he had reached the Far East. So he called the natives "Indians". He left some men there but they were eventually killed by the natives. Columbus reported back that new people had been found to evangelize with Christianity.
The year after the discovery of the land by Columbus, the Pope Alexander VI made a famous decree known as the Bull of Demarkation. It gave North America and the western part of South America to Spain, but Brazil was given to Portugal. That's why Brazilians speak Portuguese to this day. Soon it became apparent to all that the Pope had given away more than he intended. Columbus's efforts resulted in Spain acquiring Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cuba by 1515. Spain then settled Florida (St. Augustine), and later Santa Fe (now in New Mexico). Spanish Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztecs in central Mexico (1521), and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas of Peru (1531). They seized much gold in the process.
Fifteen years after Columbus's maiden voyage, map-makers (cartographers) coined the named "America" for the New World in honor of another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Between 1499 and 1502 he explored the east coast of South America, and was the first to recognize that the new land was a separate continent rather than part of Asia.
But while Spanish soldiers came to America, Spanish women did not. So there were not many distinct, permanent Spanish settlements. Also, the Spanish were entirely subservient to their King back in Europe. Separate governments did not develop. The Spanish colonies of West Indies did not govern themselves - Spain continued to hold governmental control over her territories for 400 years. After many years of Spanish misrule and corruption, the USA decided to intervene. The Spanish-American war resulted in 1898, and at the end of the war Spain lost all her posessions in America.
The discovery of America was like opening a door in a crowded room. As soon as the door was opened, nations of Europe began to pour out. Other European powers were also exploring North America. The French explored the St. Lawrence and settled Quebec, where French is still spoken to this day. The French also explored the Mississippi in 1672 (Le Salle), and settled the towns of Saint Louis (named after a French king) and New Orleans. In 1534 Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of st. Lawrence and the river upstream up to the modern Montreal. The whole territory was given the name of “New France”, later replaced by ‘Canada’, which in Indian means just ‘a village’, or ‘settlement’. The French also started buildinf forts where the Great Lakes came together, founded Detroit in 1707. Growing French expansion was not to be born by the English, who started a series of military conflicts from 1689 up to 1760. The English-French war came to an end with capturing Quebec by General Grant in 1759.The Rule of France in America was ended, Canada ceded to England. Florida ceded by the Spanish to the English in return for other previously captured colonies. The defeat of France in America made the USA development possible.
The Dutch explored and settled the Hudson River, calling the region New Netherlands and buying and naming Manhattan New Amsterdam in 1613. In the Dutch colony religion was separated from government, which attracted Quakers, Moravians, Jews and made New Amsterdam a cosmopolitan place from the outset. Many distinguished Americans, among them Theodor Roosevelt, have been proud to trace their ancestry back to Dutch settlers. In 1664 the Dutch surrended their colony to a special military expedition sent by Charles II.
The Swedish settled in Delaware; Germans settled later in Pennsylvania.
Explorer John Cabot discovered the North American coastline for England in 1497. But no settlements were attempted by the English for about another 100 years, because North America didn't have what the explorers were looking for. America lacked valuable natural resources. There was no gold, which is what Europeans wanted. In 1576, the British explorer Martin Frobisher even hauled 200 tons of material back to England, hoping it was gold. It wasn’t.
There wasn't anything else of much value to Europe. New England was too rocky near the coast to develop farms. The mid-Atlantic region or Chesapeake area, where Maryland and Virginia are today, was infested with malaria. Winters were cold, and summers were hot. There was no livestock – no horses or cattle, until the Spanish imported them. Florida was a swamp, and did not even have orange trees until the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon planted them in 1515. North America was a joke to many in England. Its Parliament passed a law in 1597 authorizing the deportations of convicted criminals to America and other colonies.
England's first settlement of North America was in 1585, on Roanoke Island in Virginia. More than 100 families settled there, but within a few years they had all disappeared. It remains a mystery to this day what happened. They could have died from disease or starvation. They could have been killed by Indians. No one knows the real reason for the disappearance of this settlement, and it's called the "Lost Colony."