Lecture №1

Theme . Early America. Colonial Period

Aim: Making reports on the theme.

Plan of the lecture:

1.1First American Settlers
1.2First Colonies in North America

1.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.
Some old mounds reflecting Indian settlements still exist in the United States, such
as the Adena burial mounds and Mississippian platform towns.[2] The Cahokia
Mounds in Southern Illinois (just east of St. Louis) reflect an Indian community
dating back as early as A.D. 1000 or 1100.[3] That community practiced human
sacrifice, as did the Aztecs and Mayans in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central
America) and the Incas in South America prior to the arrival of the Spanish
conquerors.
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 many Indian
tribes in the East. Among the 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.
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.
Starting in the Middle Ages, Christian Europe began to use its knowledge, wealth
and faith to extend beyond its horizons. Christian Europeans fought the
Holy Crusades from 1095 to 1291 to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem against Muslim
attacks. Some Europeans were motivated to spread the Gospel. Others were
motivated by a desire to increase their wealth, such as by finding gold .People
in Ancient Greece knew that the world was round, and that it should be possible to
reach the Orient by traveling west around the world. That is like finding a needle
in a haystack the size of a football stadium. But Columbus's colony had not
survived in his absence.Columbus sailed on a total of three subsequent voyages,
but never achieved his goal. Columbus died a failure. His ultimate dream of
liberating Jerusalem, as the Crusades attempted, was not realized. But what he did
achieve was to open the New World to spreading Christianity and creating new
wealth.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.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, and settled the towns of Saint Louis
(named after a French king) and New Orleans.The Dutch explored and settled the
Hudson River, calling the region New Netherlands and buying and naming
Manhattan New Amsterdam.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.
In 1605, a satirical book entitled “Eastward Ho!” was published that mocked
attempts to settle in Virginia.Think about it. Would your family uproot and move,
at great risk to your lives, to a place that had no civilization or anything of value?
Do we see families moving to the middle of the desert in Arizona, or to cheap land
in the middle of Wyoming? Only very rarely.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."About the same
time, however, England obtained a big victory in Europe. Spain had ruled the high
seas for most of the 1500s, until England destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588.
That left England with the potential to gain control of the oceans and world trade
over the seas. England could then protect its newly developing colonies against
other European powers.

2.What is a "colony"? A "colony" is defined as "a body of people living in a new

territory but retaining ties with the parent state." (Merriam-Webster
dictionary)From 1607 to 1639, a total of six colonies were established in what is
now the United States: Virginia, Massachusetts, New Netherlands (renamed New
York), Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut. There were four basic types of
The growing colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia could not have been more
different from each other, and it is remarkable they eventually joined the same
country. Massachusetts was highly religious and motivated by faith. Virginia was
marginally religious and motivated by money. Massachusetts, more religious, had
vocal opponents of slavery and neighboring Vermont was the first state to prohibit
slavery in its Constitution, in 1777. In contrast, Virginia welcomed slavery.
Massachusetts grew the Indian crop of corn. Virginia grew the Indian crop of
tobacco. Massachusetts settlers made greater efforts to get along with Indians and
treat them fairly. Massachusetts attracted new settlers based on religion. Virginia
attracted new European settlers based on the "headright system," by which land
(usually 50 acres) was given to those who paid for the passage to the colony of an
immigrant, who usually agreed to work as an "indentured servant" for free for
fixed number of years on the land.The stark contrast between Massachusetts and
Virginia would ultimately lead, nearly 250 years later, to the Civil War.While the
Virginia institution of slavery was spreading to the colonies of
Maryland, Carolina and, later, Georgia, Massachusetts was spreading a different
sort of institution: religious intensity. Roger Williams was an extraordinary
individual of such great faith that he found even the Puritans to be lacking in their
treatment of Indians. Williams also disagreed with how the Puritans combined
government and religion, and how the Puritans had executed several Christians
based on differences with the Puritan faith. Williams was fabulous with languages
and learned to communicate with many different Indian tribes, and even lived with
them at times in spite of the danger. He left the Puritans in Massachusetts and
started the colony of Rhode Island, which to this day has prided itself on its
independence. Rhode Island was the only state to refuse to support a colonial tax
on imports after the Revolution, and the only colony to refuse to ratify the
Constitution until long after George Washingtonwas President. Rhode Island,
under Roger Williams' direction, separated state government from religion. It had
no mandatory church attendance, and no funding of churches with tax revenues
was allowed in Rhode Island.But while Roger Williams was highly moral, others
in Rhode Island made it the biggest importer of slaves in all the colonies. So
censoring religion led to harm. In contrast, in the larger Massachusetts, taxes
funded religious institutions for nearly 200 years, until at least the 1830s. It
successfully prohibited slavery.Another devout Christian who disagreed with the
Puritans, Anne Hutchinson, was tried by them in 1636 for emphasizing "grace"
rather than "works", and she was forced to flee. She escaped the Puritans but was
later killed by Indians. Religious persecution continued in Massachusetts in the
mid-1600s: the Baptists were banished in 1651, and the Quakers were expelled or
-- when they remained or returned -- they were executed when Puritans hanged
them.The Congregational Church was started by Pilgrims in Plymouth (1620) as
Independents. Like the Puritans themselves, the Congregationalists declined over
time due dispersal of the population on farms, the formation of public schools, and
perhaps the biggest reason of all, prosperity and the arrogance it often engenders.

Questions for self-control:

1. What was the Ice Age and when did it occur?

2. How did the first American Indians reach America?

3. What did the Indians’ way of life depend on?

Literature:
1. Ageyeva Z.D. USA. A Reader. - M: Higher School, 1976. - 168 c.
2. Popova T.I. History of the American Nation. - M.: "Reecha", 1997. - 110 p.
3. Kostina Elena. Learn to Read and speak English about the United States of
America.- M.: "Московский лицей". - 159 p.
4. Bryson Bill. An Informal History of the English Language in the United States. -
N.Y.: Avon Books. - 1998.-417 p.
5.Khalilova L. The USA: History and the Present. - M.: «Айрис Пресс», 2001. -
256 c.
6. Elain Kirn . About the USA.-Washington, 1980.– 127 p.

7. Zeuske Max. A Short History of the United States of America. – Leipzig, 1987.
-180 p.

8.Jump up↑ http://www.cahokiamounds.com/mystery_01.html

9.Jump up↑ "People have been looking hard for hundreds of years and there is no
archaeological evidence in [New England]— it's certainly possible, the Vikings
were incredible boat handlers — but there is no evidence," observed one
university history professor.[1]
10.Jumpup↑ http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/
mercantilism.html

11.Jump up↑ http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Mercantilism.html

12.Jump up↑ http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/scott-m.html