EARLY HISTORY OF THE USA

EXPLORATION OF THE NORTH AMERICA

 The Vikings – ca. 1000 AD
 Christopher COLUMBUS – 1492 – explored the Caribbean Sea
 Other 16th-century explorers
o Amerigo VESPUCCI (passed between Florida and Cuba)
o John CABOT (northeastern coast)
o Francis DRAKE (San Francisco Bay)
o Henry HUDSON (Hudson River)

ENGLISH COLONIES IN 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES

 NEW ENGLAND COLONIES – populated by Puritans, mainly religious purposes: Plymouth colony
(1620) – the Pilgrims; Masssachusetts Bay colony (1629) – non-separatist Puritans; Connecticut;
Providence plantation (1639), Rhode Island (1637); later profit-seeking colonies of New
Hampshire and Maine (with varied religions)

 CHESAPEAKE (SOUTHERN) COLONIES – profit-seeking colonies – tobacco, cotton plantations:

Jamestown (1607), Virginia, Maryland (predominantly Catholic), Carolina (1663) (second attempt
after the first Roanoke colony (1585-1590), later divided into North and South Carolina (1712);
Georgia (1732)
ENGLISH COLONIES IN 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
 areas between New England colonies and Southern colonies – Dutch settlement (New
Netherlands, New Amsterdam) – flourishing fur trade, shipping trade – slave trading (also the
English); New Sweden – overseas trade (tobacco)
 series of Anglo-Dutch wars (1652-1674) – the Dutch lost their influence in North America (New
Amsterdam renamed New York) – population of the Dutch, English, Germans, Waloons, Spanish
Jews
 British dominance gave rise to Capital District, New York, Delaware, New Jersey
 Pennsylvania (1681) – William Penn – Quaker population (Religious Society of Friends – a religius
movement based on Christianity; refused hierarchy)

ENGLISH COLONIES
 the colonies were the possession of England, later The United Kingdom of England and Scotland;
however, they enjoyed a lot of autonomy
 immense growth of population in 18th century – the country – farming; flourishing cities –
Philadelphia, New York, Boston; in 1770 – the Thirteen Colonies made up 40% of gross domestic
product of the UK; trade between colonies (esp. with Caribbean colonies – sugar, tea coffee,
equipment for ships, tobacco, foodstuff, wood)
 economies based on slaves (esp. Southern colonies) – Atlantic triangular slave trade
 immigration from Ireland (both Catholics + Protestants from Ulster), and Germany
TENSION BETWEEN THE UK AND THE COLONIES
 No taxation without representation – the colonists did not have any representation in the British
Parliament – 1773 Tea Act (reduced taxes on tea sold by the East India Company) – Boston Tea
Party 1773
 Colonists elected delegates to the First Continental Congress which convened in Philadelphia in
September 1774 – they promised loyalty to the British King but not the Parliament – refused laws
imposed by the Parliament regarding the colonies. Most delegates agreed to the imposition of a
boycott of British goods; Colonists divided into Patriots and Loyalists
 1775 Second Continental Congress (representatives of all thirteen colonies) – raised an army to
fight the British and named George Washington its commander, made treaties, declared
independence, and recommended that the colonies write constitutions and become states.
 In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies declared their independence from Britan. With the help of France
and Spain, they defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War. In the Treaty of Paris
(1783), Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States of America.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
 signed on 4th July 1776 (Independence Day)
 Thomas JERRERSON – the author of the Declaration
 George WASHINGTON appointed commander-in-chief

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

 War of Independence – 1776-1783 (Battle of Yorktown – 1781)
 1789 – Washington elected president (reelected in 1793)
 new capital built on the Potomac River – later named Washington D.C.
 Washington buried at Mount Vernon

THE EXPANSION OF THE USA

 1803 – Napoleon sold Louisiana to the USA
 Southwestern territories were seized by the Americans in 1848
 Alaska purchased from Russia in 1867
 The Hawaii Islands annexed in 1898