In fact, already from the first trip of Columbus and acquaintance with the natives of the islands of the West Indies, a bloody history of interaction between the native inhabitants of America and Europeans began to take shape. Caribs were exterminated - allegedly for their commitment to cannibalism. They were followed by other islanders for refusing to perform slave duties. The first witness of these events, the outstanding humanist Bartolome Las Casas, was the first to tell about the atrocities of the Spanish colonialists in his treatise “The Shortest Reports on the Destruction of the Indies”, published in 1542. The island of Hispaniola “was the first where Christians entered; here the beginning of the extermination and death of the Indians was laid. Having devastated and devastated the island, the Christians began to take away the wives and children from the Indians, forced them to serve themselves and used them in the most bad way ... And the Indians began to look for means by which they could throw the Christians out of their lands, and then they took up arms ... Christians on horseback, armed with swords and spears, mercilessly killed the Indians. Entering the villages, they did not leave anyone alive ... ”And all this for the sake of profit. Las Casas wrote that the conquistadors "came with a cross in their hand and an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts." Following Haiti in 1511, Diego Velazquez conquered Cuba with a detachment of 300 men. The natives were destroyed mercilessly. In 1509 an attempt was made to establish two colonies on the coast of Central America under Olons de Ojeda and Diego Niques. The Indians objected. 70 of Ojeda's companions were killed. Died from wounds and diseases and most of Nikuez's companions. The surviving Spaniards near the Gulf of Darien founded a small colony "Golden Castile" under the leadership of Vasco Nunez Balboa. It was he who, in 1513, with a detachment of 190 Spaniards and 600 Indian porters, crossed the mountain range and saw the wide Gulf of Panama, and beyond it the boundless southern sea. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama 20 times, built the first Spanish ships for navigation in the Pacific Ocean, discovered the Pearl Islands. The desperate hidalgo Francisco Pizarro was part of the detachments of Ojeda and Balboa. In 1517, Balboa was executed, and Pedro Arias d "Aville became the governor of the colony. In 1519, the city of Panama was founded, which became the main base for the colonization of the Andean Highlands, about the fabulous wealth of whose countries the Spaniards were well aware of. In 1524-1527 In 1528, Pizarro went to Spain for help and returned to Panama in 1530, accompanied by volunteers, including four of his half-brothers. During 1531 - 1533. detachments of Pizarro, Alvarado and Almagro fought through the ridges and valleys of the Andes. The prosperous state of the Incas with a highly developed general culture, the culture of agriculture, handicraft production, water conduits, roads and cities was defeated, untold riches were captured. The Pizarro brothers were knighted, Francisco became the marquis, governor of the new possession. In 1536, he founded the new capital of the possession - Lima. The Indians did not accept defeat, and for several more years there was a stubborn war and the destruction of the recalcitrant.
In 1535 - 1537. a detachment of 500 Spaniards and 15,000 porter Indians, led by Almagro, made a very difficult long raid through the tropical Andes from the ancient Inca capital of Cusco to the city of Co-kimbo south of the Atacama Desert. During the raid, about 10 thousand Indians and 150 Spaniards died from hunger and cold. But more than a ton of gold was collected and transferred to the treasury. In 1540, Pizarro commissioned Pedro de Valdivia to complete the conquest of South America. Valdivia crossed the Atacama Desert, reached the central part of Chile, founded a new colony and its capital Santiago, as well as the cities of Concepción and Valdivia. He ruled the colony until he was killed by the rebellious Araucans in 1554. The southernmost part of Chile was examined by Juan Ladrillero. They passed the Strait of Magellan from west to east in 1558. The contours of the South American mainland were determined. Attempts were made to deep reconnaissance in the interior of the mainland. The main motive was the search for Eldorado. In 1524, the Portuguese Alejo Garcia with a large detachment of Guarani Indians crossed the southeastern part of the Brazilian plateau, went to the tributary of the Parana River - the river. Iguazu, discovered a grandiose waterfall, crossed the Laplata lowland and the Gran Chaco plain and reached the foothills of the Andes. In 1525 he was killed. In 1527 - 1529. S. Cabot, who at that time was in the service in Spain, in search of a "silver kingdom" climbed high up La Plata and Parana, organized fortified towns. The townships did not last long, and no abundant silver deposits were found. In 1541, Gonzalo Pizarro, with a large detachment of 320 Spaniards and 4,000 Indians from Quito, crossed the eastern chain of the Andes and went to one of the tributaries of the Amazon. A small ship was built and launched there, a team of 57 people, led by Francisco Orellana, was supposed to scout the area and get food. Orellana did not return back and was the first to cross South America from west to east, sailing along the Amazon to its mouth. The detachment was attacked by Indian archers, who were not inferior in courage to men. The myth of Homer about the Amazons received a new registration. Travelers in the Amazon for the first time met with such a formidable phenomenon as a pororoka, a tidal wave that rolls into the lower reaches of the river and can be traced for hundreds of kilometers. In the dialect of the Tupi-Guarani Indians, this stormy water shaft is called "amazunu". This word was interpreted by the Spaniards in their own way and gave rise to the legend of the Amazons (Sivere, 1896). The weather favored Orellana and his companions, they also made a voyage by sea to the island of Margarita, on which the Spanish colonists had already settled. G. Pizarro, who did not wait for Orellana, with a thinned detachment, was forced to storm the ridge again in the opposite direction. In 1542, only 80 participants in this transition returned to Quito. In 1541 - 1544. the Spaniard Nufrio Chavez with three companions again crossed the South American mainland, this time from east to west, from southern Brazil to Peru, and returned the same way.
The first English settlement in America appeared in 1607 in Virginia and was named Jamestown. The trading post, founded by members of the crews of three English ships under the command of Captain K. Newport, served at the same time as an outpost on the path of the Spanish advance to the north of the continent. The first years of the existence of Jamestown were a time of endless disasters and hardships: diseases, famine and Indian raids took the lives of more than 4 thousand of the first English settlers of America. Ho, already at the end of 1608, the first ship sailed to England, carrying a cargo of timber and iron ore. In just a few years, Jamestown turned into a prosperous village thanks to the extensive plantations of tobacco previously cultivated only by the Indians laid there in 1609, which by 1616 became the main source of income for the inhabitants. Tobacco exports to England, which in 1618 amounted to 20 thousand pounds in monetary terms, increased by 1627 to half a million pounds, creating the necessary economic conditions for population growth. The influx of colonists was greatly facilitated by the allocation of a 50-acre plot of land to any applicant who had the financial means to pay a small rent. Already by 1620 the population of the village was approx. 1000 people, and in all of Virginia there were approx. 2 thousand
lovek. In the 80s. 15th century exports of tobacco from two southern colonies - Virginia and Maryland rose to 20 million pounds.
The virgin forests, which stretched for more than two thousand kilometers along the entire Atlantic coast, abounded with everything necessary for the construction of dwellings and ships, and the rich nature satisfied the needs of the colonists for food. The increasingly frequent calls of European ships into the natural bays of the coast provided them with goods that were not produced in the colonies. The products of their labor were exported to the Old World from the same colonies. But the rapid development of the northeastern lands, and even more so the advancement into the interior of the continent, beyond the Appalachian mountains, was hampered by the lack of roads, impenetrable forests and mountains, as well as the dangerous neighborhood with Indian tribes hostile to aliens.
The fragmentation of these tribes and the complete lack of unity in their sorties against the colonists became the main reason for the displacement of the Indians from the lands they occupied and their final defeat. The temporary alliances of some Indian tribes with the French (in the north of the continent) and with the Spaniards (in the south), who were also worried about the pressure and energy of the British, Scandinavians and Germans advancing from the east coast, did not bring the desired results. The first attempts to conclude peace agreements between individual Indian tribes and the English colonists who settled in the New World also turned out to be ineffective.
European immigrants were attracted to America by the rich natural resources of a distant continent, which promised rapid material prosperity, and its remoteness from European strongholds of religious dogma and political predilections. Not supported by the governments or official churches of any country, the exodus of Europeans to the New World was financed by private companies and individuals, driven primarily by an interest in generating income from the transportation of people and goods. Already in 1606, the London and Plymouth companies were formed in England, which actively
Signing of the Mayflower Agreement
engaged in the development of the northeast coast of America, including the delivery of English colonists to the continent. Numerous immigrants traveled to the New World with families and even entire communities at their own expense. A significant part of the new arrivals were young women, whose appearance was met with sincere enthusiasm by the unmarried male population of the colonies, paying the cost of their "transportation" from Europe at the rate of 120 pounds of tobacco per head.
Huge, hundreds of thousands of hectares, plots of land were allocated by the British crown to the representatives of the English nobility as a gift or for a nominal fee. Interested in the development of their new property, the English aristocracy advanced large sums for the delivery of their recruited compatriots and their arrangement on the lands received. Despite the extreme attractiveness of the conditions existing in the New World for newly arriving colonists, during these years there was a clear lack of human resources, primarily for the reason that only a third of the ships and people embarking on a dangerous journey - two a third died on the way. He was distinguished by hospitality and the new land, which met the colonists with unusual frosts for Europeans, harsh natural conditions and, as a rule, the hostile attitude of the Indian population.
At the end of August 1619, a Dutch ship arrived in Virginia, bringing the first black Africans to America, twenty of whom were immediately bought by the colonists as servants. Negroes began to turn into lifelong slaves, and in the 60s. 17th century slave status in Virginia and Maryland became hereditary. The slave trade has become a permanent feature of commercial transactions between East Africa
and the American colonies. African chieftains readily traded their men for textiles, household items, gunpowder, and weapons imported from New England and the American South.
In December 1620, an event took place that went down in American history as the beginning of the purposeful colonization of the continent by the British - the Mayflower ship arrived on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts with 102 Calvinist Puritans, who were rejected by the traditional Anglican Church and did not later find sympathy in Holland. The only way to preserve their religion, these people, who called themselves pilgrims, considered moving to America. While still aboard a ship crossing the ocean, they entered into an agreement between themselves, called the Mayflower Compact. It reflected in the most general form the ideas of the first American colonists about democracy, self-government and civil liberties. These notions were developed later in similar agreements reached by the colonists of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and in later documents of American history, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Having lost half the members of their community, but surviving in a land they had not yet explored in the harsh conditions of the first American winter and the crop failure that followed, the colonists set an example for their compatriots and other Europeans, who arrived in the New World already prepared for the hardships that awaited them.
After 1630, at least a dozen small towns arose in Plymouth Colony, the first New England colony that later became the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in which the newly arrived English Puritans settled. Immigration wave 1630-1643 Delivered to New England ca. 20 thousand people, at least 45 thousand more, chose the colonies of the American South or the islands of Central America for their residence.
For 75 years after the appearance in 1607 on the territory of the modern USA of the first English colony of Virgie
12 more colonies arose - New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The credit for founding them did not always belong to subjects of the British crown. In 1624, on the island of Manhattan in Hudson Bay [named after the English captain G. Hudson (Hudson), who discovered it in 1609, was in the Dutch service], Dutch fur traders founded a province called New Netherland, with the main city of New Amsterdam. The land on which this city developed was bought in 1626 by a Dutch colonist from the Indians for $24. The Dutch never managed to achieve any significant socio-economic development of their only colony in the New World.
After 1648 and up to 1674, England and Holland fought three times, and during these 25 years, in addition to hostilities, there was a continuous and fierce economic struggle between them. In 1664, New Amsterdam was captured by the British under the command of the king's brother Duke of York, who renamed the city New York. During the Anglo-Dutch War of 1673-1674. The Netherlands managed to restore their power in this territory for a short time, but after the defeat of the Dutch in the war, the British again took possession of it. From then until the end of the American Revolution in 1783 from r. Kennebec to Florida, from New England to the Lower South, the Union Jack flew over the entire northeast coast of the continent.
By the middle of the 16th century, Spain's dominance of the American continent was almost absolute, colonial possessions stretching from Cape Horn to New Mexico brought huge revenues to the royal treasury. Attempts by other European states to establish colonies in America were not crowned with noticeable success.
But at the same time, the balance of power in the Old World began to change: the kings spent the streams of silver and gold flowing from the colonies, and had little interest in the economy of the metropolis, which, under the weight of an inefficient, corrupt administrative apparatus, clerical dominance and lack of incentives for modernization, began to lag behind more and more. from the rapidly developing economy of England. Spain gradually lost the status of the main European superpower and mistress of the seas. The many years of war in the Netherlands, the huge funds spent on the fight against the Reformation throughout Europe, the conflict with England hastened the decline of Spain. The last straw was the death of the Invincible Armada in 1588. After the English admirals, and more so in a violent storm, destroyed the largest fleet of the time, Spain fell into the shadows, never to recover from this blow.
Leadership in the "relay race" of colonization passed to England, France and Holland.
English colonies
The well-known chaplain Gakluyt acted as the ideologist of the English colonization of North America. In 1585 and 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh, on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I of England, made two attempts to establish a permanent settlement in North America. The reconnaissance expedition reached the American coast in 1584, and named the open coast of Virginia (Virginia - "Virgin") in honor of the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I, who never married. Both attempts ended in failure - the first colony, founded on Roanook Island off the coast of Virginia, was on the verge of collapse due to Indian attacks and lack of supplies and was evacuated by Sir Francis Drake in April 1587. In July of the same year, a second expedition of colonists landed on the island, numbering 117 people. It was planned that ships with equipment and food would arrive in the colony in the spring of 1588. However, for various reasons, the supply expedition was delayed by almost a year and a half. When she arrived at the place, all the buildings of the colonists were intact, but no traces of people, with the exception of the remains of one person, were found. The exact fate of the colonists has not been established to this day.
Settlement of Virginia. Jamestown.
At the beginning of the 17th century, private capital entered the business. In 1605, two joint-stock companies at once received licenses from King James I to establish colonies in Virginia. It should be borne in mind that at that time the term "Virginia" denoted the entire territory of the North American continent. The first of the companies "London Virginia Company" (Virginia Company of London) received the rights to the southern, the second "Plymouth Company" (Plymouth Company) to the northern part of the continent. Despite the fact that both companies officially proclaimed the spread of Christianity as the main goal, the license they received granted them the right to "search and mine gold, silver and copper by all means."
On December 20, 1606, the colonists set sail aboard three ships, and after a difficult, almost five-month voyage, during which several dozen died of starvation and disease, in May 1607 they reached the Chesapeake Bay. Over the next month, they built a wooden fort, named after King Fort James (English pronunciation of the name Jacob). The fort was later renamed Jamestown, the first permanent British settlement in America.
The official historiography of the United States considers Jamestown the cradle of the country, the history of the settlement and its leader, Captain John Smith (John Smith of Jamestown) is covered in many serious studies and works of art. The latter, as a rule, idealize the history of the city and the pioneers who inhabited it (for example, the popular cartoon Pocahontas). In fact, the first years of the colony were extremely difficult, in the famine winter of 1609-1610. out of 500 colonists, no more than 60 survived, and according to some accounts, the survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism in order to survive the famine.
In subsequent years, when the issue of physical survival was no longer so acute, the two most important problems were tensions with the indigenous population and the economic feasibility of the existence of the colony. To the disappointment of the shareholders of the London Virginia Company, neither gold nor silver was found by the colonists, and the main export commodity was ship timber. Despite the fact that this product was in some demand in the metropolis, which had depleted its forests, the profit, as well as from other attempts at economic activity, was minimal.
The situation changed in 1612, when farmer and landowner John Rolfe managed to cross a local variety of tobacco grown by Indians with varieties imported from Bermuda. The resulting hybrids were well adapted to the Virginia climate and at the same time suited the tastes of English consumers. The colony acquired a source of reliable income and for many years tobacco became the basis of the economy and exports of Virginia, and the phrases "Virginia tobacco", "Virginia blend" are used as characteristics of tobacco products to this day. Five years later, tobacco exports amounted to 20,000 pounds, a year later it was doubled, and by 1629 it reached 500,000 pounds. John Rolfe rendered another service to the colony: in 1614 he managed to negotiate peace with the local Indian chief. The peace treaty was sealed by marriage between Rolf and the leader's daughter, Pocahontas.
In 1619, two events occurred that had a significant impact on the entire subsequent history of the United States. This year, Governor George Yeardley decided to hand over some power to the House of Burgesses, establishing the New World's first elected legislative assembly. The first meeting of the council took place on July 30, 1619. In the same year, a small group of Africans of Angolan origin was acquired by the colonists. Although formally they were not slaves, but had long contracts without the right to terminate, it is customary to count the history of slavery in America from this event.
In 1622, almost a quarter of the population of the colony was destroyed by the rebellious Indians. In 1624, the license of the London Company, whose affairs fell into decline, was revoked, and since that time Virginia has become a royal colony. The governor was appointed by the king, but the colonial council retained significant powers.
Timeline of the founding of the English colonies :
French colonies
By 1713, New France was at its largest. It included five provinces:
Canada (the southern part of the modern province of Quebec), divided in turn into three "governments": Quebec, Three Rivers (fr. Trois-Rivieres), Montreal and the Pays d'en Haut dependency, which included the modern Canadian and American regions of the Great Lakes, of which the ports of Pontchartrain (Fr. Pontchartrain) and Michillimakinac (fr. Michillimakinac) were practically the only poles of French settlement after the destruction of Huronia.
Acadia (modern Nova Scotia and New Brunswick).
Hudson Bay (modern Canada).
New Earth.
Louisiana (the central part of the USA, from the Great Lakes to New Orleans), subdivided into two administrative regions: Lower Louisiana and Illinois (fr. le Pays des Illinois).
Dutch colonies
New Netherland, 1614-1674, a region on the east coast of North America in the 17th century that stretched in latitude from 38 to 45 degrees north, originally discovered by the Dutch East India Company from the yacht Crescent ( nid. Halve Maen) under the command of Henry Hudson in 1609 and studied by Adrian Block (Adriaen Block) and Hendrik Christians (Christiaensz) in 1611-1614. According to their map in 1614, the Estates General included this territory as New Netherland within the Dutch Republic.
Under international law, claims to territory had to be secured not only by their discovery and provision of maps, but also by their settlement. In May 1624, the Dutch completed their claim with the delivery and settlement of 30 Dutch families on Noten Eylant, present-day Governors Island. New Amsterdam served as the main city of the colony. In 1664 Governor Peter Stuyvesant ceded New Netherland to the British.
Colonies of Sweden
At the end of 1637, the company organized its first expedition to the New World. Samuel Blommart, one of the managers of the Dutch West India Company, participated in its preparation, and invited Peter Minuit, the former general director of the New Netherland colony, to be the head of the expedition. On the ships "Squid Nyukkel" and "Vogel Grip" on March 29, 1638, under the leadership of Admiral Claes Fleming, the expedition reached the mouth of the Delaware River. Here, on the site of modern Wilmington, Fort Christina was founded, named after Queen Christina, which later became the administrative center of the Swedish colony.
Russian colonies
Summer 1784. The expedition under the command of G. I. Shelikhov (1747-1795) landed on the Aleutian Islands. In 1799, Shelikhov and Rezanov founded the Russian-American Company, which was managed by A. A. Baranov (1746-1818). The company hunted for sea otters and traded in their fur, founded its own settlements and trading posts.
Since 1808, Novo-Arkhangelsk has become the capital of Russian America. In fact, the management of the American territories is carried out by the Russian-American Company, whose main headquarters was in Irkutsk, officially Russian America was first included in the Siberian Governor General, later (in 1822) in the East Siberian Governor General.
The population of all Russian colonies in America reached 40,000 people, Aleuts predominated among them.
The southernmost point in America where Russian colonists settled was Fort Ross, 80 km north of San Francisco in California. Spanish and then Mexican colonists prevented further advance to the south.
In 1824, the Russian-American Convention was signed, which fixed the southern border of the possessions of the Russian Empire in Alaska at a latitude of 54 ° 40'N. The convention also confirmed the holdings of the United States and Great Britain (until 1846) in Oregon.
In 1824, the Anglo-Russian Convention was signed on the delimitation of their possessions in North America (in British Columbia). Under the terms of the Convention, a boundary line was established separating British possessions from Russian possessions on the western coast of North America, adjacent to the Alaska Peninsula, so that the border ran along the entire coastline belonging to Russia from 54 ° N. latitude. to 60° N, at a distance of 10 miles from the edge of the ocean, taking into account all the curves of the coast. Thus, the line of the Russian-British border in this place was not straight (as was the case with the border line of Alaska and British Columbia), but extremely winding.
In January 1841, Fort Ross was sold to Mexican citizen John Sutter. And in 1867, the United States bought Alaska for $7,200,000.
Spanish colonies
The Spanish colonization of the New World dates back to the discovery of America by the Spanish navigator Columbus in 1492, which Columbus himself recognized as the eastern part of Asia, the eastern coast of either China, or Japan, or India, therefore the name West Indies was assigned to these lands. The search for a new route to India is dictated by the development of society, industry and trade, the need to find large reserves of gold, for which demand has risen sharply. Then it was believed that in the "land of spices" it should be a lot. The geopolitical situation in the world changed and the old eastern routes to India for Europeans, which passed through the lands now occupied by the Ottoman Empire, became more dangerous and difficult to pass, meanwhile there was a growing need for a different trade with this rich land. Then some already had the idea that the earth was round and that India could be reached from the other side of the Earth - by sailing west from the then known world. Columbus made 4 expeditions to the region: the first - 1492-1493. - the discovery of the Sargasso Sea, the Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, Tortuga, the foundation of the first village in which he left 39 of his sailors. He declared all the lands to be the possessions of Spain; the second (1493-1496) - the complete conquest of Haiti, the discovery of the Lesser Antilles, Guadeloupe, the Virgin Islands, the islands of Puerto Rico and Jamaica. Founding of Santo Domingo; the third (1498-1499) - the discovery of the island of Trinidad, the Spaniards set foot on the coast of South America.
Articles from Wikipedia- free encyclopedia.
The history of the country is inextricably linked with its literature. And, thus, studying, it is impossible not to touch on American history. Each work belongs to a particular historical period. So, in his Washington, Irving talks about the Dutch pioneers who settled along the Hudson River, mentions the seven-year war for independence, the English king George III and the first president of the country, George Washington. Setting as my goal to draw parallel connections between literature and history, in this introductory article I want to say a few words about how it all began, because those historical moments that will be discussed are not reflected in any works.
Colonization of America 15th - 18th century (brief summary)
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
An American philosopher, George SantayanaIf you are asking yourself why you need to know history, then know that those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
So, the history of America began relatively recently, when in the 16th century people arrived on the new continent discovered by Columbus. These people were of different skin colors and different incomes, and the reasons that prompted them to come to the New World were also different. Some were attracted by the desire to start a new life, others sought to get rich, others fled from the persecution of the authorities or religious persecution. However, all these people, representing different cultures and nationalities, were united by the desire to change something in their lives and, most importantly, they were ready to take risks.
Inspired by the idea of creating a new world from scratch, the first settlers succeeded in this. Fantasy and dream become reality; they, like Julius Caesar, they came, they saw and they conquered.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Julius Caesar
In those early days, America was an abundance of natural resources and a vast expanse of uncultivated land inhabited by a friendly local population.
If you look a little more back in time, then, presumably, the first people who appeared on the American continent were from Asia. According to Steve Wingand, this happened about 14,000 years ago.
The first Americans probably wandered over from Asia about 14,000 years ago.
Steve Wiengand
Over the next 5 centuries, these tribes settled on two continents and, depending on the natural landscape and climate, began to engage in hunting, cattle breeding or agriculture.
In 985 AD, the warlike Vikings arrived on the continent. For about 40 years they tried to gain a foothold in this country, but yielding in superiority to the indigenous people, in the end, they abandoned their attempts.
Then, in 1492, Columbus appeared, followed by other Europeans, who were attracted to the continent by greed and simple adventurism.
Columbus Day is celebrated on October 12 in America in 34 states. Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.
Of the Europeans, the Spaniards were the first to arrive on the continent. Christopher Columbus, being an Italian by birth, having received a refusal from his king, turned to the Spanish king Ferdinand with a request to finance his expedition to Asia. It is not surprising that when, instead of Asia, Columbus discovered America, all of Spain rushed to this outlandish country. France and England followed the Spaniards. Thus began the colonization of America.
Spain got a head start in the Americas, mainly because the aforementioned Italian named Columbus was working for the Spanish and got them enthusiastic about it early on. But while the Spanish had a head start, other European countries eagerly sought to catch up.
(Source: U.S. history for dummies by S. Wiegand)
At first, meeting no resistance from the local population, the Europeans behaved like aggressors, killing and enslaving the Indians. The Spanish conquerors, who plundered and burned Indian villages and killed their inhabitants, were especially cruel. Following the Europeans, diseases also came to the continent. So the measles and smallpox epidemics gave the process of extermination of the local population a stunning speed.
But from the end of the 16th century, powerful Spain began to lose its influence on the continent, which was greatly facilitated by the weakening of its power, both on land and at sea. And the dominant position in the American colonies passed to England, Holland and France.
Henry Hudson founded the first Dutch settlement in 1613 on Manhattan Island. This colony, located along the Hudson River, was called New Netherland, and its center was the city of New Amsterdam. However, later this colony was captured by the British and transferred to the Duke of York. Accordingly, the city was renamed New York. The population of this colony was mixed, but although the British prevailed, the influence of the Dutch remained quite strong. Dutch words have entered the American language, and the appearance of some places reflects the "Dutch architectural style" - tall houses with sloping roofs.
The colonialists managed to gain a foothold on the continent, for which they thank God every fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving is a holiday to celebrate their first year in a new place.
If the first settlers chose the north of the country mainly for religious reasons, then the south for economic reasons. Without ceremony with the local population, the Europeans quickly pushed him to unsuitable lands for life or simply killed them.
The practical English were especially firmly established. Quickly realizing what rich resources this continent conceals, they began to grow tobacco in the southern part of the country, and then cotton. And to get even more profit, the British brought slaves from Africa to cultivate plantations.
Summing up, I will say that in the 15th century Spanish, English, French and other settlements appeared on the American continent, which began to be called colonies, and their inhabitants became colonists. At the same time, a struggle for territories began between the invaders, and especially strong hostilities were fought between the French and English colonists.
Anglo-French wars were also going on in Europe. But that's another story …
Having won on all fronts, the British finally established their superiority on the continent and began to call themselves Americans. Moreover, in 1776, 13 British colonies declared their independence from the English monarchy, which was then headed by George III.
July 4 - Americans celebrate Independence Day. On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, adopted the United States Declaration of Independence.
The war lasted 7 years (1775 - 1783) and after the victory, the English pioneers, having managed to unite all the colonies, founded a state with a completely new political system, whose president was the brilliant politician and commander George Washington. This state was called the United States of America.
George Washington (1789-1797) - the first president of the United States.
It is this transitional period in American history that Washington Irving describes in his work
And we will continue the topic Colonization of America" in the next article. Stay with us!
The first people settled on the northeastern outskirts of the North American continent between 22 and 13 thousand years ago. The latest genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that the inhabitants of Alaska managed to penetrate south and quickly populate the Americas about 15 thousand years ago, when a passage opened in the ice sheet that covered most of North America. The Clovis culture, which made a significant contribution to the extermination of the American megafauna, originated about 13.1 thousand years ago, almost two millennia after the settlement of both Americas.
As you know, the first people entered America from Asia, using the land bridge - Beringia, which during the glaciation period connected Chukotka with Alaska. Until recently, it was believed that about 13.5 thousand years ago, settlers first passed through a narrow corridor between glaciers in western Canada and very quickly - in just a few centuries - settled throughout the New World up to the southern tip of South America. They soon invented extremely effective hunting weapons (the Clovis* culture) and slaughtered most of the megafauna (large animals) on both continents.
However, new facts obtained by geneticists and archaeologists show that in reality the history of the settlement of America was somewhat more complex. An overview article by American anthropologists published in the journal Science.
genetic data. The Asian origin of the Native Americans is now beyond doubt. Five variants (haplotypes) of mitochondrial DNA (A, B, C, D, X) are common in America, and all of them are also characteristic of the indigenous population of Southern Siberia from Altai to Amur. Mitochondrial DNA extracted from the bones of ancient Americans is also clearly Asian in origin. This contradicts the recently expressed assumption about the connection of the Paleo-Indians with the Western European Paleolithic Solutrean culture ***.
Attempts to establish, based on the analysis of mtDNA and Y-chromosome haplotypes, the time of divergence (separation) of Asian and American populations so far give rather contradictory results (the resulting dates vary from 25 to 15 thousand years). Estimates of the time of the beginning of the settlement of the Paleo-Indians south of the ice sheet are considered somewhat more reliable: 16.6–11.2 thousand years. These estimates are based on the analysis of three clades**, or evolutionary lines, of subhaplogroup C1, widely distributed among Indians but not found in Asia. Apparently, these mtDNA variants arose already in the New World. Moreover, an analysis of the geographic distribution of various mtDNA haplotypes among modern Indians showed that the observed pattern is much easier to explain based on the assumption that the settlement began closer to the beginning, and not to the end of the specified time interval (i.e., rather 15–16, rather than 11– 12 thousand years ago).
Some anthropologists have suggested "two waves" of American settlement. This hypothesis was based on the fact that the oldest human skulls found in the New World (including the skull of the Kennewick Man, see links below) differ markedly in a number of dimensional indicators from the skulls of modern Indians. But the genetic data does not support the idea of "two waves". On the contrary, the observed distribution of genetic variations strongly suggests that the entire genetic diversity of Native Americans comes from a single ancestral Asian gene pool, and that there was only one widespread human settlement in the Americas. Thus, in all studied populations of Indians from Alaska to Brazil, the same allele (variant) of one of the microsatellite loci occurs, which is not found anywhere outside the New World, with the exception of the Chukchi and Koryaks (this suggests that all Indians descended from a single ancestral population). The ancient Americans, judging by the data of paleogenomics, had the same haplogroups as the modern Indians.
archeological data. Already 32 thousand years ago, people - carriers of the Upper Paleolithic culture - settled in Northeast Asia up to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. This is evidenced, in particular, by archaeological finds made in the lower reaches of the Yana River ****, where items made of mammoth bone and woolly rhinoceros horns were found. The settlement of the Arctic occurred during a period of relatively warm climate before the onset of the last glacial maximum. It is possible that already in this distant era, the inhabitants of the Asian northeast penetrated into Alaska. Several mammoth bones were found there, about 28 thousand years old, possibly processed. However, the artificial origin of these objects is debatable, and no stone tools or other clear signs of human presence have been found in the vicinity.
The oldest indisputable traces of human presence in Alaska - stone tools, very similar to those produced by the Upper Paleolithic population of Siberia - are 14 thousand years old. The subsequent archaeological history of Alaska is quite complex. Many sites aged 12–13 thousand years have been found here. different types of stone industry. Perhaps this indicates the adaptation of the local population to a rapidly changing climate, but it may also reflect the migration of tribes.
40 thousand years ago, most of North America was covered with an ice sheet, which blocked the path from Alaska to the south. Alaska itself was not covered with ice. During periods of warming, two corridors opened in the ice sheet - along the Pacific coast and east of the Rocky Mountains - through which the ancient inhabitants of Alaska could pass to the south. The corridors were opened 32 thousand years ago, when people appeared in the lower reaches of the Yana, but 24 thousand years ago they closed again. People, apparently, did not have time to use them.
The coastal corridor reopened about 15 thousand years ago, and the eastern one somewhat later, 13–13.5 thousand years ago. However, the ancient hunters could theoretically bypass the obstacle by sea. On Santa Rosa Island off the coast of California, traces of the presence of a person aged 13.0–13.1 thousand years were found. This means that the population of America at that time already knew well what a boat or raft was.
The well-documented archaeological site south of the glacier begins with the Clovis culture. The heyday of this culture of big game hunters was swift and fleeting. According to the latest updated radiocarbon dates, the oldest material traces of the Clovis culture are 13.2–13.1 thousand years old, and the youngest are 12.9–12.8 thousand years old. The Clovis culture spread so quickly across vast areas of North America that archaeologists cannot yet determine the area in which it first appeared: the accuracy of dating methods is insufficient for this. Just 2-4 centuries after its appearance, the Clovis culture disappeared just as rapidly.
The Clovis people were traditionally thought to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers capable of moving quickly over long distances. Their stone and bone tools were very perfect, multifunctional, made using original techniques and highly valued by their owners. Stone tools were made from high-quality flint and obsidian - materials that are far from being found everywhere, so people took care of them and carried them with them, sometimes taking them hundreds of kilometers from the place of manufacture. Clovis culture camps are small temporary camps where people did not live for long, but stopped only to eat the next killed large animal, most often a mammoth or mastodon. In addition, huge accumulations of Clovis artifacts have been found in the southeastern United States and Texas - up to 650,000 pieces in one place. Basically it is a waste of the stone industry. It is possible that the Clovis people had their main "stone quarries" and "weapons workshops" here.
Apparently, the favorite prey of the Clovis people were proboscis - mammoths and mastodons. There are at least 12 undisputed Clovis proboscidean kill and butchery sites found in North America. This is a lot, given the short duration of the existence of the Clovis culture. For comparison, in the entire Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia (corresponding to a time period of about 30,000 years), only six such sites have been found. It is possible that the Clovis people contributed in no small way to the extinction of the American proboscis. They did not disdain even smaller prey: bison, deer, hares, and even reptiles and amphibians.
The Clovis culture penetrated into Central and South America, but here it did not become as widespread as in North (only a small number of typical Clovis artifacts were found). On the other hand, Paleolithic sites with other types of stone tools have been found in South America, including those with characteristic tips resembling fish in shape (“fishtail points”). Some of these South American sites overlap in age with those of Clovis. It used to be thought that the culture of "fish" points originated from Clovis, but recent clarification of dating has shown that it is possible that both cultures are descended from some common and as yet undiscovered "ancestor".
Bones of an extinct wild horse were found at one of the South American sites. This means that the first settlers of South America probably also contributed to the extermination of large animals.
white color marked ice sheet during the period of greatest distribution 24 thousand years ago;
dotted line the edge of the glacier was circled during the period of warming 15–12.5 thousand years ago, when two “corridors” opened from Alaska to the south.
red dots shows the places of the most important archaeological finds /
12
- parking in the lower reaches of the Yana (32 thousand years);
19
- mammoth bones with possible traces of processing (28 thousand years);
20
- Kennewick; 28
- the largest "workshop" of the Clovis culture in Texas (650,000 artifacts); 29
- the oldest finds in the state of Wisconsin (14.2–14.8 thousand years); 39
- South American site with horse bones (13.1 thousand years); 40
- Monte Verde (14.6 thousand years); 41
, 43
- “fish-shaped” points were found here, the age of which (12.9–13.1 thousand years) coincides with the time of the existence of the Clovis culture. Rice. from the article in question Science.
During the second half of the 20th century, archaeologists repeatedly reported finds of more ancient traces of human presence in America than the sites of the Clovis culture. Most of these finds, after careful checks, turned out to be younger. However, for several sites, the “Pre-Clovisian” age is now recognized by most experts. In South America, this is the Monte Verde site in Chile, whose age is 14.6 thousand years. In the state of Wisconsin, at the very edge of the ice sheet that existed at that time, two sites of ancient mammoth lovers were discovered - either hunters or scavengers. The age of the sites is from 14.2 to 14.8 thousand years. In the same area, bones of mammoth legs were found with scratches from stone tools; the age of the bones is 16 thousand years, though the tools themselves were never found nearby. Several more finds have been made in Pennsylvania, Florida, Oregon, and other regions of the United States, with varying degrees of certainty indicating the presence of people in these places 14–15 thousand years ago. A few finds, the age of which was determined as even more ancient (over 15 thousand years), cause great doubts among specialists.
Subtotals. Today it is considered firmly established that America was inhabited by the species Homo sapiens. There have never been any Pithecanthropes, Neanderthals, Australopithecus and other ancient hominids in America. Although some Paleo-Indian skulls differ from modern ones, genetic analysis has shown that the entire indigenous population of America - both ancient and modern - descended from the same population of immigrants from southern Siberia. The first people appeared on the northeastern edge of the North American continent no earlier than 30 and no later than 13 thousand years ago, most likely between 22 and 16 thousand years ago. Judging by molecular genetic data, the settlement from Beringia to the south began no earlier than 16.6 thousand years ago, and the size of the “founders” population, from which the entire population of both Americas south of the glacier originated, did not exceed 5000 people. The theory of multiple waves of settlement was not confirmed (with the exception of the Eskimos and Aleuts, who came from Asia much later, but settled only in the far north of the American continent). The theory about the participation of Europeans in the ancient colonization of America has also been refuted.
One of the most important achievements of recent years, according to the authors of the article, is that the Clovis people can no longer be considered the first settlers of both Americas south of the glacier. This theory (“Clovis-First model”) assumes that all the more ancient archaeological finds should be recognized as erroneous, and today it is impossible to agree with this. In addition, this theory is not supported by data on the geographical distribution of genetic variations among the Indian population, which indicate an earlier and less rapid settlement of the Americas.
The authors of the article propose the following model of the settlement of the New World, which, from their point of view, best explains the totality of the available facts - both genetic and archaeological. Both Americas were settled about 15 thousand years ago - almost immediately after the coastal "corridor" opened, allowing the inhabitants of Alaska to penetrate south by land. Finds in Wisconsin and Chile show that both Americas were already inhabited 14.6 thousand years ago. The first Americans probably had boats, which could have contributed to their rapid settlement along the Pacific coast. The second suggested route of early migrations is westward along the southern edge of the ice sheet to Wisconsin and beyond. There could be especially many mammoths near the glacier, which were followed by ancient hunters.
The emergence of the Clovis culture was the result of two thousand years of development of ancient American mankind. Perhaps the center of origin of this culture was the south of the United States, because it was here that their main "working workshops" were found.
Another option is not excluded. The Clovis culture could have been created by the second wave of migrants from Alaska, who passed through the eastern “corridor” that opened 13–13.5 thousand years ago. However, if this hypothetical "second wave" did take place, it is extremely difficult to identify it by genetic methods, since the source of both "waves" was the same ancestral population that lived in Alaska.
* The Clovis culture is an archaeological culture of the Paleolithic era that existed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation throughout North America and partly in Central and South America. It is named after the Clovis site in the state of New Mexico (USA), which has been explored since 1932 (by the American archaeologist E. B. Howard and others). Radiocarbon dating 12-9 thousand years ago. Characterized by stone chipped lanceolate spearheads with longitudinal grooves on both surfaces and a concave base, sometimes in the shape of a fish tail. At typical sites, which are hunting camps, points are found together with other tools (scrapers, choppers, engraving points, etc.) and mammoth bones.
** A clade is a group of organisms containing a common ancestor and all of its direct descendants. The term is used in phylogenetics.
*** The Solutrean culture is an archaeological culture of the mid-late Paleolithic, common in France and northern Spain. Dated (radiocarbon method) 18-15 thousand years BC. e.
**** The Yana River - Formed at the confluence of the Sartang and Dulgalakh rivers flowing from the Verkhoyansk Range. It flows into the Yansky Bay of the Laptev Sea.
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