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Part 1: American history
Chapter 1: American history up to 1700
America was one of the last continents to be settled. By the end of the ice age, a large land
mass near the north of the Pacific Ocean, Beringia, began to disappear. As a result, the first
indigenous Americans crossed the Bering Strait into North America roughly 15.000 years ago
and settled in what is now Alaska and Canada.
As the earliest hunter-gatherers began to spread out across the Americas, they began to split
into tribes with different ways of lives and customs:
• Native Americans who settled on the Plains, Plains Indians, were nomadic, lived in
teepees and travelled long distances following herds of buffalos.
• Tribes on the East coast, like the Wampanoags, were seminomadic, meaning they
moved between two locations throughout the year. These tribes had a matrilineal
family structure, meaning that property and the family structure was centered on a
matriarch and not a patriarch.
The exact number of indigenous people living in the US at the time Columbus and the Spanish
set sail is impossible for us to now. However, it is estimated that around 2 million people lived
there in 1492. The term to call these indigenous Americans is often debated since a small
number prefer the older term ‘Indian’ that Christopher Columbus (who incorrectly thought
he had reached Asia) gave them, while others prefer ‘Native American’. Most American
Indians prefer to be called “American Indians”, but it is commonly acceptable to refer to them
by the name of their tribe.
The first European to reach North America was Leif Erikson, a Viking descendent who arrived
in Newfoundland in Canada around 1000 CE. Erikson arrived in North America 500 years
before Columbus, but is not considered to be equally important. Columbus made four voyages
to the Americas between 1492 and 1504, but never set foot in the USA. Columbus was met
by the Arawak people of Hispaniola, an island that consists of Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. In the years after Columbus’ arrival nearly all indigenous people were decimated,
by violence, slavery or disease. Because of this many historians see him as a colonizer who
began one of the largest-scale genocides of indigenous peoples.
Native American history is often told as part of European colonization, with where they lived,
their languages, and values and customs being told in contrast to that of their oppressors. Few
pages in history books are dedicated to Native American history and culture. The Native
American’s adobe houses allow us to see that they had their own architectural style in no way
inferior to any other. But judging them based on complicated buildings deemed impressive by
the overarching ideals of the colonizer leads us to ignore those cultures that didn’t follow these
traditional ideals. We inherently judge cultures based upon criteria that are important to our
own societies, ethnocentrism.
One of the biggest accomplishments of the indigenous people was their advanced farming
skills. Historians believe that maize, or corn, was first domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley
in Mexico from a grass species. Over time, the indigenous people were able to pollinate the
crop into a rich source of nutrients. The real ingenuity however came from the ability to adapt
the crop to new climates. In fact, many of the staple foods used around the world were at one
time cultivated by indigenous people of the Americas. The export of some of these products
made colonization of the Americas profitable for the Europeans. One product was especially
profitable to the English, tobacco. For natives the product mainly played a ceremonial role,
but because of the addictive nature of some ingredients it became widely popular in Europe.
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The Native Americans were expert builders and the oldest buildings in the United States today
were built by them rather than by the Europeans. Cliff Dwellings in Colorado are an example
of advanced cliff buildings built by the Ancestral Pueblo people. The cities on these cliffs had
impressive architectural structures and showed evidence of a highly-sophisticated civilization.
Native Americans were also skilled political statesmen. Sometime around 1450 several tribes
came together to create the Iroquois Federation.
Age of exploration 1492 – 1700
The first colony in the United States was a Spanish one, St. Augustine, located in Florida. It
was founded in 1565 by the Spanish conquistadores, Spanish for conquerors, who used it
as the capital of Spanish Florida. These conquerors were part of a lager movement in the 15 th
until the 17th century to explore the world outside of Europe, which began with the Portuguese
exploration of Africa and Asia, and continued with the exploration and “discovery” of the
Americas by the European powers. English exploration would prove to be the most influential
for the founding and development of the Americas, even though English explorers only made
up a small part of the colonization.
Spanish and Portuguese explorers colonized large parts of North and South America and even
at the time the US was declared and independent nation, most of it was under Spanish control.
This was because of the vast amount of power that was consolidated into one throne with the
marriage of Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II.
Spain proved itself to be a large colonizing power in the 16 th century, also being responsible
for Columbus’s exploration of the New World in 1492. Until Spain lost its colonies in the
19th century, Spain and Portugal were responsible for the largest colonies in America. At the
time of Columbus’s very first voyage, countries in Europe were searching for a quicker way to
reach Asia from Western Europe. Portugal had successfully found a route by going south, so
Columbus convinced the king and queen to allow him to attempt travelling westward. Since
he was convinced he had reached Asia, the term “Indian” was used for a long time to name
the indigenous people. Juan Ponce de León, the first European in Puerto Rico and Florida
in 1513, and Hernando de Soto, who is believed to be the first European to reach the
Mississippi in 1539 – 1542, are two other important Spanish conquistadores. By the time the
English had settled their 1st colony in Jamestown, the Spanish had already established
settlements in St. Augustine and Santa Fe (Florida and New Mexico).
Since much of the New World was explored by the Spanish, European knowledge was based
on their accounts, of gold and riches beyond belief. This led to many Europeans travelling to
the New World in search of wealth and glory. These soldiers, priests, and merchants led to
the downfall of some of the largest and most advanced cultures at the time, like the Aztecs.
Disease, enslavement and violence caused the near total decimation of the cultures.
It is hard to estimate how many people were killed because any records about the population
kept by the Europeans were only written after a large portion of the native population already
died. Recently, scientists took a new approach to investigate how many people were killed.
The scientists estimate that disease led to a massive loss of life in something they refer to as
the Great Dying. New diseases like smallpox led to about 90% of the natives dying out
between the first few centuries after European colonization. There is some speculation that
the deaths of so many indigenous Americans was a contributing factor to the Little Ice Age.
Explorers and pilgrims
England was by far the most influential colonizing power in the US; their language is English,
American common law is based on British common law, and the leaders of both countries
view the nations as having a special relationship. In many ways we can see early European-
American history as a distinct branch of the history of Great Britain.
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The first English colonists to explore North America were driven to do so for various reasons;
some to find a route to Asia, others in search of the riches the Spanish had brought back. In
1580s, Queen Elizabeth I of England gave Sir Walter Raleigh permission to set up a colony
in North America, north of Spanish Florida. Raleigh chose to stay in England and delegate the
establishment of the colonies to other.
Raleigh’s first mission to what is now North Carolina was mostly successful, men left England
and established the 1st semi-permanent colony in 1585 on Roanoke island (Roanoke colony).
The men assumed they would encounter some of the villages the Spanish had described, but
only met smaller Native American tribes that were generally helpful, but cautious of the new
visitors. The lack of gold and silver and poor provisions caused a lot of morale for these first
English settlers, on top of this there were also growing hostilities between the English and the
local Secotan peoples because the Secotan were weary of the new visitors. The relationship
between the Secotan and the English soured and the English explorers eventually demanded
to go back to England. The first colony was eventually abandoned and the English returned
home. They were able to raid a Spanish vessel filled with riches, which made the trip profitable
in the end. It also gave the English appetite to further explore North America.
Raleigh eventually organized a second expedition to Roanoke to set up a permanent colony
there. When the English arrived a second time, they found that they were not welcome by the
local tribes. The English destruction of certain villages by force let some of the tribes to attack
some of the colonists immediately. The colonists send one of the leaders, John White, back
to England to ask for help and reinforcements. By the time he returned to England, a war
between Spain and England was raging and Queen Elizabeth I forbade any ship or sailor from
leaving the country. John White and his crew were not able to return until 1590 to give supplies
and assistance to the colony but when they arrived, they found the village deserted. Since the
letters ‘CRO’ and the word ‘Croatoan’ were carved in different places, the rescuers believed
that the settlers had relocated to Croatoan Island. Unable to sail there because of a problem
with the ship, White wasn’t able to see what had happened to the colonists. Since then, the
first Roanoke Colony, also Lost Colony, has held a significant place in the American psyche.
Many historians have spent a considerable amount of time hypothesizing about what could’ve
happened to the colonists. Some believe they were killed by local tribes or assimilated with
the tribes. Others believe they may have used a smaller ship to either travel north to the fishing
settlements, or to sail back to England and shipwrecked along the way.
The Roanoke Colony was a setback for the English, but it was not long until the first permanent
English colony was settled in North America, at Jamestown in 1607. This colony was founded
by the Virginia Company of London and served as one of the main centers of commerce in
the New World. At first, this colony seemed to be as doomed as Roanoke Colony since many
of the colonists died of starvation, and it was temporarily abandoned in the early years due to
the hardships the colonists faced. Many of the English colonists were not used to planting,
building and the large amounts of physical labor required to create a viable colony. On top of
this, they encountered hostility from the local tribes, since they were probably well aware of
the fighting and hostilities that had occurred in Roanoke.
From 1610, the colony in Jamestown became viable and stable. Trade became profitable with
the local tribes and more workers arrived from Europe as indentured servants, who came to
the New World and worked in what we would refer to today as a form of slavery. Indentured
servants would have their passage to the New World paid for by a sponsor, but upon arrival
they would be forced to work off this debt without receiving any wages, for a long period.
Alongside these servants, many African slaves were also brought to Jamestown, but they did
not have any hope for freedom.
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The situation in England began to change in the 17th century. When Queen Elizabeth I died,
she passed the throne on to her Scottish nephew James I, starting the Jacobean era. Religion
was one of the largest issues England faced during the Tudor and Jacobean eras. There was
uncertainty as to which form of Protestantism should form the new Church of England. At first,
the Church of England closely resembled the Catholic Church in both ceremony and religious
rites. However, after the throne had passed back and forth between Catholic and Protestant
monarchs, the rules in England regarding religious dissenters became stricter.
Once James I had taken control of the English and Scottish thrones, laws were established to
severely punish non-conformists or people who were not member of the Church of England.
The new laws greatly impacted the everyday lives of various religious minorities in England,
one of them being the Puritans who believed the Church should base its religious practices
and teachings on the theology of John Calvin. Some Puritans believed their goal was to reform
the church for all of England. Others were classed separatists because they believed a new
church should be formed around Calvin’s religious principles. For many of these separatists,
life in England became difficult and immigrating was the only other option.
Many Puritans immigrated to Leiden, Netherlands, where Calvinist ideology was embraced by
the local Protestant Church. This group of Puritans called themselves Pilgrims because their
goal was to set up a new religious Calvinist church. However, life in exile proved to be difficult
for many of these refugees and a large group of Pilgrims eventually decided to set sail for the
Virginia Colony in the New World in 1620.
With permission of the British Crown, the Pilgrims left Leiden and travelled, first to Plymouth
in England, before sailing to New England on the Mayflower. Once they had reached land,
they realized they were much farther north than Virginia which mean the colony they had
founded had not been approved by the crown. This forced the Pilgrims to sign the Mayflower
Compact, which stated that this new free colony would exist as a democratic political body.
This compact is seen as the first form of democracy in the US and this story is taught in schools
throughout America since it is the core foundation of American history and it had a large impact
on the country that would be formed 150 years after the Pilgrims landed in the New World.
When the Pilgrims founded their colony at New Plymouth, they were in a world much like that
of earlier settlements, where the land was unfamiliar and supplies were limited. As with many
of the early colonies, half of the people who had arrived on the Mayflower died within the first
year. Being able to farm the North American land was one of the issues that plagued all settlers
in the beginning. When the Pilgrims landed, they were met by the Wampanoag who introduced
them to a Native American named Squanto who could speak English.
Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to farm corn and, in 1621, the Pilgrims had their 1 st successful
harvest. As a way to give thanks, the leader of the Pilgrims, Governor Bradford, organized a
feast which later became known as Thanksgiving.
However, the story of harmony between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims is misleading.
Not long after, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (once New Plymouth) decided
that the Wampanoags had not “subdued” the land, and therefore had only a natural right to it,
but not a civil right. This argument was used over and over to force the American Indians off
of their land to make space for European colonists. The irony is especially painful because if
it were not for the Wampanoags and Squanto, the Pilgrims would not have survived their 1 st
year in the New World.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony and New Plymouth were not the only colonies compromised
of religious non-conformists from England. Before the Glorious Revolution and the passing of
the Act of Toleration, the Colonies proved an attractive destination for non-conformists.
The idea of using the colonies as a place of refuge for persecuted religious minorities became
popular in the 17th century. George Calvert, for example, saw his personal colony, Maryland,
as a possible refuge for persecuted English Catholics. Many Catholics did indeed move there,
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