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Summary American history
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF USABY BIKRANT ROY
PART ONE COLONIAL AMERICA
THE FIRST COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA
The first Europeans to establish colonies in North America were the
Spanish. In 1526 a Spaniard called Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon attempted to
found a colony in Carolina. (He also brought the first black slaves to North
America). However the attempt failed. Many Spaniards died of disease and
the survivors abandoned the colony.
In 1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded a settlement at St Augustine,
Florida, the first permanent European settlement in what is now the USA.
The first English attempt to colonize North America was made by a man
named Sir Humphrey Gilbert. In 1578 Queen Elizabeth granted him
permission to establish a colony there. In 1583 Gilbert sailed with a small
fleet of ships to Newfoundland. However Gilbert soon abandoned the
venture. Gilbert was lost on the voyage home.
However his half-brother, Walter Raleigh made another attempt to found a
colony. In 1584 he sent two ships to explore the coast. They found what
they thought was a suitable place for a colony. In January 1585 Queen
Elizabeth the 'Virgin Queen' allowed him to call the place Virginia, after her.
In April 1585 an expedition was sent led by Richard Grenville. They arrived
in July 1585. Grenville left men on Roanoke Island then left for England to
obtain more men and supplies. However while he was gone the colonists
ran very short of supplies. In 1586 the colonists abandoned Virginia and
returned to England.
In 1587 another attempt to found a colony was made by a man named
John White. He led an expedition of men, women and children to Virginia.
However White returned to England to seek more support for the colony.
Because of a war between England and Spain he was unable to return to
Virginia until 1590. When he did he found the colony deserted. The fate of
the colonists is unknown.
JAMESTOWN AND VIRGINIA
,The first attempts to found a colony in North America were made by
gentlemen adventurers. Success came only when a group of men joined
together and pooled their resources to found a colony. The Virginia
Company was founded in 1606. They sent two expeditions to North
America. Raleigh Gilbert (Sir Humphrey Gilbert's son) led one of them.
They landed in Maine but soon gave up. They returned to England in 1609.
The second expedition founded Jamestown on 14 May 1607.
More settlers arrived in 1609. However shortage of food, disease and
conflict with the natives caused many deaths among the colonists. In 1610
the survivors were on the verge of leaving. They were dissuaded from
doing so only when more ships from England arrived. In 1611 Sir Thomas
Dale became the Governor of the colony. He introduced strict discipline
with a code of laws called 'Laws, Divine, Moral and Martial'. Penalties for
disobedience were severe.
In 1612 a man named John Rolfe began growing tobacco. In 1614 the first
Virginian tobacco was sold in England. Exports of tobacco soon became
the mainstay of the Virginian economy.
Gradually the colony expanded. In 1618 the Company offered 50 acres of
land to anyone who could pay for the cost of their voyage across the
Atlantic. If they could not pay they could become indentured servants.
When they arrived they were not free. They had to work for the company
for several years to pay back the cost of their passage. In 1619 19 black
indentured servants arrived in Virginia.
Also in 1619 the first representative government in North America was
created when the House of Burgesses met.
In 1624 the Virginia Company was dissolved and the Crown took over the
colony. By 1660 the population of Virginia was 27,000. By 1710 it had risen
to 78,000. However in 1699 the seat of government of Virginia was moved
from Jamestown to Middle Plantation (Williamsburg). Afterwards
Jamestown went into decline.
THE PILGRIM FATHERS AND NEW ENGLAND
Another English colony was founded 1620 by a group of people fleeing
religious persecution. They disagreed with the teachings of the Church of
England and wished to separate themselves from it not to reform it.
However they did not actually call themselves 'pilgrims'. The colonists set
out in a ship called the Mayflower and they arrived on 11 December 1620.
Half of the colonists did not survive the first year in North America. The
,Natives who taught them how to grow crops saved the survivors. Another
colony was founded at Salem in 1628.
The Massachusetts Bay Company was formed in 1629. From 1630 large
numbers of settlers were transported to New England and its population
swelled. Furthermore English colonists spread over the coast of North
America. In 1634 people from Massachusetts founded the town of
Wethersfield in Connecticut.
In 1636 a group of people left the Massachusetts Bay colony and settled on
Rhode Island. The first settlement was at Providence.
Meanwhile a fishing settlement was founded in New Hampshire in 1623. In
1629 the area between the Merrimack River and the Piscataqua River was
granted to a man named Mason. It was named New Hampshire.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire was founded in 1630. Officially New
Hampshire was part of Massachusetts until 1679.
Unlike the southern states, which were overwhelmingly agricultural New
England developed a partly mercantile economy. Fishing was an important
industry. Exports of timber and barrels were also important. There was also
a ship building industry in New England.
Life in 17th Century New England
The Europeans introduced many diseases to which the natives had little or
no resistance. As a result many natives died and their number declined
sharply. As the British colonies grew they inevitably came into conflict with
the natives. The Pequot War was fought in 1637-1638 and it ended in the
destruction of the Pequot tribe. Another desperate struggle took place in
1675-1676. the colonists heavy-handed treatment of the natives led to King
Philip's War. King Philip was actually a native called Metacom and the war
ended with his death. Although great damage was done on both sides the
defeat of the natives effectively meant that the colonists now had mastery
of New England.
In 1692 twenty people died as a result of the Salem Witch Trials
NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
In 1624 the Dutch West India Company founded a colony called New
Netherland. The first settlement was at Fort Orange (Albany). In 1638
Swedes formed a colony at Fort Christina (Wilmington). The Dutch
captured this colony in 1655 and made it part of New Netherland. The
British captured New Netherland in 1664 and renamed it New York in honor
, of the king's brother the Duke of York. King Charles II granted the colony to
his brother. He in turn granted the land between the Delaware and the
Hudson to two men, Lord John Berkeley (1607-1678) and Sir George
Carteret (1615-1680). Carteret came from the island of Jersey in the
English Channel and he named the area New Jersey after his home. In
1676 the colony was divided into East and West Jersey. Carteret took East
Jersey. In 1681 his widow sold it to William Penn and 11 other Quakers.
Penn hoped to turn this new colony into a haven of religious tolerance for
Quakers and others. In 1682 the area now called Delaware was ceded to
William Penn. In 1704 it was allowed its own assembly. However until the
revolution Delaware and Pennsylvania shared a governor. Meanwhile East
and West Jersey were reunited in 1702.
MARYLAND
Maryland was founded as a haven for Catholics (though by no means all
the early colonists were Catholic, some were Protestant). A man named
Cecil Calvert was granted territory north of the Potomac River. His brother
Leonard led 200 settlers there to found a colony in 1634. It was named
Maryland after the king's wife, Henrietta Maria. By 1640 there were about
500 people in Maryland. It soon became another tobacco growing colony.
CAROLINA AND GEORGIA
The Carolinas were settled after 1663 when Charles II granted them to 8
proprietors. Settlers came from islands in the Caribbean as well as from
Virginia and New England. Charleston was founded in 1670. Carolina soon
became a slave state. From the end of the 17th century many African
slaves were transported to work on the plantations. In the early 18th
century the African slave population in North America increased rapidly. In
1701 Carolina was divided into North and South Carolina.
Georgia was founded in 1732 when George II gave it a charter. It was
named after him. The first settlement in Georgia was Savannah, which was
founded in 1733.
THE GREAT AWAKENING
In the early 18th century there was a great religious revival in the North
American colonies. (Later it was given the name 'The Great Awakening').
Leading figures in the revival were William Tennent 1673-1745, a Scottish-
Presbyterian preacher, Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758. The English
preacher George Whitefield 1714-1770 also visited the colonies and won
many converts.
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