the United States of America was formed out of a blaze of revolution in the 18th century within 200 years the nation reached the height of its power emerging triumphant and robust following two world wars that devastated many other great nations however the history of this region stretches back further and is deeper the most believe this is the history the United States of America before the formation of the United States the history of the continent claims diverse and intriguing evolution the documented voyages and later death of Christopher Columbus paved the way for further Spanish and Portuguese expeditions which were to reveal the existence of South America with more accurate data and instruments at their disposal references by mapmakers stated this was a new world our stories were told this new world many people were intrigued and wanted to see for themselves therefore the United States was to become a nation of immigrants filled with unwavering optimism and determination to succeed however before the settlement by Europeans and prior to explorers chartering in the coast lines the continent was inhabited by various Native communities it is theorized the first people came by other India a land bridge that connected Russia on Alaska during the Ice Age as the world temperature increased the glaciers melted raising the sea levels and thereby closing the land bridge over time these first hunter-gatherers migrated throughout the continent and while the ancestors of all Native Americans a variety of people societies of languages and cultures subsequently developed most of which have been wiped out today the land climate and nature were significant influences in the lives and beliefs that those who occupied it one of the earliest societies was a Mississippi culture where archaeology is established that they built raised cities and ceremonial burial mounds with urban settlements sustained by a commendable trading network in the southwest the pueblos were known to construct complex multi-story villages built out of stone to the northeast five and later six nations banded together to form the Iroquois Confederacy they developed a centralized democratic government which comprised of representatives it is argued that this Confederacy was formed shortly before European contact by the peacemaker however the actual date is hearsay as no records exist perhaps the earliest noteworthy Explorer was Leif Ericson a Norse explorer who during the 11th century was blown off-course enroute to Greenland this natural storm led his discovery of the island today now known as Newfoundland but the Norse name is land Vineland a settlement was constructed on the northern tip of the island but the settlement proved not to be viable and quickly faded during the 5th century Europe was enjoying a safe lamp acid reaching to India and even as far as China these trade routes along the Silk Road enabled sources of valuable goods such as silks and spices to be traded with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire however the land route to Asia became more difficult Christopher Columbus was sponsored by Isabella of Castile and made his voyage with three ships the Nina the Pinta and the Santa Maria arguably it was the voyages and expeditions of Christopher Columbus that were a significant factor in the evolution of American history guided by the maps of toscanelli Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492 he would undertake three more voyages and as a reward for a success he was appointed governor of Hispaniola however even for this time in history Columbus committed multiple cruel and vile acts upon the natives killing the thousands to the point where he was later brought back to Europe and imprisoned the most significant factor in the demise of the natives at the time however was disease the natives had no immunity to the foreign diseases and it is estimated that 90% of the population were wiped out over the following centuries numerous European powers embarked on colonization efforts where they sought to exploit both the land resources and opportunities the continent offered the Spanish focused their efforts at colonizing the Caribbean Florida and its conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires of South America as news of this newfound continent reached to Europe during the early 17th century French immigrants were attracted to the fur trade and the wealth it could bring they also had a desire to convert the natives to Catholicism and traveled further down the same odds River laying the foundations for new France the Dutch followed suit establishing several forts towns and trading posts along the Hudson River which provided a network of trade New Netherland which the colony was known by produced immense wealth for the Dutch other foreign nations began to envy the riches flowing out the Hudson River Valley the English settlers colony in Jamestown Virginia in 1607 which became a key exporters of tobacco with tobacco plantations and colonies expanding the need for labor became urgent indentured servants received paid passage to the Americas along with food clothing and accommodation their contract was to work on plantations until their completion of service with the European arrival the Iroquois Confederacy became increasingly involved with the fur trade Dutch colonists and later English craved the lucrative beaver furs an Iroquois in exchange for firearms the Iroquois Confederacy depleted beaver populations in their homeland and mobilized against other tribes in the Great Lakes region who are allied with the French all this to gain access to new hunting and trapping grounds the competitive nature of the fur trade led to decades of hostility and bloodshed between Native American tribes and their struggled to maintain and compete for relations with the colonies in retaliation the French invaded Iroquois villages and surrounding lands meanwhile the Dutch lost New Netherland to the English during the second anglo-dutch war and New Amsterdam was renamed to New York the beaver wars as it was called ended with the great peace in 1701 in which the Iroquois Confederacy the British and the French agreed to stop their campaign against tribes in the Ohio country and allowed the evicted tribes to return to their homeland by the mid 17th century European ships are sailing to Africa laid him with goods which were to be traded for slaves these slaves were transported in harsh conditions on crowded ships bound for the Americas where they were forced to work on plantations this resulted in more productivity for plantation owners further trade ships embarked to Europe we're hungry market awaited highly priced merchandise by the mid 18th century France had laid claim to a vast amount of territory whilst the English territory had evolved into 13 colonies the English colonies were much smaller in land area compared to New France however they had a larger population in 1754 the french-indian war broke out between Britain and France over disputed lands in the Ohio River Valley France began the construction of forts in the region Britain sent troops to stop the construction and conflict escalated into the Seven Years War a colonial war spread over several continents the conflict ended in British victory and so large amounts of French territory in the new world reassigned to Britain however following the Seven Years War the Crowl amassed huge debts in order to crawl back monies the British government imposed heavy taxes on the colonies the first taxation was the sugar an followed by the Stamp Act where papers magazines and other documents needed to be produced in Britain and have a stamp tax on them the colonists seriously disliked these taxes voting protest and boycotting of British goods they believed that there should be no taxation without representation in Parliament the British were forced to revoke the Stamp Act due to the negative consequences for British businesses instead they introduced new taxes on glass tea LED oil which resulted in more protests as these products were essential to the colonies the crown initially sent 1000 troops to Boston to assert control on March 5th 1770 conflict escalated when the protesters started throwing stones and snowballs at the guards of the Custom House in the skirmish shots were fired killing five protesters becoming known as the Boston Massacre in 1773 disgusted by further taxation American patriots known as the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native American Indians they boarded a British ship and began throwing tea cargo into the harbour the British crown driven with anger sent four thousand more troops to Boston concluding with direct British rule the British controlled Boston but the Americans controlled the countryside and began arming and training militias known as the Minutemen in 1774 the First Continental Congress met at Philadelphia 56 delegates from 12 colonies arrived to discuss the reduction of taxes and a response to the Intolerable Acts when Massachusetts had been stripped to self-government by the British Parliament they sent a message to Britain and they responded with more regulations and increased army presence Massachusetts was declared in a state of rebellion British commander Lieutenant General Thomas Gage was ordered to disarm the rebels and arrest the leaders in the countryside the night of the 18th of April 1775 commoner Paul Revere rode ahead of British forces to warn leaders the British were coming American may less you met the British forces at Lexington retreated back to Concord and with more troops arriving they overwhelmed the British who retreated back to Boston where the city came under siege at the Second Continental Congress the militias were reorganized to form the Continental Army they appointed General George Washington as leader right I need a break I need a cup of tea yeah British reinforcements arrived led by General William Howe the Battle of Bunker Hill saw victory for the British for the price to pay was a substantial loss of life and Boston remained under siege General George Washington arrived in Boston the following month and continued to seeds through autumn and winter in March 1776 artillery arrived General George Washington ordered them to overlook the city forcing the British to evacuate Thomas Jefferson drafted up the official Declaration of Independence and the final text was approved on July 4 1776 a year later they fashion the Articles of Confederation which served as its first constitution meanwhile the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence France and Spain began to support our efforts by sending supplies and weapons Washington had moved his army to New York and as expected the British arrived with 130 warships and 25,000 troops the war continued with victories and defeats of both sides the American victory at Saratoga would prove to be a turning point for the American Revolution as it prompted France and later Spain and to war openly on the side of the Americans with French assistance the Continental Army forced the British to surrender at Yorktown the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 this recognized the Independence of the United States and ceased all land up to the Mississippi River the US Constitution was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788 launching the United States system of government and fundamental laws it was followed by the Bill of Rights namely the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution guaranteeing basic rights for citizens the United States of America was now an independent country with George Washington appointed as the first president in 1789 having supported the Americans France amassed substantial debt which was a major catalyst of the French Revolution following the revolution the United States refused to honor the day owed to France as they believed it arose from a previous regime France was annoyed that the United States was trading with Britain when war continued to rage between them the u. s. strengthened its Navy as France continued to attack and raid US merchant ships leading to the quasi-war the undeclared war in 1803 President Thomas Jefferson purchased French Louisiana from Napoleon at a bargain price of fifteen million dollars doubling the size of the United States Napoleon had won back this territory from Spain in 1800 but war with Britain was inevitable rather than witnessed the territory fall into British hands he sold the territory to fund his military campaigns following the deal President Thomas Jefferson commissioned an expedition to explore the newly purchased land the mission was led by a group of US Army volunteers under the command of Captain Lewis and his close friend 2nd lieutenant Clarke they studied the animal life the region's geography established diplomatic relations and trade of many indigenous nations and reported back with maps sketches and journals the war of 1812 between Britain and the United States didn't see any significant territorial changes however the British Canadians were successful in burning down the white house during the 1830s President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian remover which enforced the extradition of many Native American tribes in the southern states to relocate to reservations whilst enroute many natives contracted diseases and starvation killed thousands becoming known as the Trail of Tears the u.
s. continued to grow and expand under the idea of manifest destiny a belief that the United States was destined to expand across to the Pacific Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821 with a sparsely populated Northern Territory the Mexican government welcomes settlers in the United States to further develop the region unlike the mainly Catholic Mexican population many of the new settlers were Protestant pro-slavery and patriotic to the United States it wasn't long before Texas burst into rebellion and won independence from Mexico Texas tried to join the United States on two occasions however Texas was rejected because of disagreements regarding the addition of another slave state and the potential of course in conflict with the Mexican government change occurred with the election of James K Polk who was a stone believer on the idea of manifest destiny the u. s.
annexed Texas in 1845 without the authority from Mexico troops were assigned to the border of Mexico and a diplomat was sent to negotiate but their forces attacked and war broke out the mexican-american war saw us victory and resulted in the further expansion of the United States a border dispute with Britain in the north was also settled with a 49th parallel forming the border between the u. s. and Canada with the acquisition of California the news of gold in the area spread like wildfire 300,000 people flocked to California from both the United States and overseas the influx of gold reinvigorated the economy and the sudden population increase allowed California to grow rapidly to statehood there were disagreements about whether these newly acquired territories and later states should be free states or slave states the northern states were more industrialized while the southern states relied heavily on slave labor tensions and incongruity worsened when the kansas-nebraska Act allowed people in the territories of Kansas to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery leading to internal conflict when Abraham Lincoln won the US election many in the South feared he would outlaw slavery when in reality Abraham was neutral on the idea South Carolina ceded from the Union and other southern states soon followed the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston by the Confederate States Army was the official beginning of the American Civil War the north was more industrialized and a large economy and a greater manpower however the South commanded by General Robert Ely had more capable generals and higher morale this was a fully industrialized wall with railways telegrams and armored ironclads repeater rifles both sites or victories and defeats encouraging abraham lincoln to put forward his emancipation proclamation an executive order that gave freedom to over 3 million slaves in the Confederate States the Union was unable to defeat general robert e lee and his confederate forces generally made a push into the north unless met by Union General George Meade at the Battle of Gettysburg this would be a turning point and the bloodiest battle of the war lasting three days with huge losses on both sides the Confederate states and their army were weakened after the loss of planter it was clear that Confederate states were defeated on April 9 1865 General Lee surrendered to General Grant Lincoln oversaw the 13th amendment which abolished slavery throughout the states but within days of victory Lincoln was assassinated while attending a theater in Washington DC the following decades was a time for the nation to heal the wounds of war after new states to enter the Union the US government desired the region known as the Black Hills an area where gold had been discovered subsequently resulting in settlers encroaching on Native American lands the Great Sioux war of 1876 saw two years of war and negotiation between Native Americans and the United States meanwhile the Spanish Empire had come a long way from what it used to be in 1898 the battleship USS Maine was sent to Cuba to protect American interests as the island was in the midst of a revolution against Spain the USS Maine sank in Havana Harbor many speculated it was an accident however the United States blamed the mainland Spain on war was declared upon American victory Spain surrendered Puerto Rico Guam and the Philippines Cuba gained independence but remained under the United States sphere of influence in addition President Theodore Roosevelt enacted his big stick policy and American oversight of other Latin American countries this included the u.
s. backing of Panama separation from the Republic of Colombia in 1904 they overtook the construction of the Panama Canal which connected the two oceans and was hugely beneficial to the u. s.
in 1914 after the outbreak in Europe with the first world war the US remain neutral having the protection of two oceans they remain a close trading partner with Britain however trade was disrupted and Germany enforced the naval blockade in 1915 the USS Lusitania was sunk by a German u-boat but it wasn't until 1917 after an interception of a German telegram to Mexico requesting them to invade the u. s. that the United States declared war the first u.
s. infantry troops arrived on the European continent in June 1917 in October the first American soldiers enter combat the United States brought freshly trained troops and helped the Allies win victory but if the cost of over a hundred thousand soldiers who perished in the fighting the decade following the end of the first world war so expensive cultural changes and technological advances known as the Roaring Twenties there was an economic upturn notable entertainment gave rise to the popularity of jazz music those new dance styles and the motion picture industry of Hollywood flourished there was a mass production of Ford Model T cars radios in wide use and the decade also gave rise to the birth of women's rights and the rule of mobsters and prohibition The Wall Street Crash and the collapse of the stock market instigated the Great Depression of the 1930s but within a decade the u. s.
was once again dragged into another world war in the Pacific Japanese Empire was increasing in 1941 they launched an attack on the Hawaiian a base Pearl Harbor President Franklin D Roosevelt was forced to bring the u. s. into the war throughout World War two the u.
s. aided their allies in the Pacific North Africa and Europe which saw the loss of hundreds of thousands of troops during the war refugees from Germany had warned of a German atomic bomb project in response the Americans quickly commenced research and construction of their own atomic weapon the Manhattan Project was instigated following the German defeat in Europe President Harry Truman ordered the release of their atomic bomb on Japan the atomic weapons were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which devastated the region's over a hundred thousand civilians World War two ended with Japanese surrender after another catastrophic war change was inevitable Germany was divided between France Britain and the US in the West and the Communist Soviet Union who took the East the capital of Berlin was also divided the United States devised the Marshall Plan to support Western Europe economically spending billions to rebuild and aid to recover it their allies over the next few decades two military alliances were formed NATO and the Warsaw Pact different ideologies between these alliances would set the scene for the Cold War a period of tension between the u. s.
and the Soviet Union these two new superpowers would compete for control and dominance or up the world engaging in espionage proxy wars and interventions this rivalry fostered the space race with both nations vying to land the first man on the moon the Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite in 1957 which prompted the foundation of NASA a year later after numerous missions it was Apollo 11 that successfully landed the first humans on the moon astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin subsequently took their place in history throughout the 1950s and 60s there was a struggle for social justice and for African Americans to gain equality and the right to vote Martin Luther King jr.
