U.S. History

Introduction

The history of the United States has been full of a number of important events along with ups and downs. Humans first appeared in America 10-15 thousand years ago. It is further observed that the first visit to America by the Europeans had no impact on the lives of indigenous people. After the visit of the Europeans to the United States, there were other important events that took place in the history of United States. The core focus of this paper is to discuss a brief account of the historical events that took place between the time period of 1492-1865 in the United States.

Discussion

The discovery of America by Europeans

After the Vikings, the first Europeans in the New World were the Spaniards . In October 1492, a Spanish expedition led by Admiral Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of San Salvador . At the end of fifteenth and beginning of sixteenth century, several expeditions were made to the regions of the Western Hemisphere. Standing in the service of the English King Henry VII, Italian Giovanni Cabot reached the coast of Canada (1497-1498 gg.), the Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil (1500-1501 gg.), the Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa established the first city on the American continent and left to the Pacific Ocean (1500-1513 gg.), in the service of the Spanish king, Ferdinand Magellan in 1519-1521 gg. skirted the south America.

In 1507, Lorraine geographer Martin Waldseemüller suggested to call the New World America in honor of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci. At the same time, began development of the continent. In 1513, the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the peninsula of Florida, where in 1565 there was the first permanent European colony and the town was laid St. Augustine. In the late 1530s, Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi and came to the valley of the river Arkansas. Power and influence of the Spaniards in the New World began to decline after the defeat in 1588 of the Spanish Armada . During the sixteenth century, information on the new lands was collected and documentary sources have been translated into many European languages.

Colonial Era

The first permanent English colony was founded in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. A few years later, to escape religious persecution by the Church of England, the Puritans came to America from England. In 1620, the Puritans founded Plymouth Colony, which eventually became known as Massachusetts. Plymouth was the second permanent British settlement in North America and the first in New England.

Puritans hoped to build in New England “city on a hill” - an ideal society. Since then, Americans believed the story of this country's greatest experiment, a worthy example for other countries. The Puritans believed that the state should enforce religious morals. They severely punished heretics, libertines, drunkards, those who did not follow the “Sabbath.” Although they were looking for religious freedom, the Puritans differed extreme intolerance in matters of morality. In 1636 an English clergyman Roger Williams left Massachusetts and established the ...