Europeans could reach America before Asians. History of the settlement of America
The history of the country is inextricably linked with its literature. And thus, while studying, one cannot help but touch upon American history. Each work belongs to a particular historical period. Thus, 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 country's first president, 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 the historical moments that will be discussed are not reflected in any works.
Colonization of America 15th – 18th centuries (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 different color skin 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 new life, others sought to get rich, others were fleeing persecution from 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 to create new world practically from scratch, the first settlers succeeded in this. Fantasy and dream became reality; they, like Julius Caesar, they came, they saw and they conquered.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Julius Caesar
In those distant times, America was an abundance of natural resources and a vast expanse of uncultivated land where friendly local people lived.
If we look a little further into the depths of centuries, then, presumably, the first people who appeared on the American continent came from Asia. According to Steve Wingand, this happened about 14 thousand 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 across two continents and, depending on the natural landscape and climate, began to engage in hunting, cattle breeding or agriculture.
In 985 AD, warlike Vikings arrived on the continent. For about 40 years they tried to gain a foothold in this country, but being outnumbered by the indigenous people, they eventually abandoned their attempts.
Then Columbus appeared in 1492, followed by other Europeans who were drawn to the continent by the thirst for profit and simple adventurism.
On October 12, 34 states celebrate Columbus Day in America. Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.
The Spanish were the first Europeans 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 Columbus discovered America instead of Asia, all of Spain rushed to this strange country. France and England rushed after 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)
Having initially encountered no resistance from the local population, the Europeans behaved like aggressors, killing and enslaving the Indians. The Spanish conquerors were particularly cruel, plundering and burning Indian villages and killing their inhabitants. Following the Europeans, diseases also came to the continent. Thus, epidemics of measles and smallpox gave the process of extermination of the local population 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 the island of Manhattan. This colony, located along the Hudson River, was called New Netherland, and its center was the city of New Amsterdam. However, this colony was later 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 predominated, the influence of the Dutch remained quite strong. IN American English Dutch words entered, and appearance some places reflect "Dutch" architectural style» - tall houses with sloping roofs.
The colonialist managed to gain a foothold on the continent, for which they thank God every fourth Thursday of the month of November. Thanksgiving is a holiday to celebrate their first year in their new place.
If the first settlers chose the north of the country mainly for religious reasons, then the south for economic ones. Without standing on ceremony with the local population, the Europeans quickly pushed them back to lands unsuitable for life or simply killed them.
The practical English were especially firmly established. Quickly realizing what rich resources this continent contained, they began to grow tobacco and then cotton in the southern part of the country. And to get even more profit, the British brought slaves from Africa to cultivate plantations.
To summarize, 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 - colonists. At the same time, a struggle for territory began between the invaders, with particularly strong military actions taking place between the French and English colonists.
The Anglo-French wars also took place in Europe. But that is another story …
Having won on all fronts, the British finally established their supremacy on the continent and began to call themselves Americans. Moreover, in 1776, 13 British colonies declared their independence from English monarchy, which was then headed by George III.
July 4th – Americans celebrate Independence Day. On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, adopted the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
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, the president of which was the brilliant politician and commander George Washington. This state was called the United States of America.
George Washington (1789-1797) - first US president.
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!
An international research team has announced the discovery of indisputable evidence of the settlement of America by European tribes 10 thousand years earlier than the Siberians reached the New World.
Darrin Lowery from the University of Delaware (USA) discovered stone tools 19–26 thousand years old in five places along the east coast of the United States, three of them located on the Delmarva Peninsula in Maryland, one in Pennsylvania and another in Virginia . The sixth find was made by fishermen who were hunting for scallops 100 km from the coast using a dredge. In those prehistoric times there was land there.
Ways of settlement of North America in the opinion of the authors of the sensation.
The mysterious similarity between some tools found on the east coast of the United States and dating back to a later time and European tools has been noted before. But the American finds are about 15 thousand years old: by that time, the production of similar artifacts in Europe (the Solutrean culture of France and Spain was engaged in this) had long ceased. Therefore, most archaeologists deny any connection between them. New discoveries indicate the opposite: Western European technologies have nevertheless made their way to North America.
Moreover, chemical analysis of a "European" style stone chisel found in Virginia in 1971 showed that it was made from French flint.
The findings of Mr. Lowery and the fishermen were studied by Dennis Stanford from the Smithsonian Institution (USA) and Bruce Bradley from the University of Exeter (UK). They believe it is quite possible that ancient Europeans reached America partly by ice and partly by boat. They outlined their thoughts in the book “Across Atlantic Ice,” which has just been published.
The authors note that in those days - at the peak of the Ice Age - the North Atlantic was covered with ice almost all year round. And at the border of ice and ocean, life teemed, and ancient people could hunt seals, seabirds, including the now extinct great auk, not to mention fish. So little by little, unnoticed by themselves, the bipeds reached the New World.
Another argument in favor of the European origin of these tools is the following: signs of human activity in northeastern Siberia and Alaska appear only 15 thousand years ago.
It is not surprising that the pioneers subsequently gave way to Asians on the historical stage. The time window that made migration from Europe favorable lasted only 4,500 years, while Beringia, through which the Siberians came to America, existed for about 15 thousand years. Moreover, the last two thirds of this period a pleasant climate remained, facilitating the migration of large masses.
And one more consideration. The DNA of some northern Native American groups contains genetic markers that are not found in the peoples of northeast Asia, but are characteristic of Western Europeans. A particularly high proportion of such markers was found in the DNA of an Indian who lived on the Florida peninsula 8 thousand years ago. In addition, a number of indigenous peoples of North America speak languages whose relationship with other Indian language groups could not be established.
The authors point out that a significant part of the territory where the bearers of the Solutrean culture could have settled in America is now hidden by the ocean. All that remains is to wait for new settlements to be discovered by dredgers, or to send autonomous submarines to excavations.
Essay
on the topic: “North America”
Geographical position
From the history of the discovery and exploration of the continent North America is the third continent of our planet in terms of area, which is 20.4 million km2. In its outline it is similar to South America, but the widest part of the continent lies in temperate latitudes, which has a significant impact on its nature.
Determine the peculiarities of the geographical location of North America yourself. Make preliminary conclusions about the nature of the continent based on geographical location data.
The coasts of North America are highly dissected. The northern and eastern shores are especially rugged, and the western and southern ones are much less rugged. The varying degrees of ruggedness of the coasts are explained mainly by the movements of lithospheric plates. In the north of the continent there is a huge Canadian Arctic archipelago, as if frozen into the ice of the Arctic. Hudson Bay juts out into the land, covered with ice most of the year.
The Spanish conquistadors, as in South America, were the first Europeans to discover the southern territories of North America. In 1519, the campaign of E. Cortes began, which ended with the conquest of the Aztec state, located where modern Mexico is located. Following the discoveries of the Spaniards, expeditions from other European countries were sent to the shores of the New World. At the end of the 15th century. An Italian in the English service, John Cabot, discovered the island of Newfoundland and the coast of the Labrador Peninsula. English navigators and travelers G. Hudson (XVII century), A. Mackenzie (XVIII century) and others explored the northern and eastern parts of the continent. At the beginning of the twentieth century. Norwegian polar explorer R. Amundsen was the first to sail along the northern coast of the continent, established geographical position Earth's North Magnetic Pole.
Russian studies of Northwestern America. Russian travelers made a great contribution to the exploration of the mainland. Independently of other Europeans, they discovered and developed large areas of the northwestern part of the continent. At that time, the map of this part of American soil was just being born. The first names on it were the Russian names of the islands discovered in the middle of the 16th century. during the voyage of Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov. On two sailing ships in 1741, these Russian navigators sailed along the Aleutian Islands, approached the shores of Alaska, and landed on the islands.
Kupets G.I. Shelikhov, who was called the Russian Columbus, created the first Russian settlements in America. He founded a trading company, promoted the harvest of fur and sea animals in the northern islands of the Pacific Ocean and in Alaska G.I. Shelikhov conducted active trade with local residents and contributed to the exploration and development of Alaska - Russian America.
Russian settlements were established along most of the northwestern coast until 380 s. sh., where the fort was built - a Russian fortress on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. This fortress in the 19th century. often visited expeditions that Russia equipped to study the World Ocean and lands unknown to that time. The memory of Russian explorers of Northwestern America is preserved by the names of geographical objects on the map: Chirikov Island, Shelikhov Strait, Velyamnova Volcano, etc. Russian possessions in Alaska were sold to the United States of America in 1867.
Relief and minerals
The structure of the continent's surface is dominated by plains, with mountains occupying a third. The relief of the eastern part of the continent was formed on a platform, the surface of which long time collapsed and leveled.
The topography of the northern part of the continent is dominated by lowland and elevated plains composed of ancient crystalline rocks. Low hills covered with pine and spruce trees alternate here with narrow and long lake basins, some of which have bizarre shorelines. Many thousands of years ago, most of these plains were covered by a huge glacier. Traces of his activity are visible everywhere. These are smoothed rocks, flat hilltops, piles of boulders, and glacier-plowed basins. To the south are the hilly Central Plains, covered with glacial deposits, and the flat Mississippi Lowlands, much of which is formed by river sediment.
To the west lie the Great Plains, which rise with majestic steps of a giant staircase to the Cordillera.
These plains are composed of thick strata of sedimentary rocks of continental and marine origin. Rivers flowing from the mountains cut deep into them and formed deep valleys.
In the east of the mainland are the low Appalachian Mountains. They are heavily destroyed and crossed by the valleys of numerous rivers. The slopes of the mountains are gentle, the peaks are rounded, the height is slightly more than 2000 m. The Cordillera stretches along the western coast. The mountains are extraordinarily beautiful. They are dissected by deep river valleys called canyons. Deep depressions coexist with mighty ridges and volcanoes. In the northern part of the Cordillera, their highest peak rises - Mount McKinley (6194 m), covered with snow and glaciers. Some glaciers in this part of the Cordillera slide down from the mountains directly into the sea. The cordillera formed at the junction of two lithospheric plates, in a compression zone earth's crust, which is crossed here by many faults. They start on the ocean floor and come out onto land. Movements of the earth's crust lead to strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which often bring a lot of grief and suffering to people.
Minerals in North America are found throughout almost its entire territory. The northern part of the plains is dominated by deposits of metal ores: iron, copper, nickel, etc. sedimentary rocks The Central and Great Plains, as well as the Mississippian lowland, have a lot of oil, natural gas, and coal. Iron ore and coal occur in the Appalachians and their foothills. The Cordillera is rich in both sedimentary (oil, natural gas, coal) and igneous minerals (non-ferrous metal ores, gold, uranium ores, etc.).
Climate
North America's position in all climate zones except the equatorial one creates great differences in its climate. Other factors also have a significant impact on climate.
The surface of land and ocean differently affects the properties of air masses, their humidity, direction of movement, temperature and other properties. The Hudson and Gulf of Mexico, which extend deep into the land, have significant but different influences on climate.
Affects the climate and the nature of the continent's topography. For example, in temperate latitudes, sea air coming from the west meets the Cordilleras on its way. As it rises, it cools and gives off a large number of precipitation on the coast.
The absence of mountain ranges in the north creates conditions for arctic air masses to penetrate the mainland. They can extend to the Gulf of Mexico, and tropical air masses sometimes penetrate unhindered far to the north of the continent. Large differences in temperature and pressure between these masses create conditions for the formation of strong winds - hurricanes. Often vortices arise unexpectedly. These powerful atmospheric tornadoes bring a lot of trouble: they destroy buildings, break trees, lift and carry large objects. Natural disasters are also associated with other processes in the atmosphere.
In the central part of the continent there are frequent droughts, hot winds, and dust storms that carry away particles of fertile soil from the fields. Cold air from the Arctic invades the subtropics and snow falls.
The northern part of the continent lies in the Arctic climate zone. Cold arctic air dominates here all year round. Most low temperatures in winter they are observed in Greenland (-44-50 °C). Frequent fogs, large clouds, and snow storms. Summer is cold, with negative temperatures. Under these conditions, glaciers form. The subarctic zone is characterized by harsh winters, which give way to cool summers with cloudy, rainy weather.
Most of the continent is from 600 to 400 latitudes. lies in the temperate zone. There are cold winters and relatively warm summers. It snows in winter and rains in summer, but cloudy weather quickly gives way to warm and sunny weather. This belt is characterized by significant climatic differences, which is associated with the characteristics of the underlying surface. In the eastern part of the belt, winters are cold and snowy, and summers are warm; Fogs are frequent on the coast. In the central part of the belt, weather conditions are different. In winter, snowfalls and snowstorms are common, frosts are replaced by thaws. Summers are warm, with rare showers, droughts and hot winds. In the west of the temperate zone the climate is maritime. The average temperature in winter is about 0 °C, and in summer it rises only to +10-12 °C. The weather is damp and windy almost all year, with the wind blowing sleet and rain from the ocean. The climate features of three more zones are already familiar to you.
Climatic conditions most of the continent is favorable for growing various crops: in the temperate zone - wheat, corn; in the subtropical - rice, cotton, citrus; in the tropical - coffee, sugar cane, bananas. Here two and sometimes three harvests are harvested a year.
Like South America, North America is rich in waters. You already know that their features depend on the terrain and climate. To prove this relationship and find out the differences between the waters of North America and the waters of South America, conduct another study using the maps.
The largest river in North America is the Mississippi, with its tributary Missouri, collecting water from the Appalachians, Central and Great Plains. It is one of the longest rivers on Earth and the most water-bearing river on the continent. Main role Rain plays a role in its nutrition. The river receives part of its water from melting snow on the plains and mountains. The Mississippi flows its waters smoothly across the plains. In the lower reaches it meanders and forms many islands in the channel. When snow melts in the Appalachians or rain falls on the Great Plains, the Mississippi overflows its banks, flooding fields and villages. Levees and diversion canals built on the river have greatly reduced flood damage. In terms of its role in the life of the American people, the Mississippi has the same significance as the Volga for the Russian people. No wonder the Indians who once lived on its banks called the Mississippi “the father of waters.”
The rivers flowing from the eastern slopes of the Appalachians are swift, deep, and have large reserves of energy. Many hydroelectric power stations were built on them. At the mouths of many of them there are big cities-ports.
A huge water system is formed by the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, which connects them to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Niagapa River “cut through” a hilly hill composed of limestones and connected Lakes Zri and Lake Ontario. Falling off a steep ledge, it forms the world famous Niagara Falls. As the water erodes the limestone, the waterfall slowly retreats toward Lake Erie. Human intervention is needed to save this unique object nature.
In the north of the mainland flows the Mackenzie River, which the Indians call the “big river”. This river receives the bulk of its water from melting snow. Swamps and lakes give it a lot of water, so in the summer the river is full of water. For most of the year, Mackenzie is frozen in ice.
There are many lakes in the northern part of the mainland. Their basins were formed as a result of faults in the earth's crust, and then were deepened by the glacier. One of the largest and most beautiful lakes in this region is Winnipeg, which means “water” in the Indian language.
Short, swift rivers flow from the Cordillera into the Pacific Ocean. The largest of them are Columbia and Colorado. They begin in the eastern part of the mountains, flow through the internal plateaus, forming deep canyons, and, again cutting through the mountain ranges, give water to the ocean. The Grand Canyon on the Colorado River, which stretches 320 km along the river, has become world famous. This huge valley has steep stepped slopes composed of rocks of different ages and coloring.
There are many lakes of volcanic and glacial origin in the Cordillera. Shallow saline lakes are found on the interior plateaus. These are the remains of large bodies of water that existed here in a more humid climate. Many lakes are covered with a crust of salt. The largest of them is the Great Salt Lake.
Despite the continent's richness in water, in some areas there is not enough fresh, naturally clean water. This is due to the uneven distribution of water, as well as to its increasing use in industry, for irrigation, and for domestic needs in large cities.
Natural areas
In North America, natural areas are located in unusual ways. In the north of the continent, according to the law of zonation, they are stretched in stripes from west to east, and in the central and southern parts of the natural zones are located in the meridional direction. This distribution of natural zones is a feature of North America, which is determined mainly by its topography and prevailing winds.
In the zone of Arctic deserts, covered with snow and ice, in a short summer, sparse vegetation of mosses and lichens forms here and there on the rocky surface.
The tundra zone occupies north coast mainland and adjacent islands. Tundra is the name given to treeless spaces of the subarctic zone, covered with moss-lichen and shrub vegetation on poor tundra-marsh soils. These soils are formed in harsh climates and permafrost. The natural complexes of the tundra of North America have much in common with the complexes of the tundra of Eurasia. In addition to mosses and lichens, sedges grow in the tundra, and in elevated areas there are dwarf willows and birches, and there are many berry bushes here. Tundra plants provide food for many animals. The musk ox, a large herbivore with thick and long hair that protects it from the cold, has been preserved here since the Ice Age. The musk ox is small in number and is under protection. Herds of caribou reindeer feed on lichen pastures. Among the predators, arctic foxes and wolves live in the tundra. Many birds nest on the islands and coastline, on numerous lakes. Walruses and seals off the coast, caribou in the tundra attract many hunters. Excessive hunting causes great harm to the fauna of the tundra.
To the south, the tundra turns into open forest - forest-tundra, which gives way to taiga. Taiga is a temperate zone whose vegetation is dominated by coniferous trees with an admixture of small-leaved species. Soils in the taiga are formed under conditions of cold, snowy winters and damp, cool summers. Plant remains decompose slowly in such conditions, and little humus is formed. Under its thin layer lies a whitish layer, from which the humus has been washed out. The color of this layer is similar to the color of ash, and therefore such soils are called podzolic.
Black and white spruce, balsam fir, American larch, and pine trees grow in the American taiga different types. Predators live: black bear, Canadian lynx, American marten, skunk; herbivores: moose, elk deer. Wood bison are preserved in national parks.
The mixed forest zone has a transitional character from taiga to deciduous forests. This is how a European traveler describes the nature of these forests: “The wide variety of species is amazing... I can distinguish around more than ten species of deciduous trees and several coniferous ones. A wonderful company had gathered: oaks, hazel, beeches, aspens, ash, linden, birch, spruce, fir, pine and some other species unknown to me. All of them are related to our European trees, and yet they are somewhat different - in various little things, in the pattern of foliage, but above all in the pulse of life - somehow stronger, more joyful, more lush.”
The soils under mixed and broad-leaved forests are gray forest and brown forest. They contain more humus than podzolic soils taiga It was their fertility that led to the clearing of these forests across most of the continent, to their replacement with artificial plantings of trees. Only small forests remain in the Appalachians.
The deciduous forests contain beeches, dozens of species of oaks, lindens, maples, deciduous magnolias, chestnuts and walnuts. Wild apple, cherry and pear trees form the undergrowth.
The forest zone on the slopes of the Cordillera differs from the forest zone on the plains. The species of plants and animals are different here. For example, in subtropical mountain forests on the Pacific coast, sequoias grow - coniferous trees more than 100 m high and up to 9 m in diameter.
The steppe zone stretches from north to south in the center of the continent from the Canadian taiga to the Gulf of Mexico. Steppes are treeless spaces of temperate and subtropical zones, covered with herbaceous vegetation on chernozem and chestnut soils. An abundance of heat creates here favorable conditions for the growth of grasses, among which cereals predominate (bearded vulture, bison grass, fescue). The transitional zone between the forests and steppes of North America is called prairie. They are everywhere altered by man - plowed or turned into pastures for livestock. The development of the prairies also influenced their animal world. Bison have almost disappeared, and there are fewer coyotes (steppe wolves) and foxes.
The interior plateaus of the Cordillera contain temperate deserts; The main plants here are black wormwood and quinoa. Cacti grow in the subtropical deserts of the Mexican Highlands.
Changes in nature under the influence of human activity. Economic activity has affected all components of nature, and since they are closely interconnected, they change as a whole natural complexes. Changes in nature are especially great in the United States. Mainly soils, vegetation and fauna were affected. Cities, roads, strips of land along gas pipelines, power lines, and around airfields are taking up more and more space.
Scientists have concluded that active human impact on nature leads to an increase in the frequency of natural disasters. These include dust storms, floods, and forest fires.
The countries of North America have adopted laws aimed at protecting and restoring nature. The state of individual components of nature is being recorded, destroyed complexes are being restored (forests are being planted, lakes are being cleared of pollution, etc.). In order to protect nature, nature reserves and several dozen national parks have been created on the continent. Millions of city dwellers flock to these wonderful corners of nature every year. The influx of tourists has created the task of creating new nature reserves to save rare species of plants and animals from extinction.
In North America there is one of the most famous, the world's first national park, Yellowstone, founded in 1872. It is located in the Cordillera and is famous for its hot springs, geysers, and petrified trees.
Population
The majority of the North American population comes from different countries Europe, mainly from the UK. These are US Americans and English-Canadians, they speak English language. The descendants of the French who moved to Canada speak French.
The indigenous population of the mainland are Indians and Eskimos. They inhabited North America long before its discovery by Europeans. These peoples belong to the American branch of the Mongoloid race. Scientists have found that Indians and Eskimos come from Eurasia.
The Indians are more numerous (approximately 15 million). The name "American Indian" has nothing to do with India, it is a result historical mistake Columbus, who was convinced that he had discovered India. Before the arrival of Europeans, Indian tribes were engaged in hunting, fishing, and collecting wild fruits. The bulk of the tribes were concentrated in Southern Mexico (Aztecs, Mayans), where they formed their own states, distinguished by a relatively developed economy and culture. They were engaged in agriculture - they grew corn, tomatoes and other cultivated plants, later brought to Europe.
Using the “population density and peoples” map, determine where Eskimos and Indians live, what part of the continent is inhabited by Americans, English and French Canadians, and blacks.
With the arrival of European colonialists, the fate of the Indians was tragic: they were exterminated, driven away from fertile lands, and died from diseases brought by Europeans.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Blacks were brought from Africa to work on plantations in North America. They were sold into slavery to planters. Now blacks live mainly in cities.
The population of North America is about 406 million people. Its placement depends primarily on the history of the continent’s settlement and natural conditions. The southern half of the continent is the most populated. The population density is high in the eastern part, where the first settlers from European countries settled. The largest cities are located in this part of North America: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Montreal, etc.
The northern territories of the continent are sparsely populated, unsuitable for life and occupied by tundra and taiga forests. Mountain areas with their arid climate and rugged terrain are also sparsely populated. In the steppe zone, where fertile soils, a lot of heat and moisture, the population density is much higher.
North America is home to the most developed country in the world - the United States of America. Their territory consists of three parts far removed from each other. Two of them are located on the mainland - the main territory and in the northwest - Alaska. The Hawaiian Islands lie in the central Pacific Ocean. In addition, the United States owns a number of island possessions in the Pacific Ocean.
North of the main US territory is another large country- Canada, and to the south - Mexico. In Central America and the islands of the Caribbean Sea there are several small states: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, etc. The Republic of Cuba is located on the island of Cuba and the small islands adjacent to it.
List of used literature
1. “Geography of continents and oceans. 7th grade": textbook. for general education institutions / V.A. Korinskaya, I.V. Dushina, V.A. Shchenev. – 15th ed., stereotype. – M.: Bustard, 2008.
Colonization of America by Europeans (1607-1674)English colonization of North America.
The difficulties of the first settlers.
Reasons for the colonization of America by Europeans. Relocation conditions.
The first black slaves.
Mayflower Compact (1620).
Active expansion of European colonization.
Anglo-Dutch confrontation in America (1648-1674).
Map of European colonization of North America in the 16th-17th centuries.
Map of the American pioneer expeditions (1675-1800).
English colonization of North America. The first English settlement in America arose in 1607 in Virginia and was named Jamestown. The trading post, founded by crew members of three English ships under the command of Captain K. Newport, simultaneously served as a guard post on the way of the Spanish advance to the north of the continent. The first years of Jamestown's existence were a time of endless disasters and hardships: disease, famine and Indian raids took the lives of more than 4 thousand of the first English settlers of America. But already at the end of 1608, the first ship sailed to England, carrying a cargo of timber and iron ore. Just a few years later, Jamestown turned into a prosperous village thanks to the extensive plantations of tobacco, previously cultivated only by the Indians, founded there in 1609, which by 1616 became the main source of income for the residents. Tobacco exports to England, which amounted to 20 thousand pounds sterling in monetary terms in 1618, increased to half a million pounds by 1627, 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 ability 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 people. In the 80s XVII century tobacco exports from the two southern colonies - Virginia and Maryland (1) increased to 20 million pounds sterling.
The difficulties of the first settlers. Virgin forests, stretching for more than two thousand kilometers along the entire Atlantic coast, abounded in everything necessary for the construction of homes and ships, and the rich nature satisfied the food needs of the colonists. The increasingly frequent visits of European ships to the natural bays of the coast provided them with goods that were not produced in the colonies. IN old light The products of their labor were exported from these same colonies. But the rapid development of the northeastern lands, and even more so the advance into the interior of the continent, beyond the Appalachian Mountains, was hampered by the lack of roads, impenetrable forests and mountains, as well as dangerous neighborhood with Indian tribes that were hostile to newcomers.
The fragmentation of these tribes and the complete lack of unity in their attacks 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 concerned 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 settling in the New World also turned out to be ineffective (2).
Reasons for the colonization of America by Europeans. Relocation conditions. European immigrants were lured to America by the rich Natural resources a distant continent, which promised quick provision of material wealth, and its remoteness from the European strongholds of religious dogma and political predilections (3). Not supported by governments or official churches In 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 began to develop the northeastern 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 the single male population of the colonies greeted with sincere enthusiasm, paying the costs of their “transportation” from Europe at the rate of 120 pounds of tobacco per head.
Huge, hundreds of thousands of hectares, land were allocated by the British crown for full ownership to representatives of the English nobility as a gift or for a nominal fee. The English aristocracy, interested in the development of their new property, advanced large sums for the delivery of compatriots they recruited and their settlement on the received lands. 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 the sea voyage of 5 thousand kilometers was overcome by only a third of the ships and people who embarked on the dangerous journey - two thirds died along the way. The new land was not particularly hospitable, welcoming the colonists with frosts unusual for Europeans, harsh natural conditions and, as a rule, a hostile attitude of the Indian population.
The first black slaves. In late August 1619, a Dutch ship arrived in Virginia bringing the first black Africans to America, twenty of whom were immediately purchased by the colonists as servants. Blacks began to turn into lifelong slaves, and in the 60s. XVII century slave status in Virginia and Maryland became hereditary. The slave trade became a permanent feature of commercial transactions between East Africa and the American colonies. African leaders readily traded their people for textiles, household items, gunpowder, and weapons imported from New England (4) and the American South.
Mayflower Compact (1620). In December 1620, an event occurred 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, rejected by the traditional Anglican Church and who later did not find sympathy in Holland. These people, who called themselves pilgrims (5), considered the only way to preserve their religion to move to America. While still on board a ship crossing the ocean, they entered into an agreement between themselves, called the Mayflower Compact. It is reflected in the very general form the early American colonists' ideas about democracy, self-government, and civil liberties. These ideas 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 on a land they had not yet explored in the harsh conditions of the first American winter and the subsequent crop failure, the colonists set an example for their compatriots and other Europeans who arrived in the New World ready for the hardships that awaited them.
Active expansion of European colonization. After 1630, at least a dozen small towns arose in Plymouth Colony, the first colony of New England, which later became the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in which newly arriving English Puritans settled. Immigration wave 1630-1643 delivered to New England approx. 20 thousand people, at least 45 thousand more chose colonies of the American South or islands for their residence Central America.
For 75 years after the appearance in 1607 in the territory modern USA From the first English colony of Virginia, 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 their founding 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, who was in the Dutch service], Dutch fur traders founded a province called New Netherland, with the main city of New Netherland. Amsterdam. The land on which this city was built was purchased in 1626 by a Dutch colonist from the Indians for $24. The Dutch were never able to achieve any significant socio-economic development of their only colony in the New World.
Anglo-Dutch confrontation in America (1648-1674). After 1648 and until 1674, England and Holland fought three times, and during these 25 years, in addition to military actions, 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, the 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, over the entire northeast coast of the continent fluttered state flag UK Union Jack.
(1) The new British colony was named by King Charles I after his wife Henrietta Maria (Mary), sister French king Louis XIII.
(2) The first of these treaties was concluded only in 1621 between the Plymouth Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indian tribe.
(3) Unlike most English, Irish, French and even Germans, who were forced to move to the New World primarily by political and religious oppression in their homeland, Scandinavian settlers were attracted to North America primarily by its unlimited economic opportunities.
(4) A map of this region of the northeastern part of the continent was first drawn up in 1614 by Captain J. Smith, who gave it the name “New England.”
(5) From Italian. peltegrino - lit., foreigner. Wandering pilgrim, pilgrim, wanderer.
Sources.
Ivanyan E.A.. History of the USA. M., 2006.
The settlement of all continents (except Antarctica) occurred between 40 and 10 thousand years ago. It is obvious that getting to Australia, for example, was only possible by water. The first settlers appeared on the territory of modern New Guinea and Australia about 40 thousand years ago.
By the time Europeans arrived in America, it was inhabited by a large number of Indian tribes. But before today on the territory of both Americas: North and South - not a single Lower Paleolithic site has been found. Therefore, America cannot claim to be the cradle of humanity. People appear here later as a result of migrations.
Perhaps the settlement of this continent by people began about 40 - 30 thousand years ago, as evidenced by the finds of ancient tools discovered in California, Texas and Nevada. Their age, according to the radiocarbon dating method, is 35-40 thousand years. At that time, the ocean level was 60 m lower than today. Therefore, in place of the Bering Strait, there was an isthmus - Beringia, which connected Asia and America during the Ice Age. Currently, there are “only” 90 km between Cape Seward (America) and Eastern Cape (Asia). This distance was overcome by land by the first settlers from Asia. In all likelihood, there were two waves of migration from Asia.
These were tribes of hunters and gatherers. They crossed from one continent to another, apparently chasing herds of animals, in pursuit of the “meat El Dorado.” Hunting, mostly driven, was carried out on large animals: mammoths, horses (they were found in those days on both sides of the ocean), antelope, bison. They hunted from 3 to 6 times a month, since the meat, depending on the size of the animal, could last the tribe for five to ten days. As a rule, young men were also engaged in individual hunting of small animals.
The first inhabitants of the continent led a nomadic lifestyle. It took “Asian migrants” about 18 thousand years to fully develop the American continent, which corresponds to a change of almost 600 generations. Characteristic feature The life of a number of American Indian tribes is the fact that the transition to a sedentary life never happened among them. Until the European conquests, they were engaged in hunting and gathering, and in coastal areas - fishing.
Proof that migration from the Old World took place before the beginning of the Neolithic era is the lack of a potter's wheel, wheeled transport, and metal tools among the Indians (before the arrival of Europeans in America during the Great geographical discoveries), since these innovations appeared in Eurasia, when the New World was already “isolated” and began to develop independently.
It seems likely that settlement also came from the south. South America. Tribes from Australia could have penetrated here through Antarctica. It is known that Antarctica was by no means always covered with ice. The similarity of representatives of a number of Indian tribes with the Tasmanian and Australoid type is obvious. True, if we adhere to the “Asian” version of the settlement of America, then one does not contradict the other. There is a theory according to which the settlement of Australia was carried out by immigrants from Southeast Asia. It is likely that there was a meeting of two migration flows from Asia in South America.
Penetration into another continent - Australia - occurred at the turn of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Due to more low level ocean, there probably were “island bridges” when settlers did not just go into the unknown of the open ocean, but moved to another island, which they either saw or knew about its existence. Moving in this way from one island chain of the Malay and Sunda archipelago to another, people eventually found themselves in a certain endemic kingdom of flora and fauna - Australia. Presumably, the ancestral home of Australians was also Asia. But the migration took place so long ago that it is impossible to detect any close relationship between the language of the Australians and any other people. Their physical type is close to the Tasmanians, but the latter were completely exterminated by Europeans by the middle of the 19th century.
Australian society, due to its isolation, has largely stagnated. The aborigines of Australia did not know agriculture, and they only managed to domesticate the dingo dog. For tens of thousands of years, they never emerged from the infant state of humanity; time seemed to stand still for them. Europeans found Australians at the level of hunters and gatherers, wandering from place to place as the feeding landscape became scarce.
The starting point in the exploration of Oceania was Indonesia. It was from here that settlers headed through Micronesia to the central regions of the Pacific Ocean. First they explored the Tahiti archipelago, then the Marquesas Islands, and then the islands of Tonga and Samoa. Their migration processes were apparently “facilitated” by the presence of a group of coral islands between the Marshall Islands and Hawaii. Nowadays these islands are located at a depth of 500 to 1000 m. The “Asian trace” is indicated by the similarity of the Polynesian and Micronesian languages with the group of Malay languages.
There is also an “American” theory of the settlement of Oceania. Its founder is the monk X. Zuniga. He is in early XIX V. published a scientific work in which he proved that in the tropical and subtropical latitudes of the Pacific Ocean currents and winds from the east dominate, so the South American Indians, “relying” on the forces of nature, were able to reach the islands of Oceania using balsa rafts. The likelihood of such travel has been confirmed by many travelers. But the palm in confirming the theory of the settlement of Polynesia from the east rightfully belongs to the outstanding Norwegian scientist and traveler Thor Heyerdahl, who in 1947, just like in ancient times, managed to get from the shores of the city of Callao on the balsa raft “Kon-Tiki” ( Peru) to the Tuamotu Islands.
Apparently, both theories are correct. And the settlement of Oceania was carried out by settlers from both Asia and America.