Territorial changes in North America, 1750-present.

Europeon Nation's Control over South America 1700 and on

The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492, although there was at least one earlier colonization effort. The history of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including Central America and the Caribbean. British colonization of the Americas (including colonization under the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland before the 1707 Acts of Union created The Duchy of Courland was the smallest nation to colonize the Americas with a colony on the island of Tobago from 1654 to 1659 and intermittently from The Danish-Norwegian monarch headed a small number of countries from the 17th through the 20th centuries large portions of which were in The Americas. During the 17th century Dutch traders established trade posts and plantations throughout the Americas; actual colonization with Dutch settling in the new lands was not as common French colonization of the Americas began in the 14th century and continued in the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western The German colonization of the Americas consisted of failed attempts to settle Venezuela ( Klein-Venedig in German) St Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century Russian colonization of the Americas proceeded in several places Scottish colonization of the Americas consisted of a number of failed or abandoned Scottish settlements in North America, a colony at Darien, The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain 's conquest settlement and rule over much of the Western hemisphere. The Swedish colonization of the Americas included a 17th-century colony on the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania As early as the 10th century Norse sailors (often referred to as Vikings explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic, including the northeastern fringes of Decolonization of the Americas refers to the process by which the countries in North America and South America gained their independence The first known Europeans to reach the Americas are believed to have been the Vikings ("Norse") during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in the area the Norse called Vinland, present day Newfoundland. The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas As early as the 10th century Norse sailors (often referred to as Vikings explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic, including the northeastern fringes of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the L'Anse aux Meadows (from the French L'Anse-aux-Méduses or "Jellyfish Cove" is an Archaeological site on the northernmost tip of the island Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norseman Leifr Eiríksson, about the year A Newfoundland — ˈn(jufənˌlænd (Terre-Neuve Talamh an Éisc — is a large island 15 km off the east coast of Settlements in Greenland survived for several centuries, during which time the Greenland Norse and the Inuit people experienced mostly hostile contact. The history of Greenland, the world's largest island is the history of life under extreme Arctic conditions an Ice cap covers about 95 percent of the island Inuit (plural the singular Inuk, means "man" or "person" is a general term for a group of culturally similar Indigenous peoples inhabiting By the end of the 15th century, the Norse Greenland settlements had collapsed^[1].

In 1492, a Spanish expedition headed by Christopher Columbus reached the Americas, after which European exploration and colonization rapidly expanded, first through much of the Caribbean Sea region (including the islands of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Cuba) and, early in the 16th century, parts of the mainlands of North and South America. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer For the region see Caribbean. The Caribbean Sea (kəˈrɪbiən or /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ is a tropical Sea in the Western Hemisphere Hispaniola (from Spanish, La Española) is the second-largest and most populous Island of the Antilles, lying between the islands of Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a Eventually, the entire Western Hemisphere would come under the domination of European nations, leading to profound changes to its landscape, population, and plant and animal life. The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies West In the 19th century alone over 50 million people left Europe for the Americas. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar ^[2] The post-1492 era is known as the period of the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange has been one of the most significant events in the history of world Ecology, Agriculture, and Culture.

Disease and population loss

The European and Asian lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and various domesticated fowl, which had resulted in epidemic diseases unknown in the Americas. Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family Pigs, also called hogs or' swine', are Ungulates which have been domesticated as sources of food leather and similar products since ancient times The domestic goat ( Capra aegagrus hircus) is a subspecies of goat Domesticated from the Wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. Most or all Birds collectively referred to as fowl belong to one of two orders namely the gamefowl or landfowl ( Galliformes) and the waterfowl In Epidemiology, an epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people is a classification of a disease that appears as new cases in a Thus the large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced novel germs to the indigenous people of the Americas. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Epidemics of smallpox (1518, 1521, 1525, 1558, 1589), typhus (1546), influenza (1558), diphtheria (1614) and measles (1618) swept ahead of initial European contact,^[3][4] killing between 10 million and 20 million^[5] people, up to 95% of the indigenous population of the Americas. Smallpox is an Infectious disease unique to humans caused by either of two virus variants named Variola major and Variola minor. Typhus is any of several similar diseases caused by Louse -borne bacteria Diphtheria ( Greek διφθερα ( diphthera)—“pair of leather scrolls" is an upper respiratory tract illness characterized by sore Measles (rubeola is a Disease caused by a virus specifically a Paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. ^[6][7][8] This population loss and the cultural chaos and political collapses it caused greatly facilitated both colonization of the land and the conquest of the native civilizations. ^[9]

Estimates of the population of the Americas at the time Columbus arrived have varied tremendously. It is thought that up to 100 million indigenous people may have lived in The Americas when the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus began a historical period of large-scale This population debate has often had ideological underpinnings. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics Some have argued that contemporary estimates of a high pre-Columbian indigenous population are rooted in a bias against aspects of Western civilization and/or Christianity. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Robert Royal writes that "estimates of pre-Columbian population figures have become heavily politicized with scholars who are particularly critical of Europe often favoring wildly higher figures. "^[10] Since civilizations rose and fell in the Americas before Columbus arrived, the indigenous population in 1492 was not necessarily at a high point, and may have already been in decline. A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements The history of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including Central America and the Caribbean. Indigenous populations in most areas of the Americas reached a low point by the early twentieth century, and in a number of cases started to climb again. ^[11]

The number of deaths caused by European-indigenous warfare has proven difficult to determine. In his book The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, amateur historian William M. Osborn sought to tally every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier (1890), and determined that 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans, and 7,193 people died from those perpetrated by Europeans. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Osborn defines an atrocity as the murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded, and prisoners. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally ^[12] Michno estimates 21,586 dead, wounded, and captured civilians and soldiers for the period of 1850–1890 alone. ^[13]

Early conquests, claims, and colonies

Territories in the Americas colonized or claimed by a European great power in 1750. A great power is a Nation or State that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale Year 1750 ( MDCCL) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a

The first conquests were made by the Spanish and the Portuguese. The Spanish Empire (Imperio Español was one of the largest Empires in history and one of the first Global empires In the 15th and 16th centuries Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. In the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, ratified by the Pope, these two kingdoms divided the entire non-European world between themselves, with a line drawn through South America. The Treaty of Tordesillas ( Portuguese: Tratado de Tordesilhas, Spanish: Tratado de Tordesillas) signed at Tordesillas (now in History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and Based on this Treaty, and the claims by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa to all lands touching the Pacific Ocean, the Spanish rapidly conquered territory, overthrowing the Aztec and Inca Empires to gain control of much of western South America, Central America and Mexico by the mid-16th century, in addition to its earlier Caribbean conquests. Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475&ndash January 15, 1519 was a Spanish Explorer, Governor, and Conquistador. Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political The Inca Empire (or Inka Empire) was the largest empire in Pre-Columbian America. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Over this same timeframe, Portugal conquered much of eastern South America, naming it Brazil. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld

Other European nations soon disputed the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, which they had not negotiated. England and France attempted to plant colonies in the Americas in the 16th century, but these met with failure. The Kingdom of England was a State (927-1707 located in Western Europe dating from the ninth or tenth century to the early eighteenth century when it was legally The Ancien Régime, a French term rendered in English as “Old Rule” “Old Kingdom” or simply “Old Regime” refers primarily to the aristocratic However, in the following century, the two kingdoms, along with the Dutch Republic, succeeded in establishing permanent colonies. "United Netherlands" redirects here For the "Kingdom of the United Netherlands" see United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Some of these were on Caribbean islands, which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease, while others were in eastern North America, which had not been colonized by Spain north of Florida.

Early European possessions in North America included Spanish Florida, the English colonies of Virginia (with its North Atlantic off-shoot, The Somers Isles) and New England, the French colonies of Acadia and Canada, the Swedish colony of New Sweden, and the Dutch New Netherland. Spanish Florida ( Spanish: La Florida) refers to the Spanish Colony of Florida. The Colony of Virginia (also known frequently as the Virginia Colony and occasionally as the Dominion and Colony of Virginia) was the English colony This is a list of Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Azores São Miguel Santa Maria Ba (officially The Bermuda Islands or The Somers Isles) is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. History See also History of New England New England's earliest inhabitants were Algonquian -speaking Native Americans including the The Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture ( ACADIA) is a Non-profit organization active in the area of Computer-aided architectural design Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. New Sweden ( Nya Sverige in Swedish and Uusi-Ruotsi in Finnish) was a small Swedish settlement along the Delaware River New Netherland (Dutch Nieuw-Nederland, Latin Novum Belgium or Nova Belgica) 1614–1674 is the name of the former Dutch territory on the eastern coast In the 18th century, Denmark–Norway revived its former colonies in Greenland, while the Russian Empire gained a foothold in Alaska. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system Denmark–Norway ( Danish: Danmark-Norge Norwegian: Danmark-Norge or Danmark-Noreg is the historiographical name for a former political entity union The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent

As more nations gained an interest in the colonization of the Americas, competition for territory became increasingly fierce. Colonists often faced the threat of attacks from neighboring colonies, as well as from indigenous tribes and pirates. The great era of Piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1560s and died out in the 1720s as the Nation-states of Western Europe with colonies in

Early state-sponsored colonists

Further information: Portugal in the Age of Discovery, Spanish colonization of the Americas, and First European colonization wave (15th century–19th century)

The first phase of European activity in the Americas began with the Atlantic Ocean crossings of Christopher Columbus (1492-1504), sponsored by Spain, whose original attempt was to find a new route to India and China, known as "the Indies. For additional context see History of Portugal and Portuguese Empire. The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain 's conquest settlement and rule over much of the Western hemisphere. The first European colonization wave took place from the early 15th century until the early 19th century and primarily involved the European colonization of the Americas, though India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term often used to refer to the islands of SE Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago " He was followed by other explorers such as John Cabot, who discovered Newfoundland and was sponsored by England. Giovanni Caboto ( c 1450 - c 1498 known in English as John Cabot, was an Italian Navigator and explorer commonly credited as the Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil for Portugal. Pedro Álvares Cabral (about 1467/1468/1469 &ndash about 1520 ˈpeðɾʊ ˈaɫvɐɾɨʃ kɐˈβɾaɫ in Portuguese, ˈawvaɾiʃ caˈbɾaw in Brazilian) was Amerigo Vespucci, working for Portugal in voyages from 1497 to 1513, established that Columbus had discovered a new set of continents. The Explorer and Cartographer Amerigo Vespucci ( March 9, 1454 - February 22, 1512) was the first person to demonstrate Cartographers still use a Latinized version of his first name, America, for the two continents. Other explorers included Giovanni da Verrazzano, sponsored by France; the Portuguese João Vaz Corte-Real in Newfoundland; and Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635) who explored Canada. Giovanni da Verrazzano (c 1485 &ndash c 1528 was an Italian Explorer of North America, in the service of the French crown. João Vaz Corte-Real (ʒuˈɐ̃ũ vaʃ ˈkoɾt(ɨ ʁiˈaɫ (d Samuel de Champlain (c 1575 - 25 December 1635) "The Father of New France " was a French navigator geographer cartographer Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page In 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the west coast of the New World. Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475&ndash January 15, 1519 was a Spanish Explorer, Governor, and Conquistador. The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along a now-submerged In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all the lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown. It was 1517 before another expedition from Cuba visited Central America, landing on the coast of Yucatán in search of slaves. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish Conquistadores ' against the Late Postclassic Maya states and Slavery in the Spanish colonies began with local Natives Initially the Spanish set Encomiendas on natives and maintained the mita

Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the period of their personal union (1581-1640).

These explorations were followed, notably in the case of Spain, by a phase of conquest: The Spaniards, having just finished the Reconquista of Spain from Muslim rule, were the first to colonize the Americas, applying the same model of governing to the former Al-Andalus as to their territories of the New World. The Reconquista (a Spanish and Portuguese word for "Reconquest" Arabic: الاسترداد, "Recapturing" was a period A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Al-Andalus (الأندلس was the Arabic name given to those parts of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Muslims or The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. Ten years after Columbus's discovery, the administration of Hispaniola was given to Nicolás de Ovando of the Order of Alcántara, founded during the Reconquista. Hispaniola (from Spanish, La Española) is the second-largest and most populous Island of the Antilles, lying between the islands of See the talk page for details--> The Order of Alcántara was originally a military order of León, founded in the 12th century As in the Iberian Peninsula, the inhabitants of Hispaniola were given new landmasters, while religious orders handled the local administration. The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. Religious orders ('Religious Institutes' cf canons 573-746 are the major form of consecrated life in the Roman Catholic Church. Progressively the encomienda system, which granted land to European settlers, was set in place. The encomienda system is a Trusteeship labor system that was employed by the Spanish crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the

A relatively small number of conquistadores conquered vast territories, aided by disease epidemics and divisions among native ethnic groups. This article is about the Spanish explorer soldiers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuriesfor other uses see Conquistador (disambiguation A Conquistador Mexico was conquered by Hernán Cortés in 1519-1521, while the conquest of the Inca, by Francisco Pizarro, occurred from 1532-35. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca ( 1485&ndash December 2, The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was a process through which a group of forty (40 Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro succeeded in toppling the Inca Francisco Pizarro González 1st Marqués de los Atabillos (c 1471 or 1476 &ndash 26 June 1541 was a Spanish Conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire

Over the first century and a half after Columbus's voyages, the native population of the Americas plummeted by an estimated 80% (from around 50 million in 1492 to eight million in 1650^[14]), mostly by outbreaks of Old World diseases but also by several massacres and forced labour (the mita was re-established in the old Inca Empire, and the tequitl — equivalent of the mita — in the Aztec Empire). The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans Asians and Africans in the 15th century An infectious disease is a clinically evident Disease resulting from the presence of Pathogenic microbial agents including Pathogenic viruses Pathogenic In the history of the European colonization of North America, the term " Indian massacre " was often used to describe either mass killings of Europeans Mita ( Quechua: mit'a) was mandatory public service in the society of the Inca Empire. The Inca Empire (or Inka Empire) was the largest empire in Pre-Columbian America. Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political The conquistadores replaced the native American oligarchies, in part through miscegenation with the local elites. Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind" is the mixing of different racial groups, that is marrying, cohabiting In 1532, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor imposed a vice-king to Mexico, Antonio de Mendoza, in order to prevent Cortes' independantist drives, who definitively returned to Spain in 1540. Charles V (24 February 1500 &ndash 21 September 1558 was Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza (Antonio de Mendoza (1495 Granada &ndash July 21, 1552, Lima) was the first viceroy of New Spain Two years later, Charles V signed the New Laws (which replaced the Laws of Burgos of 1512) prohibiting slavery and the repartimientos, but also claiming as his own all the American lands and all of the autochthonous people as his own subjects. The New Laws (or Leyes Nuevas in Spanish) of 1542 were created to prevent the exploitation of the indigenous people by the encomenderos The document known as the Leyes de Burgos ( Laws of Burgos) was promulgated on December 27, 1512 in Burgos, The Repartimiento de Labor was a colonial forced labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America and the Philippines.

When in May 1493, the Pope Alexander VI enacted the Inter caetera bull granting the new lands to the Kingdom of Spain, he requested in exchange an evangelization of the people. Pope Alexander VI ( 1 January 1431 &ndash 18 August 1503) born Roderic Llançol, later Roderic de Borja i Borja ( Inter caetera ("Among other " was a Papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493, which granted to Spain Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. During the Age of Discovery, the Roman Catholic Church inaugurated a major effort to spread Christianity in the New World and to convert the Native Americans Thus, during Columbus's second voyage, Benedictine friars accompanied him, along with twelve other priests. Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer Benedictine refers to the Spirituality and Consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in As slavery was prohibited between Christians, and could only be imposed in non-Christian prisoners of war or on men already sold as slaves, the debate on Christianization was particularly acute during the 16th century. Slavery in early Medieval Europe was relatively common It was widespread at the end of antiquity. In 1537, the papal bull Sublimis Deus recognized that Native Americans possessed souls, thus prohibiting their enslavement, without putting an end to the debate. Sublimus Dei (also seen as Sublimus Deus and Sublimis Deus) is a Papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on May 29 The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living Some claimed that a native who had rebelled and then been captured could be enslaved nonetheless. Later, the Valladolid controversy opposed the Dominican priest Bartolomé de Las Casas to another Dominican philosopher Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, the first one arguing that Native Americans were beings doted with souls, as all other human beings, while the latter argued to the contrary and justified their enslavement. The Valladolid debate (1550 – 1551 concerned the treatment of natives of the New World. Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( August 24 1484 &ndash July 17 1566) was a 16th century Spanish Dominican Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (1494 - 1573 was a Spanish Dominican, philosopher and theologian. The process of Christianization was at first violent: when the first Franciscans arrived in Mexico in 1524, they burned the places dedicated to pagan cult, alienating much of the local population ^[15]. The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic In the 1530s, they began to adapt Christian practices to local customs, including the building of new churches on the sites of ancient places of worship, leading to a mix of Old World Christianity with local religions ^[15]. The Spanish Roman Catholic Church, needing the natives' labor and cooperation, evangelized in Quechua, Nahuatl, Guarani and other Native American languages, contributing to the expansion of these indigenous languages and equipping some of them with writing systems. The Spanish Catholic Church, part of the global Roman Catholic Church, is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, Curia in Rome, and the Quechua ( Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America. Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family Guaraní /gwaraˈni/ (local name avañe'ẽ) is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily of the Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and One of the first primitive schools for Native Americans was founded by Fray Pedro de Gante in 1523. Fray Pieter van der Moere, also known as Fray Pedro de Gante or Pedro de Mura (c

To reward their troops, the Conquistadores often allotted Indian towns to their troops and officers. Black African slaves were introduced to substitute for Native American labor in some locations - most notably the West Indies, where the indigenous population was nearing extinction on many islands. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another

During this time, the Portuguese gradually switched from an initial plan of establishing trading posts to extensive colonization of what is now Brazil. The Portuguese people (os Portugueses literally the Portuguese) are the Ethnic group or Nation native to the country of Portugal, in the west A trading post is a place where the trading of goods takes place Colonisation (also known as Colonization) occurs whenever any one or more species populates a new area |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld They imported millions of slaves to run their plantations.

The Portugal and Spanish royal governments expected to rule these settlements and collect at least 20% of all treasure found (the Quinto Real collected by the Casa de Contratación), in addition to collecting all the taxes they could. The Quinto Real or the Quinto del rey, the "King's fifth" was a 20% Tax established in 1504 that Spain levied on the La Casa de Contratación ( The House of Trade) was a government agency under the Spanish Empire from the 16th to the 18th centuries which attempted to control By the late 16th century American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget. Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen ^[16] In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports. ^[17][18]

Economic immigrants

Many immigrants to the American colonies came for economic reasons. Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term An economy is the realized social system of production exchange distribution and consumption of goods and services of a country or other area ^[19] Inspired by the Spanish riches from colonies founded upon the conquest of the Aztecs, Incas, and other large Native American populations in the sixteenth century, the first Englishmen to settle in America hoped for some of the same rich discoveries when they first established a settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Jamestown, located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14 1607 They were sponsored by common stock companies such as the chartered Virginia Company (and its off-shoot, the Somers Isles Company) financed by wealthy Englishmen who understood the economic potential of this new land. A voting share (also called common stock or ordinary share) is a share of Stock giving the Stockholder the right to vote on matters The London Company (also called the Charter of the Virginia Company of London) was an English Joint stock company established by royal charter by The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles also known as Bermuda, as a commercial venture The main purpose of this colony was the hope of finding gold or the possibility (or impossibility) of finding a passage through the Americas to the Indies. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 It took strong leaders, like John Smith, to convince the colonists of Jamestown that searching for gold was not taking care of their immediate needs for food and shelter and that "he who shall not work shall not eat. Captain Sir John Smith (c January 1580– June 21 1631) Admiral of New England was an English Soldier, Sailor " (A direction based on text from the New Testament. ) The extremely high mortality rate was quite distressing and cause for despair among the colonists. Tobacco quickly became a cash crop for export and the sustaining economic driver of Virginia and nearby colonies like Maryland. Tobacco is an Agricultural product recognized as an addictive drug processed from the fresh Leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana.

From the beginning of Virginia's settlements in 1587 until the 1680s, the main source of labour and a large portion of the immigrants were indentured servants looking for new life in the overseas colonies. An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to During the 17th century, indentured servants constituted three-quarters of all European immigrants to the Chesapeake region. Most of the indentured servants were English farmers who had been pushed off their lands due to the expansion of livestock raising, the enclosure of land, and overcrowding in the countryside. Enclosure or inclosure (the latter is used in Legal documents and Place names is the term used in England and Wales This unfortunate turn of events served as a push for thousands of people (mostly single men) away from their situation in England. There was hope, however, as American landowners were in need of labourers and were willing to pay for a labourer’s passage to America if they served them for several years. By selling passage for five to seven years worth of work they could hope to start out on their own in America.

In the French colonial regions, the focus of economy was the fur trade with the natives. The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal Fur. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Farming was set up primarily to provide subsistence only, although cod and other fish of the Grand Banks were a major export and source of income for the French and many other European nations. Cod is the common name for the Genus Gadus of Fish, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name of a variety The fur trade was also practiced by the Russians on the northwest coast of North America. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending After the French and Indian War, the British were ceded all French possessions in North America east of the Mississippi River, aside from the tiny islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. The French and Indian War (1754&ndash1763 was the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War. The Mississippi River is the second longest River in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to The Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is a group of small islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, the

Religious immigration

Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World, as settlers in the colonies of Portugal and Spain (and later, France) were required to belong to that faith. The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. English and Dutch colonies, on the other hand, tended to be more religiously diverse. Settlers to these colonies included Anglicans, Dutch Calvinists, English Puritans, English Catholics, Scottish Presbyterians, French Huguenots, German and Swedish Lutherans, as well as Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, and Jews of various nationalities. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of Worship and Doctrine, Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was passed in 1649 by assembly of the Province of Maryland mandating religious toleration Presbyterianism is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France (or French Calvinists) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons (1496&ndash1561 though his teachings were a relatively The Amish (ˈɑːmɪʃ are members of an Anabaptist Christian denomination best known for Simple living, Plain dress and resisting modern conveniences PLEASE TAKE NOTE************

Many groups of colonists came to the Americas searching for the right to practice their religion without persecution. Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs of affiliations. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century broke the unity of Western European Christendom and led to the formation of numerous new religious sects, which often faced persecution by governmental authorities. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time In England, many people came to question the organization of the Church of England by the end of the sixteenth century. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican One of the primary manifestations of this was the Puritan movement, which sought to "purify" the existing Church of England of its many residual Catholic rites that they believed had no mention in the Bible.

A strong believer in the notion of the Divine Right of Kings, England's Charles I persecuted religious dissenters. The Divine Right of Kings is a general term that refers to the philosophy and ideas used to justify the authority and legitimacy of Monarchs in Medieval and Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Waves of repression led to the migration of about 20,000 Puritans to New England between 1629 and 1642, where they founded multiple colonies. History See also History of New England New England's earliest inhabitants were Algonquian -speaking Native Americans including the Later in the century, the new Pennsylvania colony was given to William Penn in settlement of a debt the king owed his father. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern William Penn ( October 14, 1644 – July 30, 1718) was founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, Its government was set up by William Penn in about 1682 to become primarily a refuge for persecuted English Quakers; but others were welcomed. Baptists, Quakers and German and Swiss Protestants flocked to Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern

The lure of cheap land, religious freedom and the right to improve themselves with their own hand was very attractive to those who wished to escape from persecution and poverty. In America, all these groups gradually worked out a way to live together peacefully and cooperatively in the roughly 150 years preceding the American Revolution. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots"

Forced Immigration

Main article: Atlantic slave trade

Slavery existed in the Americas, prior to the presence of Europeans, as the Natives often captured and held other tribes' members as captives. The Atlantic Slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trade of African people supplied to the Colonies of the New World As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America The European peoples are the various Nations and Ethnic groups of Europe. ^[20] Some of these captives were even forced to undergo human sacrifice under some tribes, such as the Aztecs. Human sacrifice is the act of Homicide (the Killing of one or several Human beings in the context of a Religious ritual ( ritual killing Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political The Spanish followed with the enslavement of local aborigines in the Caribbean. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting As the native populations declined (mostly from European diseases, but also and significantly from forced exploitation and careless murder), they were often replaced by Africans imported through a large commercial slave trade. The history of slavery uncovers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures throughout history By the 18th century, the overwhelming number of black slaves was such that Native American slavery was less commonly used. Africans, who were taken aboard slave ships to the Americas, were primarily obtained from their African homelands by coastal tribes who captured and sold them. The high incidence of disease nearly always fatal to Europeans kept nearly all the slave capture activities confined to native African tribes. Rum, guns and gun powder were some of the major trade items exchanged for slaves. In all, approximately three to four hundred thousand black slaves streamed into the ports of Charleston, South Carolina and Newport, Rhode Island until about 1810. Charleston is a city in Charleston county in the US state of South Carolina. South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles (48 km south of Providence The total slave trade to islands in the Caribbean, Brazil, Mexico and to the United States is estimated to have involved 12 million Africans. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. ^[21][22] Of these, 5. 4% (645,000) were brought to what is now the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[23] In addition to African slaves, poor Europeans were brought over in substantial numbers as indentured servants, particularly in the British Thirteen colonies. An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris (1783 recognized the ^[24]

See also

Notes

References

• De Roo, Peter (1900). History of America before Columbus : according to documents and approved authors, Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott, 1900, vol. 1: American Aboriginies vol. 2: European Immigrants – Google Books
• Starkey, Armstrong (1998). Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans OCRs, and stores in its digital database European-Native American Warfare, 1675-1815. University of Oklahoma Press