HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The beginnings of the United States

At the height of the most recent Ice Age, about 35,000 years ago , much of the world's water was locked up in vast continental ice sheets and an access bridge to 1,500 kilometers wide communicating Asia with North America . 12,000 years ago humans were living in much of the Western Hemisphere.

The first Americans crossed the land bridge from Asia and is believed to have stayed thousands of years in what is now Alaska. They then moved south into what later became the United States. They settled on the shore of the Pacific Ocean in the west, in the mountains and deserts of the Southwest , and along the Mississippi River in the Midwest .

Those first groups are known as the Hohokam , Adenans, Hopewellians and Anasazi . They built villages and cultivated the field. Some built mounds of earth in the form of pyramids, birds or snakes. His life was closely tied to the land, and their society is clan-oriented and community. The elements of the natural world were an essential part of their spiritual beliefs. Their culture was primarily oral, although some developed a kind of hieroglyphics to preserve certain texts. According to the evidence, between different groups had extensive trade, but sometimes hostile relations .

For reasons not yet fully understand, these early groups disappeared over time and were replaced by others, Native Americans, like the Hopi and Zuni who flourished. By the time Europeans arrived in what is now the United States, in these lands lived about 2 million native, maybe more.

The first Europeans, who came to North America, at least the first of those who have concrete evidence, were Norwegians. Traveled west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the 985 years.

It would be almost 500 years before other Europeans came to North America and a century that permanent settlements were established.

The colonial period:

Most settlers who came to the British colonies in the seventeenth century were English. Others came from the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France and, later, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Some left their home countries to escape war, political pressure, religious persecution or a jail sentence. Some left as servants, with the expectation of working to pay for their freedom. Black Africans were sold into slavery and arrived in shackles.

In 1690, the population was 250,000. Less than a century later, it had risen to 2.5 million.

The colonists came to America for the most varied reasons and ultimately created here 13 different colonies . Were formed and three regional groupings of colonies , among which the differences were even more pronounced.

The first settlements were established on the Atlantic coast and in the rivers that flowed to the ocean. In the Northeast, the colonizers found hills covered with trees, and soils that were filled with stones when the glaciers of the Ice Age melted. Water power was easy to harness, so "New England" -including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, developed an economy based on forest products, fishing, shipbuilding and trade. The colonies of the middle region, including New York and Pennsylvania - had a milder climate and more varied terrain. There he developed industry and agriculture, and society was more diverse and cosmopolitan. For example, in New York were emigrants from Germany, Bohemia, Denmark, Scotland, France, Holland, England, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. The Southern colonies -Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas, had a long growing season and fertile soil, so the economy was primarily agricultural, which worked by African slaves.

The War of Independence of the United States

Causes:

The 13 British colonies in North America rebelled against the excessive taxes imposed by King George III of England. For example, the sugar tax, 1764 and 1765 tax stamp. They also rejected the King granted the monopoly of tea East India Company (of England).

The War of Independence:

In 1774 , colonists gathered at the First Congress of Philadelphia. They decided to remain faithful to the King,

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