United States
Historie
It is not definitively known how or when Native Americans first settled the Americas and the present-day United States.
The prevailing theory proposes that people from Eurasia followed game across Beringia, a land bridge that connected
Siberia to present-day Alaska during the Ice Age, and then spread southward throughout the Americas. This migration may have
begun as early as 30.000 years ago and continued through to about 10.000 years ago, when the land bridge became submerged by the rising
sea level caused by the melting glaciers.
By 10.000 BC, humans were relatively well-established throughout North America. Originally, Paleo-Indians hunted Ice
Age megafauna like mammoths, but as they began to go extinct, people turned instead to bison as a food source.
As time went on, foraging for berries and seeds became an important alternative to hunting. Paleo-Indians in central Mexico were the first
in the Americas to farm, starting to plant corn, beans, and squash around 8.000 BC. Eventually, the knowledge began to spread northward.
By 3.000 BC, corn was being grown in the valleys of Arizona and New Mexico, followed by primitive irrigation systems
and, by 300 BC, early villages of the Hohokam.
One of the earlier cultures in the present-day United States was the Clovis culture, who are primarily identified by the use of
fluted spear points called the Clovis point. From 9.100 to 8.850 BC, the culture ranged over much of North America and also appeared
in South America. Artifacts from this culture were first excavated in 1932 near Clovis, New Mexico. The Folsom culture (10.800 to
10.200 BC) was similar, but is marked by the use of the Folsom point.
A later migration identified by linguists, anthropologists, and archeologists occurred around 8.000 BC. This included Na-Dene-speaking
peoples, who reached the Pacific Northwest by 5.00 BC. From there, they migrated along the Pacific Coast and into the interior and
constructed large multi-family dwellings in their villages, which were used only seasonally in the summer to hunt and fish, and in the
winter to gather food supplies. Another group, the Oshara tradition people, who lived from 5.500 BC to 600 AD, were part of the
Archaic Southwest.
The Adena began constructing large earthwork mounds around 600 BC. They are the earliest known people to have been Mound Builders,
however, there are mounds in the United States that predate this culture. Watson Brake is an 11-mound complex in Louisiana that
dates to 3.500 BC, and nearby Poverty Point, built by the Poverty Point culture, is an earthwork complex that dates to 1.700 BC.
These mounds likely served a religious purpose.
The Adenans were absorbed into the Hopewell tradition, a powerful people who traded tools and goods across a wide territory.
They continued the Adena tradition of mound-building, with remnants of several thousand still in existence across the core of their
former territory in southern Ohio. The Hopewell pioneered a trading system called the Hopewell Exchange System, which at
its greatest extent ran from the present-day Southeast up to the Canadian side of Lake Ontario. By 500 AD, the Hopewellians had too
disappeared, absorbed into the larger Mississippian culture.
The Mississippians were a broad group of tribes. Their most important city was Cahokia, near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri. At
its peak in the 12th century, the city had an estimated population of 20.000, larger than the population of London at the time. The entire
city was centered around a mound that stood 100 feet (30 m) tall. Cahokia, like many other cities and villages of the time, depended
on hunting, foraging, trading, and agriculture, and developed a class system with slaves and human sacrifice that was influenced by
societies to the south, like the Mayans.
In the Southwest, the Anasazi began constructing stone and adobe Pueblos around 900 BC. These apartment-like structures
were often built into cliff faces, as seen in the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde. Some grew to be the size of cities, with Pueblo
Bonito along the Chaco River in New Mexico once consisting of 800 rooms.
The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest were likely the most affluent Native Americans. Many distinct cultural groups
and political entities developed there, but they all shared certain beliefs, traditions, and practices, such as the centrality of
Salmon as a resource and spiritual symbol. Permanent villages began to develop in this region as early as 1.000 BC, and these
communities celebrated by the gift-giving feast of the Potlatch. These gatherings were usually organized to commemorate special
events such as the raising of a Totem pole or the celebration of a new chief.
The earliest recorded European mention of America is in a historical treatise by the medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen, circa 1075,
where it is referred to as Vinland. It is also extensively referred to in the 13th-century Norse Vinland sagas, which relate to
events which occurred around 1000 AD. Whilst the strongest archaeological evidence of the existence of Norse settlements in America is
located in Canada, most notably at L'Anse aux Meadows and dated to circa 1000 AD, there is significant scholarly debate as to whether
Norse explorers also made landfall in New England and other east-coast areas. In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge declared that a Norse explorer
called Leif Erikson (970-1020) was the first European to discover America.
Spanish explorers were the first Europeans, after the Norse, to reach the present-day United States, after Christopher Columbus's
expeditions (beginning in 1492) established possessions in the Caribbean. Juan Ponce de León landed in Florida in 1513. Spanish
expeditions quickly reached the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains. In 1539, Hernando
de Soto extensively explored the Southeast, and a year later Francisco Coronado explored from Arizona to central Kansas in
search of gold.
Around 1523, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano convinced the french king Francis I to commission an expedition
to find a western route to Cathay (China). After exploring the coast of the present-day Carolinas early the following year, he headed north
along the coast, eventually anchoring in the Narrows of New York Bay. In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the
Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I. It was the first province of New France. Most French lived in
Quebec and Acadia (modern Canada), but far-reaching trade relationships with Native Americans throughout the Great Lakes and Midwest
spread their influence. French colonists in small villages along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers lived in farming communities that
served as a grain source for Gulf Coast settlements.
The Dutch East India Company sent explorer Henry Hudson to search for a Northwest Passage to Asia in 1609. New Netherland
was established in 1621 by the company to capitalize on the North American fur trade. Growth was slow at first due to mismanagement by the
Dutch and Native American conflicts. After the Dutch purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native Americans for a reported price of
US$24, the land was named New Amsterdam and became the capital of New Netherland. The town rapidly expanded and in the mid-1600s
it became an important trading center and port.
In the early years of the Swedish Empire, Swedish, Dutch, and German stockholders formed the New Sweden Company to trade furs and
tobacco in North America. The company's first expedition was led by Peter Minuit, who had been governor of New Netherland from
1626 to 1631 but left after a dispute with the Dutch government, and landed in Delaware Bay in March 1638. Over the following seventeen
years, 12 more expeditions brought settlers from the Swedish Empire to New Sweden. It was incorporated into New Netherland in 1655
after a Dutch invasion from the neighboring New Netherland colony during the Second Northern War.
The English, drawn in by Francis Drake's raids on Spanish treasure ships leaving the New World, settled the strip of land along the
east coast in the 1600s. The first British colony in North America was established at Roanoke by Walter Raleigh in 1585, but failed.
The first successful English colony, Jamestown, was established by the Virginia Company in 1607 on the James River in Virginia.
The colonists were preoccupied with the search for gold and were ill-equipped for life in the New World. In 1616, English explorer John
Smith named the region New England. New England became a center of commerce and industry due to the poor, mountainous soil making agriculture difficult. Rivers were harnessed to power grain mills and sawmills, and the numerous harbors facilitated trade.
In October 1664, as a prelude to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Middle Colonies were established in the former Dutch New
Netherland, when the English largely conquered this land and the capital was renamed New York City.
The overwhelmingly rural Southern Colonies contrasted sharply with the New England and Middle Colonies. After Virginia, the second
British colony south of New England was Maryland, established as a Catholic haven in 1632. The economy of these two colonies was built entirely
on yeoman farmers and planters. The planters established themselves in the Tidewater region of Virginia, establishing massive plantations
with slave labor.
Each of the 13 American colonies had a slightly different governmental structure. Typically, a colony was ruled by a governor appointed
from London who controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally elected legislature to vote on taxes and make laws. By the
18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly as a result of low death rates along with ample supplies of land and food. The
colonies were richer than most parts of Britain, and attracted a steady flow of immigrants, especially teenagers who arrived as indentured
servants. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against the French
and Spanish powers.
The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the larger Seven Years' War, was a watershed event in the political development
of the colonies. The influence of the French and Native Americans, the main rivals of the British Crown in the colonies and Canada, was
significantly reduced and the territory of the Thirteen Colonies expanded into New France, both in Canada and Louisiana. The war effort also
resulted in greater political integration of the colonies, as reflected in the Albany Congress and symbolized by Benjamin Franklin's
call for the colonies to "Join, or Die." Franklin was a man of many inventions – one of which was the concept of a United States of
America, which emerged after 1765 and would be realized a decade later.
The Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence was drafted
by the Committee of Five. The Declaration explains to the world why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states
no longer subject to British colonial rule. The Declaration of Independence was signed by members of the Congress on July 4. This date has
since been commemorated as Independence Day.
The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was an armed conflict in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army
and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. King George III formally ordered the end of hostilities on
December 5, 1782, recognizing American independence. The Treaty of Paris was negotiated between Great Britain and the United States
to establish terms of peace. The Articles of Confederation were ratified as the governing law of the United States, written to limit
the powers of the central government in favor of state governments. This caused economic decline, as the government was unable to pass
economic legislation and pay its debts.
Nationalists worried that the confederate nature of the union was too fragile to withstand an armed conflict with any adversarial states
organized in every state and convinced Congress to call the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. The delegates from every state wrote a
new Constitution that created a federal government with a strong president and powers of taxation. George Washington became
the first president of the United States in 1789. The national capital moved from New York to Philadelphia in 1790 and finally settled in
Washington, D.C., in 1800.
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States. Lingering issues with Britain remained,
leading to the War of 1812, which was fought to a draw. Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast territory in 1819.
As Americans expanded further into land inhabited by Native Americans, the federal government often applied policies of Indian removal
or assimilation. The Trail of Tears (1830–1850) was a U.S. government policy that forcibly removed and displaced most Native Americans
living east of the Mississippi River to lands far to the west. These and earlier organized displacements prompted a long series of American
Indian Wars west of the Mississippi.
The Republic of Texas was annexed in 1845, and the 1846 Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-day American
Northwest. Victory in the Mexican–American War resulted in the 1848 Mexican Cession of California, Nevada, Utah, and much of
present-day Colorado and the American Southwest.
During the colonial period, slavery had been legal in the American colonies, though the practice began to be significantly questioned
during the American Revolution. States in the North enacted abolition laws, though support for slavery strengthened in Southern states,
as inventions such as the cotton gin made the institution increasingly profitable for Southern elites. This sectional conflict
regarding slavery culminated in the American Civil War (1861–1865).
After Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election, seven Southern states seceded from the Union in the first of two waves of
secession and formed a sovereign state, the Confederate States of America (Confederacy), on February 8, 1861. War broke out in April
1861 after the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter. After the January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, many freed slaves
joined the Union army. The war began to turn in the Union's favor following the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg and Battle of Gettysburg,
and the Confederacy surrendered in 1865 after the Union's victory in the Battle of Appomattox Court House.
The Reconstruction era followed the war. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Reconstruction Amendments
were passed to protect the rights of African Americans.
Reconstruction ended after the disputed 1876 election. The Compromise of 1877 gave Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes
the presidency in exchange for removing all remaining federal troops in the South. The federal government withdrew its troops, and Southern
Democrats took control of the region. From 1890 to 1908, southern states effectively disenfranchised Black and poor white voters by
making voter registration more difficult through poll taxes and literacy tests. Black people were segregated from whites in the
violently-enforced Jim Crow system.
The United States became the world's leading industrial power in the 20th century, largely due to entrepreneurship, industrialization,
and the arrival of millions of immigrant workers and farmers. A national railroad network was completed, and large-scale mines and
factories were established. Dissatisfaction with corruption, inefficiency, and traditional politics stimulated the Progressive movement,
leading to reforms including the federal income tax, direct election of Senators, citizenship for many indigenous people, alcohol prohibition,
and women's suffrage.
Initially neutral during World War I, the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, joining the successful Allies.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered World War II and financed the Allied war effort,
helping defeat Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the European theater. In the Pacific War, America defeated Imperial Japan after using
nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as rival superpowers in the aftermath of World War II. During the Cold War,
the two countries confronted each other indirectly in the Arms race, the Space Race, propaganda campaigns, and proxy wars.
In the 1960s, in large part due to the civil rights movement, social reforms enforced the constitutional rights of voting and
freedom of movement to African Americans. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan's presidency realigned American politics towards reductions
in taxes and regulations. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, leaving the United States as the world's
sole superpower.
On September 11, 2001 (9/11), the United States was struck by a terrorist attack, when 19 al-Qaeda hijackers commandeered
four commercial planes to be used in suicide attacks. Two were crashed intentionally into both Twin Towers of the World Trade Center
in New York City, and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane was re-taken by the passengers and crew of
the aircraft, and it was crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board and saving whatever target the terrorists
were aiming for. In response, on September 20, George W. Bush announced a "war on terror".
In October 2001, the U.S. and NATO invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban regime, which had harbored al-Qaeda and its leader
Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden then escaped to Pakistan, starting a manhunt for him. On 2 May 2011, Bin Laden was killed by U.S.
special operations forces at his compound in Abbottabad.
In March 2003, the U.S. launched an invasion of Iraq, claiming Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction
(WMDs) and the Iraqi people needed to liberated from him. Intelligence backing WMDs were later found to be inaccurate. The war led to
the collapse of the Iraqi government and the eventual capture of Hussein.
The U.S., with NATO, intervened in the Libyan Civil War for seven months in 2011. Muammar Gaddafi evaded capture until
20 October 2011, when he was captured and killed in Sirte.
In 2013, the U.S. also started a counter-terrorist invention in Niger, and began a covert operation to train rebels in Syria
who were fighting against the terrorist group ISIS. The U.S. and its allies began a significant military offensive against ISIS
in Iraq which lasted from 2014 to 2021.
In November 2016, following a contentious election against Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump was elected president. During
Trump's presidency, he espoused an "America First" ideology, placing restrictions on asylum seekers, expanding the wall on the
U.S.-Mexico border, and banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
In april 2015 i passed the Northern Mariana Islands
It was part of my West Pacific Odessey
Please let me know when you're having questions.
i would be pleased to help you.
Things to do and other tips
