Columbus was the first to reach the Americas in 1492, and to his dying day, he was sure he had found Asia. Unlike the conquistadors in Spanish America who followed him, he made no large-scale conquest of the indigenous Taíno people.
When did European settlers come to North America?
European Colonization of North America The invasion of the North American continent and its peoples began with the Spanish in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida, then British in 1587 when the Plymouth Company established a settlement that they dubbed Roanoke in present-day Virginia.
What was the European colonization of the Americas?
The European colonization of the Americas was the process by which European settlers populated the regions of North, Central, South America, and the islands of the Caribbean. It is also recognized as the direct cause for the cultures of the various indigenous people of those regions being replaced and often eradicated.
What was the first permanent English settlement in North America?
English Popham colony established in present day state of Maine, North America; fails after 14 months. Colony of Jamestown succeeds as the first permanent English settlement in North America. Hudson River Valley and parts of present-day New York State and Canada claimed by Henry Hudson for the Netherlands.
Why is St Augustine not the first European settlement in America?
In 1565, Spain established the first permanent European settlement in North America at St. Augustine in Florida. Florida would remain a Spanish territory until the early nineteenth century, which may help explain why St. Augustine is not better remembered as the first European settlement.
When did European settlement begin in America?
The invasion of the North American continent and its peoples began with the Spanish in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida, then British in 1587 when the Plymouth Company established a settlement that they dubbed Roanoke in present-day North Carolina.
What 3 main factors attracted European colonization to the Americas?
Historians generally recognize three motives for European exploration and colonization in the New World: God, gold, and glory.
What caused European colonization in America?
The opportunity to make money was one of the primary motivators for the colonization of the New World. The Virginia Company of London established the Jamestown colony to make a profit for its investors. Europe's period of exploration and colonization was fueled largely by necessity.
Who came to America first Europe?
Five hundred years before Columbus, a daring band of Vikings led by Leif Eriksson set foot in North America and established a settlement.
Which was a major cause of European exploration?
Explorers saw the chance to earn fame and glory, as well as wealth. As new lands were discovered, nations wanted to claim the lands' riches for themselves. A final motive for exploration was the desire to spread Christianity beyond Europe. Both Protestant and Catholic nations were eager to make new converts.
Who colonized the Americas?
Following the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, Spain and Portugal established colonies in the New World, beginning the European colonization of the Americas. France and England, the two other major powers of 15th-century Western Europe, employed explorers soon after the return of Columbus's first voyage.
What were the reasons for colonial expansion?
The motivations for the first wave of colonial expansion can be summed up as God, Gold, and Glory: God, because missionaries felt it was their moral duty to spread Christianity, and they believed a higher power would reward them for saving the souls of colonial subjects; gold, because colonizers would exploit resources ...
What was America called before it was named America?
Before that time, there was no name that collectively identified the Western Hemisphere. The earlier Spanish explorers referred to the area as the Indies believing, as did Columbus, that it was a part of eastern Asia.
How did the first people come to America?
People travelled by boat to North America some 30,000 years ago, at a time when giant animals still roamed the continent and long before it was thought the earliest arrivals had made the crossing from Asia, archaeological research reveals today.
How did America begin?
The United States dates its origins to not one but two founding moments: the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
What 4 factors spurred exploration to the New World?
The motives that spur human beings to examine their environment are many. Strong among them are the satisfaction of curiosity, the pursuit of trade, the spread of religion, and the desire for security and political power.
Why were the Spanish interested in the colonization of the Americas?
Motivations for colonization: Spain's colonization goals were to extract gold and silver from the Americas, to stimulate the Spanish economy and make Spain a more powerful country. Spain also aimed to convert Native Americans to Christianity.
What countries were involved in the colonization of the Americas?
During this period of time, several European empires —primarily Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France —began to explore and claim the natural resources and human capital of the Americas, resulting in the displacement and disestablishment of some Indigenous Nations, and the establishment of several settler-colonial states.
Which country founded the colonies in the Americas?
France. France founded colonies in the Americas: in eastern North America (which had not been colonized by Spain north of Florida ), a number of Caribbean islands (which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease), and small coastal parts of South America.
Why did the population of the Americas drop?
After European contact, the native population of the Americas plummeted by an estimated 80% (from around 50 million in 1492 to eight million in 1650), mostly as the result of outbreaks of Old World disease.
Why did the Dutch want independence?
The Netherlands had been part of the Spanish Empire, due to the inheritance of Charles V of Spain. Many Dutch people converted to Protestantism and sought their political independence from Spain. They were a seafaring nation and built a global empire in regions where the Portuguese had originally explored. In the Dutch Golden Age, it sought colonies. In the Americas, the Dutch conquered the northeast of Brazil in 1630, where the Portuguese had built sugar cane plantations worked by black slave labor from Africa. Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen became the administrator of the colony (1637–43), building a capital city and royal palace, fully expecting the Dutch to retain control of this rich area. As the Dutch had in Europe, it tolerated the presence of Jews and other religious groups in the colony. After Maurits departed in 1643, the Dutch West India Company took over the colony, until it was lost to the Portuguese in 1654. The Dutch retained some territory in Dutch Guiana, now Suriname. The Dutch also seized islands in the Caribbean that Spain had originally claimed but had largely abandoned, including Sint Maarten in 1618, Bonaire in 1634, Curaçao in 1634, Sint Eustatius in 1636, Aruba in 1637, some of which remain in Dutch hands and retain Dutch cultural traditions.
How did the colonization of the Americas affect the Caribbean?
According to scientists from University College London, the colonization of the Americas by Europeans killed so much of the indigenous population that it resulted in climate change and global cooling. Some contemporary scholars also attribute significant indigenous population losses in the Caribbean to the widespread practice of slavery and deadly forced labor in gold and silver mines. Historian, Andrés Reséndez, supports this claim and argues that indigenous populations were smaller previous estimations and "a nexus of slavery, overwork and famine killed more Indians in the Caribbean than smallpox, influenza and malaria."
What was Columbus' first island?
Columbus's first two voyages (1492–93) reached the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and various other Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico and Cuba.
Why was the rapid rate at which Europe grew in wealth and power unforeseeable in the early 15th century?
The rapid rate at which Europe grew in wealth and power was unforeseeable in the early 15th century because it had been preoccupied with internal wars and it was slowly recovering from the loss of its population which was caused by the Black Death. The strength of the Turkish Ottoman Empire held on trade routes to Asia prompted Western European monarchs to search for alternatives, resulting in the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the accidental re-discovery of the " New World ".
Which colony succeeded as the first permanent English settlement in North America?
Colony of Jamestown succeeds as the first permanent English settlement in North America.
Who established the Norse settlement?
Norse settlement established in Newfoundland, North America, by Leif Erikson . The Ottoman Empire closes the overland Silk Road trade routes between Europe and the East, initiating the European Age of Discovery.
How many voyages did Christopher Columbus make?
Christopher Columbus makes four voyages to the New World; opens the way for European colonization of the Americas . 1500. Brazil is claimed for Portugal by Pedro Álvares Cabral. 1519 - 1521.
Where did the Norse settle?
Norse settlement established in Newfoundland, North America, by Leif Erikson .
Where was the Plymouth colony?
Plymouth Colony established in modern-day Massachusetts, North America; foundational colony of the later United States.
When did the first people settle in the Americas?
The settlement of the Americas is widely accepted to have begun when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum (26,000 to 19,000 years ago). These populations expanded south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and spread rapidly throughout both North and South America, by 14,000 years ago. The earliest populations in the Americas, before roughly 10,000 years ago, are known as Paleo-Indians .
Where did the Americas come from?
The peopling of the Americas is a long-standing open question, and while advances in archaeology, Pleistocene geology, physical anthropology, and DNA analysis have progressively shed more light on the subject, significant questions remain unresolved. While there is general agreement that the Americas were first settled from Asia, the pattern of migration, its timing, and the place (s) of origin in Eurasia of the peoples who migrated to the Americas remain unclear.
How did the Wisconsin glaciation affect the ocean?
As water accumulated in glaciers, the volume of water in the oceans correspondingly decreased, resulting in lowering of global sea level. The variation of sea level over time has been reconstructed using oxygen isotope analysis of deep sea cores, the dating of marine terraces, and high resolution oxygen isotope sampling from ocean basins and modern ice caps. A drop of eustatic sea level by about 60 to 120 metres (200 to 390 ft) from present-day levels, commencing around 30,000 years BP, created Beringia, a durable and extensive geographic feature connecting Siberia with Alaska. With the rise of sea level after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Beringian land bridge was again submerged. Estimates of the final re-submergence of the Beringian land bridge based purely on present bathymetry of the Bering Strait and eustatic sea level curve place the event around 11,000 years BP (Figure 1). Ongoing research reconstructing Beringian paleogeography during deglaciation could change that estimate and possible earlier submergence could further constrain models of human migration into North America.
When did the Paleo Indians first appear?
The earliest populations in the Americas, before roughly 10,000 years ago , are known as Paleo-Indians .
Where did the prehistoric migration begin?
Prehistoric migration from Asia to the Americas. Map of the earliest securely dated sites showing human presence in the Americas, 24–13 ka for North America and 22–11 ka for South America. The settlement of the Americas is widely accepted to have begun when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via ...
How old are the Clovis sites?
Recent radiocarbon dating of Clovis sites has yielded ages of 11.1k to 10.7k 14 C years BP (13k to 12.6k cal years BP), somewhat later than dates derived from older techniques. The re-evaluation of earlier radiocarbon dates led to the conclusion that no fewer than 11 of the 22 Clovis sites with radiocarbon dates are "problematic" and should be disregarded, including the type site in Clovis, New Mexico. Numerical dating of Clovis sites has allowed comparison of Clovis dates with dates of other archaeosites throughout the Americas, and of the opening of the ice-free corridor. Both lead to significant challenges to the Clovis First theory. The Monte Verde site of Southern Chile has been dated at 14.8k cal years BP. The Paisley Cave site in eastern Oregon yielded a 14 C date of 12.4k years (14.5k cal years) BP, on a coprolite with human DNA and 14 C dates of 11.3k-11k (13.2k-12.9k cal years) BP on horizons containing western stemmed points. Artifact horizons with non-Clovis lithic assemblages and pre-Clovis ages occur in eastern North America, although the maximum ages tend to be poorly constrained.
When was the first European settlement in North America?
The first European community in North America was established c. 980 – c. 1030 CE by the Norse Viking Leif Erikson (b. c. 970 – c. 980 CE) in Newfoundland at the site known today as L’Anse aux Meadows. This settlement was temporary, however, and the Norse left to return to Greenland after a little over a year, inspiring no further expeditions ...
What was the process of European colonization of the Americas?
The European colonization of the Americas was the process by which European settlers populated the regions of North, Central, South America, and the islands of the Caribbean. It is also recognized as the direct cause for the cultures of the various indigenous people of those regions being replaced and often eradicated, ...
What was the first assembly of Englishmen in North America?
In 1619 CE, the House of Burgesses was first convened, the first assembly of Englishmen in North America to gather and establish laws.
What did Columbus believe he could find?
Columbus believed he could find a new passage by sailing west and received funding for his expedition by Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain, setting out on his first voyage in 1492 CE.
How did Jamestown survive?
The Jamestown colony barely survived the first few years, losing 80% of its population in only a few months, primarily because those who made up the expedition were either upper-class aristocrats who refused to work for their food or lower-class laborers who had no skill in farming. The colony was saved first by Captain John Smith (l. 1580-1631 CE), a soldier, sailor, and adventurer who famously pronounced “he who does not work, shall not eat” and managed to organize the survivors to fend for themselves while also establishing a cordial relationship with the indigenous people of the Powhatan tribe, without whose help the colonists would have starved to death.
Where did the Spanish claim gold?
The conquest continued elsewhere and in all directions as part of the ongoing European quest for gold, which eventually established Spanish claims from the present-day southern west regions of the United States through Central and South America. In the region of modern-day Venezuela, Francisco Pizarro (l. c.
When did trade start between Europe and Asia?
Trade between Europe and Asia had been ongoing since 130 BCE when the Han Dynasty of China (202 BCE – 220 CE) opened the routes known in the modern day as the Silk Road. Although there were contentions over these routes through the years, and different monarchies or tribes took control of them in whole or in part, they remained open, and goods traveled back and forth along them until the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in 1453 CE; afterwards, the Ottoman Empire closed the Silk Road to the West.
Why was the land route to the Indies blocked?
The land route to the Indies was blocked because of European inability to compete with the Turks, whose Ottoman Empire stretched across the main trade routes.
What is the most important event in the history of the last half millennium?
One of the most important events in the history of the last half millennium is the European "discovery" of the Americas. The traditional story of the contact explains the Europeans' eventual success by crediting the superior technology and military prowess of the Europeans. If the traditional story mentions luck at all, it is in explaining the Europeans' good fortune at finding such a sparsely populated "pristine" continent. While it is true that European ship technology was more sophisticated than that of the native peoples of the Americas, European conquering and exploration of the Americas was as much the result of three non-technological factors as of the sophistication of European ship technology. The first was Europe 's relative backwardness in comparison to the Middle and Far East, the second was macro-evolutionary factors such as geography and relative lack of natural resources, and the third was plain dumb luck.
Who was the first colonist to colonize the eastern seaboard of North America?
James I (1566–1625) granted charters to some merchants to colonize the eastern seaboard of North America. The London Virginia Company was allocated what is now Virginia and Maryland and the Plymouth Company the coast of New England as far as Maine. This company's charter was revoked and a royal colony, whose council's seal is shown, established in 1624.
Which country gained all of France's important North American possessions?
By the Treaty of Paris England gained all France's important North American possessions; Spain was toô. .
How did the pattern of migration change over the years?
The pattern of migration changed over the years. From 1580 to 1619 England settled the eastern seaboard while France established settlements in Canada and down the Mississippi. The next 30 years saw the increase of African slave migration as well as the establishment of New England and the Scandinavian and Dutch colonies. Then England consolidated her hold and the Irish, Scots and Germans led the March westwards.
What was the purpose of the Jamestown settlement?
The next attempt to establish an English colony in the area, the Jamestown settlement – established by the Virginia Company in 1607 – was basically a commercial venture, although the aims of the company included helping to build a strong merchant fleet, training mariners for England's protection, spreading the gospel and planting a Protestant colony in a land still threatened by Catholic Spain.
How many people crossed the Atlantic to the New World?
Six and a half million people had crossed the Atlantic to the New World by the 1770s. One million whites came from Europe – mostly from England, France, Germany and Spain; the other five and a half million were black slaves from West Africa, who were transported in appallingly cramped conditions in the slave ships. Chained flat to the decks they could cause little trouble and needed less food, thereby maximising the profits of the traders.
What were the main reasons for the establishment of North American colonies?
Trade and religion were the two principal motives for the founding of North American settlements. Religious enthusiasts, hampered at home by the inquisition in Spain and the Court of High Commission in England, were sometimes willing to venture into the unknown, but without the prospect of trade with Europe they could survive only in subsistence conditions. During the 50 years following the foundation of Jamestown, further colonies were established, mostly by the English. Plymouth was established in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers, who sought religious and civil autonomy from the English Government, and Maryland by Lord Baltimore, for Roman Catholics, in 1632. In 1625 the Dutch founded New Amsterdam, later renamed New York, as a trading post, to be followed by the Swedes and Finns.
Why did Quakers leave England?
Many Quakers left England in the late 17th century when they conflicted with laws passed at the restoration of Charles II on questions of worship, freedom from oaths and military service. .
When did the French and Dutch start colonizing New York?
From there, the French founded Quebec in 1608, then the Dutch started a colony in 1609 in present-day New York. While Native Americans resisted European efforts to amass land and power during this period, they struggled to do so while also fighting new diseases introduced by the Europeans and the slave trade.
What was the name of the area where the Native Americans lived before the arrival of the Europeans?
People lived in the area called New England long before the first Europeans arrived. The lives of these Native Americans—part of the Algonquian language group—would be forever changed by the arrival of English colonists.
What was the area before John Smith's voyage?
This map was created by National Geographic, for the book Voices from Colonial America: Maryland , 1643-1776, to demonstrate what this area was like before John Smith’s voyages as well as the routes of his voyage. Until John Smith's exploratory voyages of the Chesapeake Bay in 1608 and 1609 opened the region to European settlement, the land belonged to the Piscataways, Choptanks, and other Algonquian peoples, as it had for thousands of years. Choice land on the eastern and western shores of the bay was snapped up by colonists and turned into large English farms.
What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?
On June 7, 1494, the governments of Spain and Portugal agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided their spheres of influence in the "New World" of the Americas. Grades. 6 - 12+.
Where did the Spanish invade?
The invasion of the North American continent and its peoples began with the Spanish in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida, then British in 1587 when the Plymouth Company established a settlement that they dubbed Roanoke in present-day Virginia. This first settlement failed mysteriously and in 1606, the London Company established a presence in what would become Jamestown, Virginia. From there, the French founded Quebec in 1608, then the Dutch started a colony in 1609 in present-day New York. While Native Americans resisted European efforts to amass land and power during this period, they struggled to do so while also fighting new diseases introduced by the Europeans and the slave trade.
Which countries established colonies in North America?
Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands established colonies in North America. Each country had different motivations for colonization and expectations about the potential benefits. Grades. 3 - 12+.
Who was the first person to map the Chesapeake Bay?
Starting in 1607, Captain John Smith set about exploring and describing the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. This map, published in 1612, would become the primary cartographic resource on the region for nearly seven decades.
How did England claim the Americas?
Although England initially lacked the naval power and financial resources to challenge the Spanish and Portuguese in the Atlantic, English monarchs carefully monitored developments in the new Atlantic World and took steps to assert England’s claim to the Americas . As early as 1497, Henry VII of England had commissioned Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), an Italian mariner, to explore new lands. Caboto sailed from England to the Grand Banks and made landfall somewhere along the North American coastline. He reported that the cod were so numerous on the Grand Banks that you could almost walk across the surface of the ocean on their backs. For the next century, English fishermen routinely crossed the Atlantic to fish the rich waters off the North American coast. However, English colonization efforts in the 1500s were closer to home, as England devoted its energy to the subjugation of Catholic Ireland. England could not consider large-scale colonization in the Americas while Spain appeared ready to invade Ireland or Scotland. Nonetheless, Queen Elizabeth commissioned English privateers, sea captains authorized to raid and harass England’s enemies. These professional pirates cruised the Caribbean, plundering Spanish ships whenever they could. Each year the English took more than £100,000 from Spain; English privateer Francis Drake first made a name for himself when, in 1573, he looted Spanish silver, gold, and pearls worth £40,000.
When was the Norse settlement discovered?
The discovery of the Norse village in 1960 and its acceptance as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978 established the Newfoundland colony as the oldest known European site in the Americas, and very probably as the Vinland settlement of Norse legends. The Canadian ruins date from the appropriate period, around 1000 CE.
What were the crops that Columbus planted?
Columbus had returned to the Caribbean in 1495 with 17 ships, 1,200 men, and according to his diaries, “seeds and cuttings for the planting of wheat, chickpeas, melons, onions, radishes, salad greens, grape vines, sugar cane, and fruit stones for the founding of orchards.” Other old-world crops that thrived in the Americas included coffee and bananas, which were brought from the Canary Islands in 1516. The Spanish and Portuguese both had extensive sugar plantations off the African coast, so it only made sense to try the plant in the tropical paradise their explorers had discovered across the Atlantic. Cattle and sheep, neither of which were native to the Americas, were delivered to Spanish conquistadors in Mexico in 1521 and by 1614, according to one of the conquistador chronicles, “the residents of Santiago [in Chile, over 4,000 miles away] possessed 39,250 head,” as well as flocks totaling 623,825 sheep. According to local traditions, when Pizarro first invaded Peru in 1524, he crossed the Andes with only eighty fighting men and forty horses, but with over 2,000 pigs. Most of the really significant Eurasian species brought to the Americas had already been introduced by the Spanish by the early 1500s, long before North American settlement began. Even species like the wild horses of the American West that would transform Plains Indian culture were escapees from the herds of the conquistadors. The Americas were home to very few large mammal species, and most could not be domesticated. Nearly all the species humans have successfully domesticated, the familiar residents of the modern farmyard, originated in Europe and Asia. These include goats, sheep, cows, horses, pigs and chickens. Eurasians began domesticating these animals between ten and fifteen thousand years ago. This was just a little too late for the Beringians to bring domesticated animals with them into North America. In any case, the Beringians were tundra hunters, not temperate-zone pastoralists. But as any good hunter would, the Beringians had brought their dogs.
What did the Vikings do to the Newfoundland colonists?
Norse legends say that in addition to trading with the natives the Vinland colonists were regularly attacked by vicious warriors the Vikings called Skraelings, suggesting the native Newfoundland population resisted the newcomers fairly effectively . The map below, drawn in 1570 in Skálholt, Iceland, shows Great Britain on the bottom right, Iceland in the center, and on the left Grönlandia (Greenland), Helleland (the land of flat stones), Markland (the land of forests) and Skralingeland, which a note in the text says was close to Vinland (the land of meadows). The forests of Markland would have been especially interesting to explorers from Greenland, because the Norse settlements there lacked trees for building.
What was the name of the first English colony?
In 1588, a promoter of English colonization named Thomas Hariot published A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia to describe the region to the English and encourage exploration and colonization. English advocates of colonization promoted its commercial advantages and promoted the establishment of Protestantism in the Americas. English merchants and aristocrats began to pool their resources to form joint stock companies, the precursor of modern corporations. The companies received charters from the crown to establish colonies, and the first permanent English settlement was established by the Virginia Company. Named for Elizabeth, the “virgin queen,” the company sent two expeditions to the New World. The northern colony, established on the Kennebec River, quickly failed. But in early 1607, 144 settlers arrived in Chesapeake Bay. Finding a river they called the James in honor of their new king, James I, they established a ramshackle settlement in a marshy region shunned by local Indians and named it Jamestown. Despite serious struggles, the colony survived.
What was the Dutch colony in the 16th century?
Established in 1581, the Dutch Republic, or Holland, quickly made itself a powerful force in the race for Atlantic colonies and wealth. The Dutch relied on powerful corporations: the Dutch East India Company, chartered in 1602 to trade in Asia, and the Dutch West India Company, established in 1621 to colonize and trade in the Americas. Sailing for the Dutch East India Company in 1609, the English sea captain Henry Hudson explored New York Harbor and the river that now bears his name. Like many explorers of the time, Hudson was actually seeking a northwest passage to Asia and its wealth (Europeans remained unaware of the width of North America until the nineteenth century), but the ample furs harvested from the region he explored, especially beaver pelts, provided a reason to claim it for the Netherlands. The Dutch named their colony New Netherlands, and it served as a fur-trading outpost for the expanding Dutch West India Company. With headquarters in New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan, the Dutch set up several regional trading posts, including one at present-day Albany. A brisk trade in furs with local Algonquian and Iroquois peoples brought the Dutch and native peoples together in a commercial network that extended throughout the Hudson River Valley and beyond.
What was the golden age of Spain?
In Spain, gold and silver from the Americas helped to fuel a golden age, the Siglo de Oro , when Spanish art and literature flourished. Riches poured in from the colonies, especially from the silver mines at Potosí in the Andes and Zacatecas in Mexico. New ideas poured in from other countries and new lands.
Overview
During the Age of Exploration, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland circa 1000 CE, the later and more well-known wave by the European powers is what formally constitutes as beginning of colonization, involving both the continents of North Am…
Overview of Western European powers
Norse explorers are the first known Europeans to set foot on what is now North America. Norse journeys to Greenland and Canada are supported by historical and archaeological evidence. The Norsemen established a colony in Greenland in the late 10th century, and lasted until the mid 15th century, with court and parliament assemblies (þing) taking place at Brattahlíð and a bishop located at Garðar. The remains of a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada…
Christianization
Beginning with the first wave of European colonization, the religious discrimination, persecution, and violence toward the Indigenous peoples' native religions was systematically perpetrated by the European Christian colonists and settlers from the 15th-16th centuries onwards.
During the Age of Discovery and the following centuries, the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires were the most active in attempting to convert the Indigenous peoples of the Americas to …
Religion and immigration
Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World, as settlers in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Portugal and Spain, and later, France in New France. No other religion was tolerated and there was a concerted effort to convert indigenous peoples and black slaves to Catholicism. The Catholic Church established three offices of the Spanish Inquisition, in Mexico City; Lima, Peru; and Cartagena de Indias in Colombia to maintain religious orthodoxy …
Disease and indigenous population loss
The European lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, dogs and various domesticated fowl, from which many diseases originally stemmed. In contrast to the indigenous people, the Europeans had developed a richer endowment of antibodies. The large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced Eurasian germs to the indigenous people of the Americas.
Slavery
Indigenous population loss following European contact directly led to Spanish explorations beyond the Caribbean islands they initially claimed and settled in the 1490s, since they required a labor force to both produce food and to mine gold. Slavery was not unknown in Indigenous societies. With the arrival of European colonists, enslavement of Indigenous peoples "became commodified, expanded in unexpected ways, and came to resemble the kinds of human trafficking that are rec…
Colonization and race
Throughout the South American hemisphere, there were three large regional sources of populations: Native Americans, arriving Europeans, and forcibly transported Africans. The mixture of these cultures impacted the ethnic makeup that predominates in the hemisphere's largely independent states today. The term to describe someone of mixed European and indigenous ancestry is mestizo while the term to describe someone of mixed European and African ancestry is
Impact of colonial land ownership on long-term development
Eventually, most of the Western Hemisphere came under the control of Western European governments, leading to changes to its landscape, population, and plant and animal life. In the 19th century over 50 million people left Western Europe for the Americas. The post-1492 era is known as the period of the Columbian exchange, a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), ideas, and communicable disease between …
Overview
The settlement of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum (26,000 to 19,000 years ago). These populations expanded south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and spread rapidly southward, occupying both North and South America, by 12,000 to 14,0…
The environment during the latest glaciation
During the Wisconsin glaciation, the Earth's ocean water was, to varying degrees over time, stored in glacier ice. As water accumulated in glaciers, the volume of water in the oceans correspondingly decreased, resulting in lowering of global sea level. The variation of sea level over time has been reconstructed using oxygen isotope analysis of deep sea cores, the dating of marine terraces…
Chronology, reasons for, and sources of migration
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas have ascertained archaeological presence in the Americas dating back to about 15,000 years ago. More recent research, however, suggests a human presence dating to between 18,000 and 26,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum. There remain uncertainties regarding the precise dating of individual sites and regarding conclusions draw…
Migration routes
Historically, theories about migration into the Americas have revolved around migration from Beringia through the interior of North America. The discovery of artifacts in association with Pleistocene faunal remains near Clovis, New Mexico, in the early 1930s required extension of the timeframe for the settlement of North America to the period during which glaciers were still extensive. That le…
See also
• Early human migrations
• Genetic history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• List of first human settlements
• Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Bibliography
• Bradley, Bruce & Stanford, Dennis J. (2004). "The North Atlantic ice-edge corridor: a possible Palaeolithic route to the New World". World Archaeology. 36 (4): 459–478. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.694.6801. doi:10.1080/0043824042000303656. S2CID 161534521.
• Bradley, Bruce & Stanford, Dennis J. (2006). "The Solutrean-Clovis connection: reply to Straus, Meltzer and Goebel". World Archaeology. 38 (4): 704–714. doi:10.1080/00438240601022001. JSTOR 40024066.
External links
• The Paleoindian Database – The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology.
• "The first Americans: How and when were the Americas populated?", Earth, January 2016
• Norbert Francis, “Language in the Americas: Out of Beringia,” Language and Migration 2021.