The history of the US till 17th century
The history of the US till 17th century can be divided into two parts:
1.) Americans life before Europeans explorers;
2.) and life in America after its discovering.
1. The first Americans who lived in the America were called Amerindians. We can call them also as “native Americans”. They lived in many different groups and spoke over three hundred different languages. Some of Amerindian tribes were cruel. They often fought with other Amerindian tribes because it was the way how they lived and survived. Other ones were hunters, so they hunted buffalos. Many Amerindian tribes ate fish, nuts and other eatable food from wood. To many people the tepee is a symbol of the Amerindian way of life. A tepee was a cone – shaped tent decorated with painted designs that had religious or historical meanings.
2. There are different legends about adventurous seamen having reached the America or, as it was called before, “the New World”. The popular one is about Columbus who explored America in 1492. Tough another one story tells us that they were Vikings who reached the America for the first time. And we have to recognize that it is possible because there are evidences for it: in 1960s the archaeologists uncovered traces of Viking settlements in both Newfoundland and New England.
3. One another popular question is why America is cold America? The America was named after Amerigo Vespucci (Italian sailor from the city of Florence). During the late 1490s he wrote some letters in which he described two voyages of exploration that he had made along the coasts of South America. He was sure, he wrote, that these coasts were part of a new continent. Some years later the letters written by Amerigo convinced German scholar that Vespucci was correct, so he named America after Vespucci’s first name using the feminine as the other continents had female names.
4. After Columbus explored America many Europeans had left their countries and went to America looking for better life. Because they had heard that Amerindians were very rich, they had a lot of gold and other precious metals. Others hoped to find safety from religious or political persecution. Unfortunately many of them were died before they reached the America.
5. Few words about Virginia. The first arrivals who reached Virginia in 1607 were English men from England. Actually there was a company in England named Virginia Company. It was formed by a group of rich London investors. And they wanted to receive the good from New World or America. By this reason they sent the colonists to Virginia. Actually many people didn’t want to go there because it was hard to survive there. Malaria, swellings, fluxes, burning fevers, wars – these were the reasons why English people were died there. On the other hand, these pure people didn’t have a choice because the choice was of being hanged or sent to Virginia. So many chose the last one.
The greatest good from Virginia was tobacco which had a very high quality. Many peoples from England were sent to Virginia to work on plantations where tobacco was growing. They signed the agreement that they would work on plantations for seven years and than could be free, receive their own piece of land. Unfortunately after seven years there were not many people who survived.
6. Puritan New England. There were some people who went to America for religious reasons. This was happened because many people disagreed with Catholic Church and its ideas. They wanted the Church of England to become more simple or pure. That’s why they often are called Puritans. So as they felt that nothing would change in England they left their homes.
The most popular Pilgrim’s journey was on Mayflower. This ship was an old trading vessel. On November 9, 1620, it reached America (Cape Cod, now – state of Massachusetts). Many pilgrims were died during that journey because they were sick, did not have enough food and water.
7. Thanksgiving. Every year on the fourth Thursday in November Americans celebrate a holiday called Thanks – giving. The first people to celebrate this day were Pilgrims. They did it because they gave thanks to God for enabling them to survive the hardships of their first year in America.
Pilgrims celebrated this day with local Amerindians. Local tribes which had leaved nearby shared corn with the Pilgrims and showed them the best places to catch fish. Later they had shown them how to plant crops that would grow well in the American soil. Without them there would have been no Thanksgiving.