MAP OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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America's initial Stone Age inhabitants arrived here by traversing the Bering Strait. During the following centuries, a wide variety of Indian cultures developed and prospered across the land.
After Columbus made his initial voyage to this New World, word of its potential riches spread across Europe, and explorers and settlers by the thousands soon stepped ashore along the Atlantic Ocean coastline.
In 1620, the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower, landing in what is modern-day Massachusetts; their settlement named Plymouth survived, and the story of a new nation was subsequently born.
One century later Britain's upstart colonies broke from England and declared their new-found independence during the Revolutionary War.
The new country of America expanded rapidly, well beyond the reach of the original 13 colonies, and inevitable conflicts and wars over lands rightfully claimed by Native Americans was the result. Indigenous Indians (Native Americans) were stripped of most of their lands and moved to reservations; the central plains were purchased from Napoleon (France); Florida was grabbed from Spain, and the entire southwest (including California) was annexed after a successful war with Mexico. The growing influence and size of the United States of America began to take shape.
A few more important facts regarding Native Americans, who were first conquered and displaced by overwhelming military power: as English expansion westward continued, it justifiably experienced wide-spread Amerindian resistance to their new settlements. In the end, many historical experts believe that among the various contributing factors to the ultimate demise of early Native Americans, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of their population decline because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from Europe.
Soon railroads - the driving engines of coast-to-coast commerce - were up and running; the economy exploded and towns sprang up across the land. In the southern states slavery was an on-going, serious problem, and this new and fast-growing nation was soon ravaged by a bloody Civil War between north and south; the north (northern states) eventually won, and slavery was abolished.
The end of the Civil War spurred the reintegrating and rebuilding of the Southern states and the greater settlement and development of the American Old West. This was due to a variety of social and technological developments, including the completion of the First Transcontinental Telegraph in 1861 and the First Transcontinental Railroad soon after.
After Columbus made his initial voyage to this New World, word of its potential riches spread across Europe, and explorers and settlers by the thousands soon stepped ashore along the Atlantic Ocean coastline.
In 1620, the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower, landing in what is modern-day Massachusetts; their settlement named Plymouth survived, and the story of a new nation was subsequently born.
One century later Britain's upstart colonies broke from England and declared their new-found independence during the Revolutionary War.
The new country of America expanded rapidly, well beyond the reach of the original 13 colonies, and inevitable conflicts and wars over lands rightfully claimed by Native Americans was the result. Indigenous Indians (Native Americans) were stripped of most of their lands and moved to reservations; the central plains were purchased from Napoleon (France); Florida was grabbed from Spain, and the entire southwest (including California) was annexed after a successful war with Mexico. The growing influence and size of the United States of America began to take shape.
A few more important facts regarding Native Americans, who were first conquered and displaced by overwhelming military power: as English expansion westward continued, it justifiably experienced wide-spread Amerindian resistance to their new settlements. In the end, many historical experts believe that among the various contributing factors to the ultimate demise of early Native Americans, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of their population decline because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from Europe.
Soon railroads - the driving engines of coast-to-coast commerce - were up and running; the economy exploded and towns sprang up across the land. In the southern states slavery was an on-going, serious problem, and this new and fast-growing nation was soon ravaged by a bloody Civil War between north and south; the north (northern states) eventually won, and slavery was abolished.
The end of the Civil War spurred the reintegrating and rebuilding of the Southern states and the greater settlement and development of the American Old West. This was due to a variety of social and technological developments, including the completion of the First Transcontinental Telegraph in 1861 and the First Transcontinental Railroad soon after.