History
EARLY BEGINNINGS
The first humans to inhabit the land that was to become the United States were the ancestors of today's Native Americans. Most theories suggest that they migrated across a landbridge between Asia and America more than 10,000 years ago, when sea levels were much lower. Once in the Americas, they gradually spread south, forming many different tribes. European colonization of this land began with the voyage of the Italian-born, Spanish navigator, Christopher Columbus, who landed in the Caribbean in 1492. By the 17th century, people from Spain, France, England and the Netherlands had colonized large areas of this ‘New World`.
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
By 1763, Britain controlled Canada and all of North America east of the Mississippi River. However, many of the people living in Britain s American colonies had begun to question their treatment by the British government. The colonists were expected to feed and house British troops in the colonies, which was a heavy drain on their incomes. Britain levied heavy taxes on the colonists, including taxes on many goods tha needed to be imported such as sugar, coffee tea and wine. Many colonists resented paying these taxes, particularly as they had no representation in the British Parliament in return. The War of Independence began in 1775 when many colonists decided to break tree from British rule. During this war, the Declaration of Independence was drawn up and signed by representatives o f the 13 British colonies on 4 July 1776, now regarded as the founding date o f the United States of America. The British sent troops to prevent the colonies enacting this declaration, but the British eventually lost the war, surrendering in Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.
Thanksgiving, held every year in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November, has its origins in the festival to give thanks for the safe gathering of the harvest by early English setders in North America.
