2015-08-21
1149
American Studies (Part I Minerals, Part II весь)
Describe how the New World was settled paying attention to the story of the Native Americans - unique, tragic and inspiring. How do they fare today? Their contribution to the country and American English.
Examine the beginning of the colonization of North America by the first settlers from Europe. What considerations influenced many people to move to America? Who were the Pilgrim Fathers? Whv are thev held so high bv the Americans? The Mayflower Compact.
The United States of America was originally peopled by Indians and was opened to European colonization by the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the later discoveries of John Cabot in 1497 — 1498 and Jacques Cartier in 1534 — 1541. The Indians had probably arrived 10,000 to 30,000 years before, coming from Asia to North America by way of the Bering Strait. By the time the white man appeared, the Indians had
spread and occupied all parts of the new world. Estimates of the number of Native Americans living in what is now the United States at the beginning of European colonization range from two to eighteen million, with most scholars agreeing on the lower figure. Indian culture was very diverse and had a great impact on the newcomers. The first Europeans to arrive in North America were the Norse or Vikings traveling west from Greenland where they had founded a settlement in the year 985.
In 1001 Leif Ericson established a Norse settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland in present day Canada. However, they failed to make it a permanent settlement
and soon it was lost and forgotten.
Christopher Columbus hoped to reach Asia sailing west in 1492. Instead he landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus never stepped on the mainland
United States, but his explorations aroused tremendous interest among the Europeans. The American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a noble man from Florence who helped to organize Columbus's second voyage in 1493.
After Columbus, there were many expeditions organized by the Spanish, the English, the French and the Dutch. In 1497 a navigator named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the English king which later gave Britain claims to North America. It also opened the way to
the rich fishing grounds around Newfoundland.
In 1534 the Frenchman Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River and claimed the surrounding territory for France. However, it took some time before permanent settlements were established in North America.
The planting of a new nation in America was no holiday undertaking. It meant grim, dirty, toilsome, dangerous work. In many respects it was a forbidding land. It could be reached only by a voyage so perilous that some ships buried as many people as they
landed. But despite all its drawbacks, it was well fitted to become the home of energetic, thriving people.
The first permanent white settlement in North America was founded at St. Augustine in Florida by the Spaniards i n 1565. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh established the first British colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina, but it didn't survive. In 1607 the English would try again, and this time the colony succeeded at Jamestown in Virginia, named after the English king James I. Thus a new era was opened in the colonization of North America.
Most European emigrants — and in the early stages the people from the British Isles prevailed — left their homelands to escape political and religious oppression, as well as economic difficulties and poverty. The colonists might not have survived had it not been for the help of friendly Indians, who taught them how to grow native crops — corn, beans,potatoes, squash, tobacco. Agriculture was slowly developed; in 1612 John Rolfe began to grow tobacco, and as it brought high prices in the London market, everyone took it up. Yet growth was slow.
By 1619 Virginia had no more than two thousand people. That year was notable for three events. One was the arrival of a ship from England with 90 "young maidens" who were to be given as wives to those settlers who would pay 120 pounds of tobacco for their transportation. This tradition was continued. Equally important was the initiation of a representative
government in America.
