In the early years of the 17th century began the great migration of Europeans to North America. A weak brook of several hundred English colonists in a little over three centuries turned into a full-flowing stream of millions of immigrants. Due to various circumstances, they left to create a new civilization on a sparsely populated continent.

The first immigrants from England, who settled in what is now the United States, crossed Atlantic Ocean much later than the formation of prosperous Spanish colonies in Mexico, the West Indies and South America. Like everyone who moved then to the New World, they arrived in small, overcrowded ships. The journey took 6 to 12 weeks, food was scarce, and many settlers died of disease. Storms and storms often hit ships, people died at sea.

Most European immigrants left their homeland for greater economic opportunities, often coupled with a desire for religious freedom or a determination to escape political pressure. In 1620-1635. economic turmoil swept the whole of England. Many people lost their jobs, even skilled artisans barely made ends meet. These troubles were exacerbated by crop failures. In addition, the cloth industry that was developing in England required an increase in the supply of wool, and so that the looms would not stop, the sheep began to graze on communal lands taken from the peasants. The impoverished peasants were forced to seek their fortune overseas.

On the new land, the colonists encountered, first of all, dense forests. Indian tribes lived there, many of which were at enmity with white newcomers. However, the latter could hardly have survived without friendly Indians, from whom they learned to grow local varieties of vegetables - pumpkin, squash, beans and corn. Virgin forests, stretching for almost 2 thousand km along the eastern coast of the North American continent, provided them with an abundance of game and fuel. They also provided material for the construction of houses, ships, the manufacture of household utensils, as well as valuable raw materials for export.

The first permanent English settlement in America was the fort and settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, founded in 1607. The area soon became prosperous thanks to the cultivation of tobacco, which the colonists sold in London. Although the new continent had enormous natural wealth, trade with Europe was vital, since the colonists could not yet produce many goods themselves.

Gradually, the colonies became self-supporting societies with their own outlets to the sea. Each of them has become a separate, independent organism. But, despite this, the problems of trade, navigation, industrial production and finance went beyond the boundaries of individual colonies and required a joint settlement, which subsequently led to the federal structure of the American state.

Settlement of the colonies in the XVII century. required careful planning and management, and was also very costly and risky business. The settlers had to be transported by sea over a distance of almost 5 thousand km, provided with household items, clothing, seeds, tools, building materials, livestock, weapons and ammunition. In contrast to the policy of colonization that was pursued by other states, emigration from England was not in charge of the government, but of private individuals whose main motive was to make a profit.

Two colonies - Virginia and Massachusetts - founded privileged companies: the "Massachusetts Bay Company" and the "London Company of Virginia". Their funds, created by contributors, were used to supply and transport the colonists. Wealthy immigrants who arrived in the New Haven colony (later part of Connecticut) paid their own way, supported their families and servants. New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, North and South Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania originally belonged to the owners of the English nobility (gentry), who populated the land granted to them by the king with tenants and servants.

The first 13 colonies that would become the United States were (from north to south): New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia .

Georgia was founded by a group of people led by James Edward Oglethorpe. They planned to send debtors from English prisons to America to create a border colony that would block the way for the Spaniards in the south of the continent. Meanwhile, the colony of New Netherland, founded in 1621 by the Dutch, in 1664 went to England and was renamed New York.

Many moved to America for political reasons. In the 1630s the despotic rule of Charles I gave impetus to migration to the New World. Then the revolution in England and the victory of the opponents of Charles I, led by Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s. forced many cavaliers - "the king's people" - to try their luck in Virginia. The despotism of the petty German princes, especially in matters of faith, and the numerous wars that took place in their possessions, contributed to the intensification of German immigration to America in the late 17th and 18th centuries.

Men and women, even if not too interested in a new life on American soil, often succumbed to the persuasion of recruiters. William Penn circulated in the press about the opportunities and benefits that awaited those wishing to move to Pennsylvania. Judges and jailers were persuaded to give the prisoners a chance to move to America instead of carrying out the sentence.

Only a few colonists could go overseas with their families at their own expense to start there. new life. Ship captains received a large reward for selling contracts but hiring the poor to work in America. In order to take more passengers on board, they did not disdain anything - from the most unusual promises and promises to kidnapping. In other cases, the costs of transporting and maintaining settlers were borne by colonization agencies such as the London Company of Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay Company. Settlers who signed a contract with the company were obliged to work for it as a laborer or contracted servant (servant) for a certain period - usually from four to seven years. At the end of the term, the servants could receive a small piece of land. Many of those who arrived in the New World on such terms soon found that, while remaining servants or tenants, they did not begin to live better than in their homeland.

Historians have estimated that about half of the colonists who lived south of New England came to America on the basis of a contract. Although the majority honestly fulfilled their obligations, some fled from the owners. Many fugitive servants, however, managed to get land and to acquire a farm - in the colony where they settled, or in neighboring ones. Bonded service was not considered shameful, and the families that began their lives in America from this half-slavish position did not sully their reputation. Even among the leaders of the colonies there were people who were servants in the past.

There was, however, a very important exception to this rule - the African slave trade. The first blacks were brought to Virginia in 1619, seven years after Jamestown was founded. In the beginning, many "black" settlers were considered indentured servants who could "earn" their freedom. However, by the 1960s In the 17th century, as the demand for workers on the plantations increased, slavery began to take hold. Blacks began to be brought from Africa in shackles - already as life-long slaves.

Most of the colonists in the XVII century. were English, but there were a small number of Dutch, Swedes and Germans in the mid-Atlantic colonies. In South Carolina and other colonies, there were French Huguenots, as well as Spaniards, Italians, and Portuguese. After 1680 England ceased to be the main source of immigration. Thousands of people fled from war-torn Europe. Many left their homeland to get rid of the poverty generated by the pressure of the authorities and large landlords who owned estates. By 1690, the American population reached 1/4 million people. Since then, it has doubled every 25 years, until it exceeded 2.5 million people in 1775.

American settlements were grouped into geographical "sections", depending on natural conditions.

New England on northeast(Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine) was an agriculturally secondary area: thin soil, poor vegetation, mountainous, uneven terrain, short summers and long winters. Therefore, its inhabitants solved other problems - they used the power of water and built mills and sawmills. The presence of timber contributed to the development of shipbuilding, convenient bays favored trade, and the sea served as a source of enrichment. In Massachusetts, the cod fishery alone immediately began to bring high profits. The Massachusetts Bay settlement played an important role in the religious development of all of New England. The 25 colonists who founded it had a royal charter and were determined to succeed. During the first 10 years of the existence of the colony, 65 Puritan priests arrived there, and due to the religious convictions of the leaders of the colonists and with their support, the power of the church was strengthened there. Formally, the churchmen did not have secular power, but in fact they led the colony.

In the south, with its warm climate and fertile soil, a largely agrarian society developed. V mid-Atlantic colonies Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York - nature was more diverse: forests, valleys suitable for Agriculture, bays where such large port cities as Philadelphia and New York grew up.

Society in the mid-Atlantic colonies was much more diverse and religiously tolerant than in New England. Pennsylvania and Delaware owe their success to the Quakers, who set out to attract settlers of many faiths and nationalities. Quakers dominated Philadelphia, and there were other sects in other parts of the colony. Immigrants from Germany proved to be the most skilled farmers, they also knew weaving, shoemaking, carpentry and other crafts. Through Pennsylvania, the bulk of Scottish and Irish immigrants arrived in the New World. Equally mixed was the population of the colonies of New York, which perfectly demonstrates the multilingualism of America. By 1646 along the river. The Hudson was settled by the Dutch, French, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, British, Scots, Irish, Germans, Poles, immigrants from Bohemia, Portugal, Italy. But these are only the forerunners of millions of future immigrants.

Eastern states- Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, Georgia - differed greatly from New England and the mid-Atlantic colonies in their predominantly rural character. The first surviving English settlement in the New World was Jamestown, Virginia.

A distinctive feature of the first stages of colonial history was the absence of strict control from the British authorities. While the colonies were being formed, they were actually left to their own devices. The British government was not directly involved in their founding (with the exception of Georgia), and the political leadership of the colonies, it began gradually and not immediately.

Since 1651, the British government has from time to time passed regulations regulating certain aspects of the economic life of the colonies, which in most cases benefited only England, but the colonists simply ignored the laws that harmed them. Sometimes the British administration tried to force their implementation, but these attempts quickly failed.

The relative political independence of the colonies was largely due to their remoteness from England. They became more and more "American" rather than "English". This trend was reinforced by the mixing of different national groups and cultures - a process that has been going on all the time in America.

Start European colonization North America

Remark 1

At the end of the 15th century, Europeans discovered North America. The Spaniards were the first to reach the shores of America.

For half a century they dominated the Pacific coast of the continent. They were able to explore the California Peninsula and numerous areas of the coastline. The Atlantic coast of North America was mastered by the British, French and Portuguese.

In 1497-1498, an Italian from England, Giovanni Caboto, led two expeditions. He discovered the island of Newfoundland and explored the areas along north coast. By the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese discovered Labrador, the Spaniards mastered the coast of Florida. The French moved inland, reaching the Gulf and the St. Lawrence River.

At this time, England was a leader in the development of the economy and the development of maritime space. She was the first to not only export the natural resources of open lands to the metropolis. She chose to colonize coastal areas.

Spain became the main rival of England in the colonization of new lands. The Spaniards gained a foothold in Florida, having mastered the shores of two oceans, and advanced from western Mexico to the Appalachians and the Grand Canyon. By the end of the 16th century, Spain founded New Spain, captured Texas and California. These territories were not as profitable as the lands in Central and South America, so Spain soon turned its attention to the latter.

Britain's dangerous competitor North America remained France. The French founded a settlement in Quebec in 1608 and began to explore Canada (New France). In 1682, they established colonies in Louisiana, developing the Mississippi River basin.

The Dutch did not seek to gain a foothold on the American continent. Having gained access to the vast wealth of India, they created the East India Company in 1602. Following the trends of the times, the Dutch founded the West India Company. This company founded New Amsterdam, settlements in Brazil and captured part of the islands. These territories served as a base for the development of new lands.

British colonization of North America

In the 17th century, the process of British colonization of North America accelerated:

• in 1620 the English Puritans laid out New Plymouth;
• in 1622 New Hampshire was founded;
• Massachusetts built in 1628;
• Maryland and Connecticut were laid out in 1634;
• in 1634, the settlement of Rhode Island appeared;
• North and South Carolina, New Jersey founded in 1664.

In the same year, 1664, the British pushed the Dutch out of the Hudson River basin. The city of New Amsterdam and the Portuguese colony of New Holland received a new name - New York. Dutch attempts in 1673-1674 to recapture the territories occupied by the British were unsuccessful.

Remark 2

Almost 170 years from the founding of the first English settlements to the achievement of independence came to be called the US colonial period.

The British, having reached the North American coast, met here only hunting tribes. Their level of development did not match the level and wealth of the Incas and Aztecs, whom the Spaniards met in America. The British did not find gold and silver here, but they realized that main value new lands are their land resources. British Queen Elizabeth I approved in 1583 the colonization of American territories. Everything again open lands were declared by the British to be the property of the English crown.

The British used another way to secure the new lands. They used the first settlements of sailors and pirates as transshipment bases or temporary shelters. In 1584, by order of the Queen, Walter Reilly led a caravan of ships with settlers. Quite quickly, the east coast of northern Florida became British property. The new lands were named Virginia. From Virginia, the British moved to the foothills of the Appalachians. The English colonists settled in the New World independently of each other, trying to have their own access to the sea.

In the 18th century, European powers weakened their influence in North America. The Spaniards lost Florida, the French lost Canada and Quebec to England.

New history of the countries of Europe and America of the XVI-XIX centuries. Part 3: textbook for universities Team of authors

European colonization of North America

The discovery of North American lands, which resulted in their development by Europeans, occurred at the end of the 15th century. The Spaniards were the first to arrive in America. Until the middle of the XVI century. they led the way in reconnaissance of new territories on the Pacific coast of North America, surveying the California peninsula and large sections of the coastline. In addition to the Spaniards, the main discoveries on the Atlantic coast of North America were made by the British, the Portuguese and the French. In 1497–1498 The Italian Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) who settled in England led two expeditions organized by King Henry VII, during which the island of Newfoundland was discovered and the territory along the northern coast was explored. A couple of years later, the Portuguese discovered Labrador, and the Spaniards explored the coast of Florida. Two decades later, the French managed to penetrate from the coast of Newfoundland deep into the mainland, opening the bay and the river of St. Lawrence.

Over the next centuries, the superiority of England was clear, which, unlike other countries, sought not only to develop natural resources and export them to the metropolis, but also to colonize coastal areas of the territory. At first, Spain stood out among the rival countries of England, firmly entrenched along the shores of two oceans in Florida and Western Mexico and from there advancing towards the Appalachians and the Grand Canyon. Having begun colonization as early as 1566, she founded New Spain, also occupied Texas and California, but subsequently turned her attention to her more profitable colonial territories in Central and South America.

This led to the fact that France became the most dangerous rival for the British in North America. To the west of the St. Lawrence River valley, in 1608 she founded the first settlement in Quebec, began to explore New France (modern Canada) and, from 1682, Louisiana in the basin of the river. Mississippi.

The Dutch, who earlier than other Europeans gained access to the untold riches of India and created the East India Company in 1602 to control the colonial trade, did not have an urgent need to create numerous colonies even in America. However, the Dutch West India Company nevertheless built the New Amsterdam trading post in the middle part of the Atlantic coast, captured small islands in the West Indies, and also created the first settlements in Brazil, from where the development of this vast territory began.

British colonization of North America since the 17th century. accelerated significantly. For 170 years from the moment of the creation of the first British settlements and until the beginning of the era of their independence, the so-called "colonial period" of US history continued. The semi-nomadic North American hunting tribes that the first colonists encountered did not have some of the wealth that the Spaniards discovered from the Incas and Aztecs. When it became clear that there was no gold and silver in the explored territories, but land resources could be of independent value, Queen Elizabeth I Tudor in 1583 was the first of the monarchs to agree to the colonization of American territories. The lands discovered by the British were perceived as ownerless and declared the property of the crown.

The early settlements, founded by sailors and pirates who plundered the wealthy sea caravans of Spain, were used as transshipment bases and temporary shelters. Despite the first unsuccessful attempts, in 1584, one of the queen's favorites, Walter Reilly, ships with settlers were specially equipped. Soon the entire east coast north of Florida was declared British property. The territory was named in honor of the "Virgin Queen" - Virginia. From there, the British gradually moved to the west, to the foothills of the Appalachians. However, the first colonists were able to permanently settle on British lands in the New World only under James I Stuart. All colonies were founded by different groups of settlers independently of each other. Each had its own access to the sea.

In 1620 the Puritans founded New Plymouth. New settlements arose on the coast, gradually uniting into colonies. They served as starting bases for moving deep into the continent and strengthening the power of the British monarchs in North America. New Hampshire arose in 1622, Massachusetts in 1628, Maryland in the south and Connecticut in the north in 1634. A couple of years later - Rhode Island, and three decades later - New Jersey, North and South Carolina. Then, in 1664, all the Dutch settlements in the area of ​​the Hudson River were captured by the British. The city of New Amsterdam and the colony of New Holland were renamed New York. During the Anglo-Dutch War of 1673–1674 an attempt to recapture these lands was unsuccessful.

In the next 18th century English navigators (Alexander Mackenzie, George Vancouver) made important discoveries in the northern part of the mainland in search of an outlet to the Arctic Ocean. Seven Years' War(1756-1763) finally weakened the position of England's European competitors in the New World. Spain lost Florida, and the French had to cede Quebec and Canada (Florida was bought from Spain in 1819 by the United States of America).

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Colonization of America by Europeans (1607-1674)

English colonization of North America.
Difficulties of the first settlers.
Reasons for the colonization of America by Europeans. Relocation conditions.
The first Negro slaves.
Mayflower Compact (1620).
Active expansion of European colonization.
Anglo-Dutch Confrontation in America (1648-1674).

Map of the European colonization of North America in the XVI-XVII centuries.

Map of the expeditions of the discoverers of America (1675-1800).

English colonization of North America. The first English settlement in America appeared in 1607 in Virginia and was named Jamestown. The trading post, founded by members of the crews of three English ships under the command of Captain K. Newport, served at the same time as an outpost on the path of the Spanish advance to the north of the continent. The first years of the existence of Jamestown were a time of endless disasters and hardships: diseases, famine and Indian raids took the lives of more than 4 thousand of the first English settlers of America. But already at the end of 1608, the first ship sailed to England, on board of which there was a cargo of wood and iron ore. In just a few years, Jamestown turned into a prosperous village thanks to the extensive plantations of tobacco previously cultivated only by the Indians laid there in 1609, which by 1616 became the main source of income for the inhabitants. Tobacco exports to England, which in 1618 amounted to 20 thousand pounds in monetary terms, increased by 1627 to half a million pounds, creating the necessary economic conditions for population growth. The influx of colonists was greatly facilitated by the allocation of a 50-acre plot of land to any applicant who had the financial means to pay a small rent. Already by 1620 the population of the village was approx. 1000 people, and in all of Virginia there were approx. 2 thousand people. In the 80s. 17th century exports of tobacco from two southern colonies - Virginia and Maryland (1) rose to 20 million pounds.

Difficulties of the first settlers. The virgin forests, which stretched for more than two thousand kilometers along the entire Atlantic coast, abounded with everything necessary for the construction of dwellings and ships, and the rich nature satisfied the needs of the colonists for food. The increasingly frequent calls of European ships into the natural bays of the coast provided them with goods that were not produced in the colonies. The products of their labor were exported to the Old World from the same colonies. But the rapid development of the northeastern lands, and even more so the advance into the interior of the continent, beyond the Appalachian mountains, was hampered by the lack of roads, impenetrable forests and mountains, as well as the dangerous neighborhood with Indian tribes hostile to aliens.

The fragmentation of these tribes and the complete lack of unity in their sorties against the colonists became the main reason for the displacement of the Indians from the lands they occupied and their final defeat. The temporary alliances of some Indian tribes with the French (in the north of the continent) and with the Spaniards (in the south), who were also worried about the pressure and energy of the British, Scandinavians and Germans advancing from the east coast, did not bring the desired results. The first attempts to conclude peace agreements between individual Indian tribes and the English colonists who settled in the New World turned out to be ineffective (2).

Reasons for the colonization of America by Europeans. Relocation conditions. European immigrants were attracted to America by the rich Natural resources distant continent, promising a quick provision of material prosperity, and its remoteness from the European citadels of religious dogmas and political predilections (3). Not supported by governments or official churches of any country, the exodus of Europeans to the New World was financed by private companies and individuals, driven primarily by an interest in generating income from the transportation of people and goods. Already in 1606, the London and Plymouth companies were formed in England, which actively engaged in the development of the northeast coast of America, including the delivery of English colonists to the continent. Numerous immigrants traveled to the New World with families and even entire communities at their own expense. A significant part of the new arrivals were young women, whose appearance was met with sincere enthusiasm by the single male population of the colonies, paying the cost of their "transportation" from Europe at the rate of 120 pounds of tobacco per head.

Huge, hundreds of thousands of hectares, plots of land were allocated by the British crown to the representatives of the English nobility as a gift or for a nominal fee. Interested in the development of their new property, the English aristocracy advanced large sums for the delivery of their recruited compatriots and their arrangement on the lands received. Despite the extreme attractiveness of the conditions existing in the New World for newly arriving colonists, during these years there was a clear lack of human resources, primarily for the reason that only a third of the ships and people embarking on a dangerous journey - two a third died on the way. Was not hospitable and new earth, which met the colonists with unusual frosts for Europeans, harsh natural conditions and, as a rule, the hostile attitude of the Indian population.

The first Negro slaves. At the end of August 1619, a Dutch ship arrived in Virginia, bringing the first black Africans to America, twenty of whom were immediately bought by the colonists as servants. Negroes began to turn into lifelong slaves, and in the 60s. 17th century slave status in Virginia and Maryland became hereditary. The slave trade became a regular feature of commercial transactions between East Africa and the American colonies. African chieftains readily traded their men for textiles, household items, gunpowder, and weapons imported from New England (4) and the American South.

Mayflower Compact (1620). In December 1620, an event took place that went down in American history as the beginning of the purposeful colonization of the continent by the British - the Mayflower ship arrived on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts with 102 Calvinist Puritans, who were rejected by the traditional Anglican Church and did not later find sympathy in Holland. These people, who called themselves Pilgrims (5), considered the only way to preserve their religion to move to America. While still aboard a ship crossing the ocean, they entered into an agreement between themselves, called the Mayflower Compact. It reflected in the most general form the ideas of the first American colonists about democracy, self-government and civil liberties. These notions were developed later in similar agreements reached by the colonists of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and in later documents of American history, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. Having lost half the members of their community, but surviving in a land they had not yet explored in the harsh conditions of the first American winter and the crop failure that followed, the colonists set an example for their compatriots and other Europeans, who arrived in the New World already prepared for the hardships that awaited them.

Active expansion of European colonization. After 1630, at least a dozen small towns arose in Plymouth Colony, the first New England colony that later became the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in which the newly arrived English Puritans settled. Immigration wave 1630-1643 Delivered to New England approx. 20 thousand people, at least 45 thousand more, chose the colonies of the American South or the islands of Central America for their residence.

Over the course of 75 years after the appearance in 1607 on the territory of the modern United States of the first English colony of Virginia, 12 more colonies arose - New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Northern Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The credit for founding them did not always belong to subjects of the British crown. In 1624, on the island of Manhattan in Hudson Bay [named after the English captain G. Hudson (Hudson), who discovered it in 1609, was in the Dutch service], Dutch fur traders founded a province called New Netherland, with the main city of New Amsterdam. The land on which this city developed was bought in 1626 by a Dutch colonist from the Indians for $24. The Dutch never managed to achieve any significant socio-economic development of their only colony in the New World.

Anglo-Dutch Confrontation in America (1648-1674). After 1648 and up to 1674, England and Holland fought three times, and during these 25 years, in addition to hostilities, there was a continuous and fierce economic struggle between them. In 1664, New Amsterdam was captured by the British under the command of the king's brother Duke of York, who renamed the city New York. During the Anglo-Dutch War of 1673-1674. The Netherlands managed to restore their power in this territory for a short time, but after the defeat of the Dutch in the war, the British again took possession of it. From then until the end of the American Revolution in 1783 from r. Kennebec to Florida, from New England to the Lower South, the Union Jack flew over the entire northeast coast of the continent.

(1) The new British colony was named by King Charles I in honor of his wife Henrietta Maria (Mary), sister of Louis XIII of France.

(2) The first of these treaties was concluded only in 1621 between the Pilgrims of Plymouth and the Wampanoag Indian tribe.

(3) Unlike most Englishmen, Irishmen, Frenchmen, and even Germans, who were forced to move to the New World primarily by political and religious oppression in their homeland, Scandinavian settlers were attracted to North America primarily by its unlimited economic opportunities.

(4) This region of the northeastern part of the continent was first mapped in 1614 by Captain J. Smith, who gave it the name "New England."

(5) From Italian. peltegrino- literal, foreigner. Wandering pilgrim, pilgrim, wanderer.

Sources.
Ivanyan E.A. History of the USA. M., 2006.

The mainland of North America was deserted at the moment when the Lower and Middle were replaced in the eastern hemisphere, and the Eurasian Neanderthal gradually turned into homo sapiens, trying to live in a tribal system.

The American land saw a man only at the very end of the Ice Age, 15 - 30 thousand years ago (From the latest research:).

Man came to the territory of America from Asia through a narrow isthmus that once existed on the site of the modern Bering Strait. It was from this that the history of the development of America began. The first people went south, sometimes interrupting their movement. When Wisconsin glaciation was coming to an end, and the earth was divided by the waters of the ocean into the Western and Eastern hemispheres (11 thousand years BC), the development of people began who became aborigines. They were called the Indians, the native inhabitants of America.

He called the aborigines Indians Christopher Columbus. He was sure that he was standing off the coast of India, and therefore it was an appropriate name for the natives. It took root, but the mainland began to be called America in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, after Columbus' error became apparent.

The first people from Asia were hunters and gatherers. Having settled down on the land, they began to engage in agriculture. At the beginning of our era, the territories of Central America, Mexico, and Peru were mastered. These were the Mayan, Inca (read about), Aztec tribes.

The European conquerors could not come to terms with the idea that some savages created early class social relations, built entire civilizations.

The first attempts at colonization were made by the Vikings in 1000 AD. According to the sagas, Leif, the son of Eric the Red, landed his detachment near Newfoundland. He discovered the country, calling it Vinland, the country of grapes. But the settlement did not last long, disappearing without a trace.

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When Columbus discovered America, the most diverse Indian tribes already existed on it, standing at different stages of social development.

In 1585 Walter Raleigh, favorite of Elizabeth I, founded the first English colony on the island in North America Roanoke. He called her Virginia, in honor of the virgin queen (virgin).

The settlers did not want to do hard work and develop new lands. They were more interested in gold. Everyone suffered from a gold rush and went even to the ends of the earth in search of an attractive metal.

The lack of provisions, the brutal treatment of the Indians by the British and, as a result, the confrontation, all this put the colony in jeopardy. England could not come to the rescue, as at that moment it was at war with Spain.

A rescue expedition was organized only in 1590, but the settlers were no longer there. Famine and confrontation with the Indians depleted Virginia.

The colonization of America was in question, as England was going through hard times (economic difficulties, war with Spain, constant religious strife). After the death of Elizabeth I (1603) on the throne was James I Stuart who didn't care about the Roanoke Island colony. He made peace with Spain, thereby recognizing the enemy's rights to the New World. It was the time of the "lost colony", as Virginia is called in English historiography.

This state of affairs did not suit the Elizabethan veterans who participated in the wars with Spain. They aspired to the New World out of a thirst for enrichment and a desire to wipe the nose of the Spaniards. Under their pressure, James I gave his permission to resume the colonization of Virginia.

To make the plan come true, the veterans created joint-stock companies, where they invested their funds and joint efforts. The issue of settling the New World was resolved at the expense of the so-called "rebels" and "loafers". That is how they called people who found themselves homeless or without means of subsistence in the course of the development of bourgeois relations.