Archaeologist: A person who studies ancient cultures.
Peninsula: A piece of land almost surrounded by water.
Many historians believe that the Native Americans came to this land from Asia and settled in different parts of North and South America. Archaeologists tell us that these people were building mounds in the central part of our country during the time Christ was walking the dusty streets of Jerusalem.
Geography played an important role in the lives of these people. Those who lived in the dense forests made houses of wood and hunted or fished for their food. Those who lived on fertile soil grew their own food. Others who lived on the prairie or in the desert made their houses of grass or carved their homes in the cliff side. Many tribes of Native Americans lived in North America. Their cultures and languages were all different. Inter-tribal trade and warfare were common interactions.
Explorers. Historians believe the earliest European explorers of the North American continent were the Vikings of Norway. They sailed in long ships to Iceland, then to Greenland, and finally to Newfoundland, off the coast of eastern Canada, where they established a settlement about the year 1000.
The Spanish explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus, landed on a small island southeast of Florida in 1492. The king and queen of Spain had financed the journey, so Columbus claimed the land for Spain. Columbus made four unsuccessful trips to the New World searching for a route to the Indies and their treasures.
Ponce de Leon, one of the explorers that followed Columbus to the New World, sailed from the island of Hispaniola (present-day Santo Domingo) and landed on the Florida peninsula in 1513. He was looking for gold in the New World, as were most of the explorers. Leon explored the coast and named the land.
An English explorer, John Cabot, was determined that his nation should share in any riches that the New World had to offer. He believed that Columbus had found a route to the Spice Islands and that he would be able to locate a shorter route. He persuaded England to help him cross the Atlantic. Cabot claimed Newfoundland, which he named, and the eastern seacoast for England. He sailed down the coast to the present-day Carolinas.
The French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed across the Atlantic to the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the western tip of Newfoundland, and far up the St. Lawrence River in 1534-35.
In 1608, Samuel de Champlain started a French colony on the banks of the St. Lawrence River at Quebec. He then sailed farther inland and discovered the Great Lakes. Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet followed Champlain and discovered the northern Mississippi River. They sailed south on the "mighty river." However, French explorer Robert de La Salle was the one who explored the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed all the land for France in 1682.
An English explorer, Henry Hudson, sailing for Holland, found an opening on the eastern coast of America that he thought might be a route to the Pacific Ocean. He sailed inland past the isle of Manhattan which he claimed for Holland. Soon Hudson discovered that the river would not lead him into the Pacific. The next time Hudson returned to America, he was hired by the English, and he discovered a great bay which he claimed for the English. The Hudson River and Hudson Bay were both named in his honor.
The Hudson River
The early explorers were looking for a route through the Northern American continent to reach the riches of China. The first explorer to finally sail a ship through Canada's icy Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean was the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen. That did not happen until 1906. However, the search for the route was a major impetus behind the exploration of the new world.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto explored inland Florida and traveled northwest until he and his men were stopped by a river the Indians called "Father of Water," the Mississippi. The men crossed the river but soon turned back and sailed south toward the mouth of the Mississippi, claiming this land for Spain.
Coronado, another Spaniard, traveled to Mexico where the Spanish had found tremendous amounts of gold. He left Mexico with a troop of soldiers and African slaves in 1540 to look for more gold. These hardy men traveled over the Southwest region of the country that was later to be called the United States.They left records of their discovery of the Grand Canyon and the land in Arizona and New Mexico.
Captain Vitus Bering of the Russian navy landed on Alaska in 1741. Many Russian explorers followed to chart the lands of Alaska and the northwest coastline.
Settlement. The settlement of the United States varied greatly from state to state. The experiences of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts were different from the experiences of the pioneers that moved into Kansas on the eve of the Civil War and different from those who sailed around Cape Horn or those who rode in wagon trains across the Oregon Trail to reach the far West.The first state was admitted to the Union in 1787; the last states, in 1959. During the 172 years between the admissions of the first state and the last one, forty-eight other states were admitted. The United States expanded from ocean to ocean, adding a northern "giant" and a Pacific "jewel."
State Capital City Year Admitted State Capital City Year Admitted
Alabama Montgomery 1819 Montana Helena 1889
Alaska Juneau 1959 Nebraska Lincoln 1867
Arizona Phoenix 1912 Nevada Carson City 1864
Arkansas Little Rock 1836 New Hampshire Concord 1788
California Sacramento 1850 New Jersey Trenton 1787
Colorado Denver 1876 New Mexico Santa Fe 1912
Connecticut Hartford 1788 New York Albany 1788
Delaware Dover 1787 North Carolina Raleigh 1789
Florida Tallahassee 1845 North Dakota Bismarck 1889
Georgia Atlanta 1788 Ohio Columbus 1803
Hawaii Honolulu 1959 Oklahoma Oklahoma City 1907
Idaho Boise 1890 Oregon Salem 1859
Illinois Springfield 1818 Pennsylvania Harrisburg 1787
Indiana Indianapolis 1816 Rhode Island Providence 1790
Iowa Des Moines 1846 South Carolina Columbia 1788
Kansas Topeka 1861 South Dakota Pierre 1889
Kentucky Frankfort 1792 Tennessee Nashville 1796
Louisiana Baton Rouge 1812 Texas Austin 1845
Maine Augusta 1820 Utah Salt Lake City 1896
Maryland Annapolis 1788 Vermont Montpelier 1791
Massachusetts Boston 1788 Virginia Richmond 1788
Michigan Lansing 1837 Washington Olympia 1889
Minnesota St. Paul 1858 West Virginia Charleston 1863
Mississippi Jackson 1817 Wisconsin Madison 1848
Missouri Jefferson 1821 Wyoming Cheyenne 1890
