I. Christopher Columbus

    Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italia, in 1451. Christopher Columbus was not the first European that reached the American continent. Actually, Vikings landed on north America in the 10th century, but they did not develop any form of settlement. But Columbus's voyages mark the start of continuous European efforts to explore and colonize the Americas.

    In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Europeans wanted to find sea routes to the East. Christopher Columbus knew that the world was round and realised that by sailing west, instead of east around the coast of Africa, as other explorers at the time were doing, he would still reach the East.

    On Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Spain with three small ships. On Oct. 12 he landed on a small island: Watling Island (Bahamas). On Oct. 27 he discovered Cuba and on Dec. 5 reached Hispaniola (Haïti). All in all, he made four expeditions.

    On May 20, 1506, Columbus died in Spain, still convinced that his discoveries were along the East Coast of Asia.

II. The first settlers

The first European settlers were Spanish: they settled in what is known as Florida in the first half of the 16th century. The French settled in Louisiana. Both the French and the Spanish imposed Catholic faith in their colonies.

On the contrary, in the English colonies there was more religious freedom. The first lasting settlements started in the early 17th century: this marks the beginning of "colonial America". At that time some Europeans left Europe for political, social or religious reasons.

From 1607 to 1732, the English crown chartered 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard.

III. The British colonies in America

The Thirteen Original States were the following:

* Jamestown, in Virginia (1607) granted to the Virginia Company (a commercial company), the aim was to exploit minerals. It was made a royal colony in 1624

* Massachusetts (1620): They were founded as two colonies: Plymouth Colony (1620), settled by the Pilgrims; and Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630), settled by the Puritans. They were united in 1691.

* Maryland (1633): It was founded for Catholic refugees who fled England.

* Rhode Island (1636)

* Connecticut (1636)

* Delaware (1638): Granted to William Penn in 1682.

* New Hampshire (1638)

* North Carolina (1653)

* South Carolina (1663)

* New Jersey (1664): originally settled by the Dutch (1618).

* New York (1667): originally New Amsterdam (1624), it was won from the Dutch, who bought the island from the local Indians for 24$.

* Pennsylvania (1682)

* Georgia (1732): granted to a private company by George II.

These thirteen colonies made up a unit in the 18th century. In 1760 there were 1,600,000 people living in the British colonies.

The relationship with the Indians went through various phases:

_ until 1670 it was quite peaceful

_ from 1670 to 1730, there were more and more settlers and the Indians were pushed away from the coast, so wars were more frequent.

_ from 1730 on, some agreements were made.