American history

American history In the morning of October 12 1492 Christopher Columbus a native of genoa Italy set foot for the first time on the new continent America This place was what Bahamas today Which he named Son Salvador He named Native Americas as Indians because he believed he had arrived in India his intended destination Columbus s discovery was only the first step for Europeans on the land that had already been inhabited by Native Americans for tens of thousands of years But the seeds were sown for the birth of what would become a very powerful nation in the world in less than three centuries The united states of America Learning English Is difficult right Perhaps it is more accurate to use the word America than English Today America is the super power in the world To some extent the center of the world that dominates the political economic cultural and other fields It s amazing that this enomous and powerful nation has been in existence for only over two centuries Let s start our short but important journey into U S history The famous French writer and critic Andre Maurious once said European history is the process by which the citizens took power from it s powerful state but U S history is the stste took power from it s powerful citizens In contrast to Europe where the citizens engaged in endless civil revolutions to establish democracy by recovering sovereignty from their rulers in America the government recovered part of the power held by it s strong willed citizens who had become accustomed to freedom in the new world to which they had immigrated to escape from persecution After doing so the government constructed a powerful nation U S history is characterized by another trait Other nations for example European nations where have long histories of over 1000 tears these nations underwent the full spectrum of historical phases such as the slavery system feudal system and capitalism among others However U S history started with the opening of the capitalistic etc Thus a strong undercurrent of U S history is unbridled human egoism displayed through the capitalistic trait of pursuit of individual gaints and happiness Human egoism has always prompted historical changes everywhere But U S history differs from European history as Europeans at least superficially emphasized culture pride and dignity Why in the world dose Columbus go west We need to understand the situation in Europe around 1492 when Europeans were in search of a new route to India Back then just like nowadays the way to riches was to make big profit form trade and commerce But the biggest problem was in the transport of goods Nowadays of course goods are shipped at lightning speed by planes trains and cargo trucks on expressways Back then however there was virtually no road infrastructure Winding roads were unpaved and it took a lot of time and money to transport goods over mountains and across waters At that time transporting goods over land cost as much as much as 50 times more than transporting by ship Shipping over waterways was much safer than shipping over land Ships also transport large volumes of goods thus enabling the development of main trade Because marine trade yielded such large profits European countries made enormous investments to develop their sea navigation skills and equipment With compasses astronomical observation and detailed marine maps European marine further flourished In particular traders reaped enormous profits from trade with India and other parts of east India spices ginger and pepper among other things were introduced to the west only in 15th century became precious and costly commodities with much higher demand than supply The price of these commodities from the east explosively increased day by day as they become a symbol of social statues You can tell hoe popular these commodities were by making a price comparison Even if only one ship retuned from among 10 ships that set sail a trader could still reap a 50 fold profit from his investment The Italian city states that dominated the Mediterranean sea raked in the money through their monopoly of the eastern trade so imagine hoe envious the other European countries would have been But Italy s eastern trade through the Mediterranean sea eventually faced a roadblock Constantinople was change into Istanbul after being taken over fell to Islam forces of the Ottoman Turk empire in 1453 as a result of which the eastern Roman Empire collapsed and Christians faced restrictions in entering the east So what will happens if demand far exceeds supply Of course price would skyrocket But then what happens if the routes to the markets are blocked Naturally the center of European commerce shifted form the Mediterranean sea to the Atlantic ocean Portugal was the first country that searched for a navigation route through the Atlantic ocean to the Indians It was an obvious choice for Portugal due to its geographical location Also Portugal had long suffered at the hands of Spain and could not eve dreamt of entering the Mediterranean sea due to the powerful Italian fleet there Thus it became the first country that sought a route around Africa to reach the Indies Prince Henrique a man with a vision for the future established navigation schools and trained navigators he also backed in search navigation skills and the construction of superior ships in preparation for the future Although prince Henrique died in 1460 without seeing the fruits of his work in 1488 Batholomew Diaz reached the Cape of Hope at the southern tip of Africa However king Juan of Portugal at that time wasn t very impressed with that achievement But when Columbus discovered the new continent in 1492 Manuel I who ascended to the throne in 1495 became very interested in an eastern route to India This led to Vasco da Gama s discovery of a new route to India around Africa Although he had just navigated along the African coastline his voyage led to general awareness of enormous size and potential of the African continent Back then the new world officially referred to Africa Christopher Columbus was one of the persons who sought out a route to India Born in 1451 in Genoa Italy Columbus was a seconed seaman He become a Portuguese citizen and operated a cartography shop in Lisbon with his brother Based on his navigation experience and interaction with astronomers and geologists Columbus was convinced that he could reach India by going westward To go to India however he needed funding for the necessary ships and supplies At that time only Portugal and Spain could act as his patrons Columbus requested funding from the Portuguese king but King I already have enough domestic problems to take care of relief for flood victims unemployment and corruption which are driving me nuts We are already looking for a route to India around Africa Why don t you go look for a patron else Columbus this is why we need a leader with vision Portugal has become complacent due to it s profitable trade I m goning to see queen Isabella of Spain who s envious of Portugal At that time Spain had laid the foundation of its emergence as a great world power Princess Isabella of the kingdom of Castile and Prince Ferdinand of the kingdom of Aragon had married and they reigned ass queen and king of unified Spain Spain expelled of Muslims form Spain whoo had occupied a large part of it for 700 years and firmly established the Christian church Thus after achieving political territorial and religious unification Spain was ready to developed into a great power Queen Isabella took an interest in Columbus offer as she had indeed been envious of Portugal Perhaps I should accept his offer even though I might just end up losing three ships He does look a little like a crook OK I shall seal a contract with you Your graces are immeasurable Your Majesty But you shall thoroughly uphold the contract Pursuant to our contract you Christopher Columbus shall be named Admiral of the Ocean Sea I shall be entitled to one fourth of all profits in the future and you shall be appointed of all lands discovered With the Nina 60 tons Pinta 55tons and Santa Maria 120 tons from queen Isabella Columbus crossed the Atlantic ocean and discovered the Bahamas islands on October 12 1492 The new world that he discovered opened a new chapter in history Columbus western discovery greatly disturbed Portugal King of Portugal Oh my if I listened to Columbus idea we could have controlled both Africa and the new world anyway we can t afford to have Spain encroach upon Africa Meanwhile Spain also had its own concerns we are luckily discovered the new world but what if the Portuguese show up in the new world The converging interests of the two countries led to an agreement In 1494 the two countries requested that pope Alexander VI mediate their differences the pope drew on the map a line of demarcation between the Atlantic ocean He ordered that any land hereafter found west of this line shall belong to Spain and east of this line to Portugal This treaty is so called treaty of Tordesillas pursuant to which the boundary line was later on adjusted further westward Because the Tordesillas boundary line crossed through what is now Brazil Brazil become a Portuguese colony England and and the Netherlands knew nothing about the division of the world between Spain and Portugal Spain which monopolized the American continent commenced its entry into the new world in earnest The Spanish ruled the new world by simply plunding and looting it So called conquistadores who were professional solders were sent to the new world where they mercilessly massacred the resisting Native Americans and shipped home the wantonly looted gold and treasures The kind and pure Native Americans treated the blond and blue eyed foreigners as men of god and sincerely welcomed them They taught the foreigners hoe tocultivate corn and potatoes but the conquerors returned their kindness with ruthless killings smallpox and measles Who lived in the American continent before the arrival of Columbus There are several conflicting theories on who were the first inhabitants However it s generally known that the first inhabitants were Mongolian people who crossed the Bering land bridge Scholars theorize that they moved to Alaska by crossing the Bering land bridge which emerged after the water level dropped 15000 years ago during the Glacial Age and they spread across North America Other scholars theorize that Mongolian people come to American continent by sailing through the Pacific Ocean while others theorize that the Asian people form south Pacific crossed the ocean and arrived in south America There are some signs that the Vikings went to north America around 1000B C and cultivate grapes Vinland but that is just a legend not supported by scholarly evidence Anyway before Columbus arrival the American continent was a peaceful land inhabited by Native Americans After the greedy Europeans arrived the tragic history of native Americans started After Columbus many Europeans explored the new world In 1513 Balboa reached the Pacific through what is now Isthmus of Panama for the first time while in 1500 Cabal of Portugal discovered Brazil Meanwhile the massacre of the Native Americans by the white man including the Spanish reached its proportions Within less than 200years after Columbus discovered America in 1492 as many as 50 million Native Americans lost their lives throughout North and South America The died because of the wars massacres slavery and in particular smallpox brought on by the white man One historian referred to this phenomenon as the greatest and cruelest holocaust in the history of mankind Especially Cortez s destruction of the Aztec Civilization of Mexico and Pesaro s annihilation of the Inca civilization are recorded as unforgivable atrocities committed by the white man The discovery of the new world was big news which England soon found out about At that time Henry VII was the king of England grandfather of Elizabeth I In 1497 on orders of the king John Cabot landed on Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in the new world but due to the complicated domestic situation in England exploration of the New world was put on the backburner for nearly 100 years Eventually Elizabeth I showed great interest in the new world The queen thought that it may bring great wealth to England and she ordered Sir Walter Raleigh to go to the American continent and evaluate its economic value Since 1585 Sir Walter twice traveled to America And he named the land he discovered Virginia to commemorate the virgin queen But it should be noted that the Virginia named by Walter is what is now south Carolina and different from the current Virginia state Virginia state is often a confusing topic in U S history Today Virginia state is only one of the 50 states constituting the U S but during the early years of the nation Virginia referred to the entire southeastern plains area Specifically America developed from the coastal areas east of the Appalachian Mountains The northern mountains region was referred to a new England whereas the southern plains region was referred to as Virginia Thus this plain region should not be confused with the Virginia state Walter returned to England after leaving a large number of English settlers in Virginia However when he returned a few years later no one person had survived The first settlement was a complete failure England used a totally different method from the Spanish method to develop its colonies in the new world Spain as we said before its focus was to loot the colo0nies of gold and silver and other treasures In contract England mainly had traders establish trading companies which sent immigrants to the colonies and make a profit on the ship fares Thus people heading to America had a clear objective In search of profit making opportunities for investors and their selves The first group of English men sent by these companies arrived in Virginia in 1607 where they built the first settlement there Although most of those settlers perished from hunger and malaria Jamestown was still the fi