Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The History of North America encompasses the past developments of people populating the continent of North America. While it was commonly accepted that the continent first became inhabited by humans when individuals migrated across the Bering Sea 40,000 to 17,000 years ago, [ 1 ] more recent discoveries may have pushed those estimates back at ...
Under the auspices of the NWC, Alexander Mackenzie discovered the Mackenzie River in 1789 and was the first European to reach the North-American Pacific overland, via the Bella Coola River, in 1793. Simon Fraser reached the Pacific in 1808 via the Fraser River.
1526: Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón briefly establishes the failed settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape in South Carolina, the first site of enslavement of Africans in North America and of the first slave rebellion. 1527: Fishermen are using the harbor at St. John's, Newfoundland and other places on the coast.
Christopher Columbus [b] (/ k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s /; [2] between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian [3] [c] explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa [3] [4] who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas.
A map may prove that Marco Polo discovered America more than two centuries before Christopher Columbus. A sheepskin map, believed to be a copy of the 13th century Italian explorer's, may indicate ...
France founded colonies in the Americas: in eastern North America (which had not been colonized by Spain north of Florida), a number of Caribbean islands (which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease), and small coastal parts of South America.
Upon first landing in the West, Columbus pondered enslaving the natives, [l] and upon his return broadcast the perceived willingness of the natives to convert to Christianity. [71] Columbus's second voyage saw the first major skirmish between Europeans and Native Americans for five centuries, when the Vikings had come to the Americas. [34]
Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the Great Lakes and Ohio valley. [82]