Wikipedia: History of North America

History of North America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 This article is the

History of North America.

Pre-colonial America

History of the Americas

European colonization of the Americas

British colonization of the Americas

Dutch colonization of the Americas

French colonization of the Americas

Russian colonization of the Americas

Spanish colonization of the Americas

Swedish colonization of the Americas

History of Greenland

History of Canada

History of United States

History of Central America

History of the Caribbean

History of Chinese immigrants

Many natives of North America as the Europeans found them were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers; others were tribally based, more sedentary and agricultural. Many formed tribes in response to European colonization. Well-known groups include the Aztec, Maya, Huron, Mohawk, Apache, Cherokee, Sioux, Mohegan, Iroquois, and Inuit.

While some smaller powers like the Dutch and Swedish had minor holdings on the continent, the main land and most of the islands were divided between the Spanish, the French and the English.

The Spanish were the first to arrive, building on Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage to gain control of most of the largest islands in the Caribbean and to conquer the Aztecs and gain control of Mexico and Central America.

John Cabot first explored the east coast of what would become Canada in 1497. Jacques Cartier made a series of voyages on behalf of the French crown in later years.

The first English settlements were at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, in what are today Virginia and Massachusetts respectively. The first French settlements were Quebec City and Port Royal in what is now Quebec and Nova Scotia.