美国历史.ppt

The Earliest Inhabitants Around 20,000 years ago, a group of Asian people arrived in Central and South Americas by way of North America. These people were the ancestors of American Indians. When Columbus found the new continent, there were about 20 million Indians living in Americas, among which around one million people lived in today’s Canada and mid-northern part of the U.S. Most of the inhabitants lived in today’s Mexico and the southern part of the U.S. Around 10,000 years ago, another group of Asian people came to the northern part of North America, and they were the ancestors of the later Eskimos. Around the year 1000, a party of Icelandic Vikings sailed to the eastern coast of North America. They were the earliest Europeans to come to the continent, but they did not establish any permanent settlements there. More about the Discovery In late 15th-century Europe, there was a great demand for spices, textiles and dyes from Asia. Christopher Columbus, a mariner from Italy, mistakenly believed that he could reach the Far East by sailing 6,400 kilometers west from Europe. In 1492, Christopher Columbus persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance his voyage to Asia, but he reached America at last, which he thought to be India in Asia, and called the native people “Indians.” The Spanish established some settlements in today’s Florida, New Mexico and California. The reasons of Europeans’ coming to America:1. The need for increased trade; 2. The zeal of Spanish priests to convert the native Indians to Christianity; 3. The need of European religious and political dissenters for refuge from persecution in their homelands; 4. The thirst for adventure of some individuals. English Settlements The first successful English colony in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Of the first 105 colonists, 73 died of hunger and disease within seven months of their arrival. One group of English Puritans crossed the Atlantic in the ship Mayflower and settled at Pl