A Short History of American Settlement

1453 Muslims take control of Constantinople cutting off a major trade route between Europe and Asia. Europeans begin to look for another route to Asia. The Portuguese try first.

1492 Christopher Columbus discovers America while looking for another route to trade with Asia. Spain is eventually awarded control of all new lands West of 60° W

By 1580 By 1580 the Spanish control all of Central America and most of the American Southwest. The Spanish would be the first to introduce slavery to North America. Later British settlers would do the same.

1600 By 1600 the French had taken control of the Mississippi Valley and Eastern Canada. The primary occupation of the French settlers were trappers.

1620- The Pilgrims In 1620 British citizens in protest of King James religious policies fled to America for freedom. They had lived in the Netherlands for 10 years before coming to America.

Settlers from all European nations eventually displace the native American population.

Migration to the U.S. During the late 1800s and early 1900s more than 20 million people left their homes in (Eastern)Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia to find Economic opportunity and Freedom in the United States.