Colonial Period of the US History - the Forerunner of What the United States Has Become Today - Term Paper Example

The paper "Colonial Period of the US History - the Forerunner of What the USA Has Become Today" is a great example of a term paper on history. The period between 1492 and 1764, remains to be one of the most significant in the history of the United States. It is during the same period that the US went through numerous changes, which played a substantive role in determining what the nation is today. The colonial history of America covers a broad perspective of the time, from the period when the European settlers made it into America, until the period when the different states came into the existence.

Towards the end of the 16th century, several European nations had launched their colonization desires in America, with a majority of them settling in the eastern part of North America, from where they launched their colonization programs. Based on this perspective, it is evidently clear the significance the colonial period had in the United States. This paper, therefore, analyzes the colonial period of the United States between 1492 and 1764. Previously, North America was merely a continent of villages, an aspect that has significantly changed to date majorly based on culture and the people.

Before 1500, the North American continent had few inhabitants, with a majority of them migrating into the continent from Asia. Considering their origins, the immigrants who settled in the North American continent adopted three major ways of survival on the continent. These were forest efficiency, hunting traditions, and desert culture. Considering that, North American continent was an area that previously had very few human populations, forests and deserts covered a majority of the available land.

With the increase in population, the inhabitants developed new economic activities for survival purposes. This brought about Mexico and Bog farming Anasazi and oasis farming, and woodland farming. Based on the perspective that every potential colonial power brought in different cultures into the continent, there was ideally widespread cultural diversity. With such diversities, the different colonial powers, wars were frequent as one colony would take control of the other. This was mainly between 1492 and 1590, when there were constant collisions between the different worlds, with an argument around who came in first.

Ideally, the Spanish expeditions were the first under the leadership of Columbus, also known in Spanish as Cristobal Colon, whose major attraction was the trade routes. Despite the European conquest majorly being large-scale exploration, colonization later became the major issue, when other colonies such as Portuguese and France arrived. With Spanish’ entry into the Americas, it was mainly involved in inversion and destruction. The three major motives of the exploration were the acquisition of mineral wealth, thrill of adventure, and the spread of Christianity where there was substantive protestant reformation.

Before the entry of Columbus, Vikings was first to sail into the continent, establishing a colony in Vineland, one of the most fertile lands. Later on, with the help of Columbus, Americas established a great trading zone known as the Columbus Exchange, where the Americas were able to get access to numerous commodities such as tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar, and large animals. Another unique commodity that made entry into the Americas during the same Columbian Exchange period was slaves, who came from the African nations.

Other than the importance, these slaves had such as working in the farms that had been established by the European nations, they also came along with various diseases such as Smallpox, Measles, TB, Plague, Cholera, Yellow Fever, Dysentery, Typhus, Diptheria, and Scarlet Fever. Considering that, the slaves were resistant to these tropical diseases, a majority of the Americas and the Europeans were killed in large numbers reducing the populations marginally, paving way for the entry of British as a colonial power into Americas.

Between 1508 and 1701, different colonies were planting its roots the North American continent, with Spain having New Mexico, New France, and New Netherlands as its major competitors. England in making an entry in 1607, captured the Chesapeake, where they introduced tobacco, gold, and colonial rights. Through aggressive reaction, England was able to capture Puritanism, Plymouth Colony, and Mayflower Compact as its colonies. By 1626, New York city would then develops, though with certain complications especially during Leisler’s Rebellion in 1689 led by John Peter Zenger.

Later on, Rhodes Island would develop in 1636, Pennsylvania in 1682. This happens during New England’s confederation of 1634-1684, and later establish dominion between 1686 and 1689, under the leadership of Sir Edmund Andros. Other than the numerous occurrences during the US colonial period 1441-1770, slavery, and slavery remained very conspicuous. The genesis of African slavery started with the Arabs and Portuguese from the Canary Islands. Once captured in Africa, the slaves through the middle passage were taken to the Americas where they were taken into three colonies; Chesapeake, Lower south and the North regions.

In Chesapeake, the slaves were exchanged for tobacco, put to work in family farms, and leased out. Those in the Lower south mainly worked on the vast plantations by growing many crops as well as sugar cane cutters. In the North, the slaves worked in ports, cities, and Quakers. The integration of the slaves and the Americas resulted in cultural integration most especially the Africanization of the south. By 1712, New York experience violence and resistance from the slaves, which was followed by Stono in 1739 and later again in New York in 1741.

This was mainly due to the mistreatments the slaves experienced in the hands of colonies. Indeed 1492-1764, played a significant period in the history of the US as its colonial period.