CHAPTER 7
EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY
In this chapter, you will learn about:
The people living in the North America before 1776.
In the 1400s, some European countries developed ships that could sail across the ocean. Spain was the first country to send ships across the Atlantic Ocean.
They did not know that the continents of North America and South America were between Europe and Asia. North and South America are sometimes called the Americas.
The Europeans also did not know that there were millions of people living in North and South America. The people living in the Americas before the Europeans arrived are called Native Americans.
By the 1500s, Spain had created colonies across North America and South America. Soon, other European countries like France, Portugal, and England started creating their own colonies in the Americas.
Native Americans lived in North and South America for around 20,000 years before the Europeans arrived.
There were many different tribes of Native American people living in the Americas. Each Native American tribe had their own culture, religion, traditions, language, and form of government. Many tribes moved around and relied on hunting and gathering for food. There were also tribes that stayed in one place and relied on farming for food. Some tribes lived in large cities and had complex forms of government and written languages.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services