Of all the European nations facing the Atlantic Ocean, none would ordinarily have seemed to have greater advantages for entering the race for North American exploration than England. Explore the early English settlements in North America and meet the entrepreneurs who found their footing in a new world. […]
After the Netherlands achieved independence from Spain, Dutch merchants set sail for America. Discover what made the Dutch colony so successful. […]
As Spain’s economy declined in the 17th century, France seemed poised to become Europe’s leading power. Explore France’s rise and fall in the New World. […]
In the decades after Columbus discovered America, a number of explorers began looting the continent, bringing with them violence and disease. Explore this age of the Spanish conquistadors. […]
In the 15th century, Western Europeans were determined to seize their own opportunities of procuring wealth in the East. In order to achieve their goals, they decided to create a new set of rules.
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America in 1492 was not a new world. Find out who lived here before the Europeans headed west in the 15th century, and what the rest of the world looked like before Christopher Columbus.
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American history is filled with turbulence, yet amid all the changes over the years, a few key themes have remained constant. Explore these themes that define the American identity.
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Washington’s surprise at Trenton threw the British occupation of New Jersey into a panic. Carl von Donop—who was in command of the outposts at Trenton, Burlington, and Bordentown—now imagined himself outmaneuvered and cut off by unseen Americans, and he ordered a pullback to Princeton, where he furiously began throwing up entrenchments. […]
The first colonies planted by the British along North America’s Atlantic seaboard were organized, staffed, and supported as private commercial ventures, not by an imperial plan. For decades after the first colonies were established, the king and the Church of England were largely content to neglect them. […]
No one could claim a more distinguished intellectual lineage in the Founders’ generation than Aaron Burr, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. And no one in the Founders’ generation could claim to be a more wicked person. […]
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