America Expands

4 Pages 925 Words

THE NEW WORLD IS SETTLED, 1492-1763
The history of the United States began with the discovery of North America by a European. On Oct. 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. He was searching for an all-water route from Europe to the Far East. This chance finding of a large continent was one of the great events in the history of the world. Columbus made his discovery while sailing under the flag of Spain. Later, daring sea captains from several European countries sailed across the Atlantic to explore the New World. In 1497 John Cabot reached the coast of present-day Canada in an English ship. The Spanish adventurer Ponce de Leon landed on what is now Florida in 1513. In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan's ships left Spain. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean and then the Pacific. Three years later one of his ships returned to Spain after completely circling the world. Because of Magellan's travels, North America was now definitively known to be a separate continent between two large oceans.
Rising Interest in the New World
At this time Europeans were not very interested in the New World itself. They only wanted to find a water passage through it to the Far East. France sent out Jacques Cartier to find such a route in 1534. He explored along the St. Lawrence River. France then laid claim to part of North America. The first land journey far into the interior of the continent was made by Hernando de Soto. In 1539 he landed in Florida with about 600 Spanish soldiers. They worked their way north- and then westward. They discovered the Mississippi River near the site of what is now Memphis, Tenn., in 1541.
The Spanish were interested in the New World. In 1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles made a landing in Florida and began building a fortified city. He named it St. Augustine. This was the first permanent settlement in what is now the United States. Meanwhile from Mexico the Spanish pressed northward into the New Mexico region. In 15...