At the first America was inhabited by the populations of the Maya, the Aztecs and the Incas. In Europe didn't know what was after the Ocean. Some thought that there were the Cipango and the Catai, one of them was Cristoforo Colombo. He decided to live for this territories. He leaved, financed by Spain, from Palos with three caravels : the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. On 12th October of 1492 Colombo arrived in America; but he returned in homeland
with the conviction of having arrived in the Indies. Then there were made other explorations by other navigators, but the first who understood was Amerigo Vespucci (from which the continent took its name). America started to be inhabited by pilgrim fathers, explorer adventurers and people fleeing political and religious persecutions because the throne was James the first and he was a Catholic king. The people of England were not allowed to pray to God in the way, they thought right but were punished if they did not worship as a king ordered. This was very hard and when James the first was King a little band of brave people who found that they could not obey the king left their country to make a new home across the sea where they could be free. At first they had a lot of problems because the ground was frozen and barren, they suffered from hunger and disease and the wild Indians who lived in that land came down on them and tried to drive them away. But the Pilgrim Fathers did not lose courage, they were free and worked hard and waited patiently for brighter days. Little by little other ships from England brought in food to keep them alive and more people to help them, then they made friends with the Indians and when spring came they planted seeds and raised crops for themselves. After, about XVII, French, Spanish, English and Dutch founded 13 colonies; exploited for trade and the economy. The colonies could trade only with England and could not produce goods which competed with the English ones. Furthmore there were very high taxes. This situation sparked the rebellion of the British colonists and the first protests.The event the most important was the Boston Tea Party in 1773, where the settlers disguise themselves as Indians and threw a large load of tea into the sea. The protest became a war and was created an army led by George Washington. On 4th july in 1776 was approved the Declaration of Independence, drawn up by Thomas Jefferson; which can be considered the birth certificate of the United States of America. The war finished with the battle of Yorktono and the Treatry of Versailles in 1783.
