US History

The first Europeans to establish colonies in North America were the Spanish. English colony was founded 1620 by a group of people fleeing religious persecution. Unlike the southern states, which were overwhelmingly agricultural New England developed a partly mercantile economy. As for the first settlement in Georgia, it was Savannah, which was founded in 1733.

The American Revolution had begun on 19 April 1775 when British soldiers attempted to seize a colonial arms dump near Concord. The Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the United States was sighed on July 4, 1776. In the late 18th century and the early 19th century the population of the USA grew rapidly. Another war between the Americans and British began; a peace of treaty was signed at the end of 1814. Later war on Mexico was declared by the Congress. It resulted in the fact that Mexico gave New Mexico and California to the USA. Three new states were added: Iowa, Wisconsin, and Kansas.

The civil war in the USA was finally provoked by the election of Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 as president. The south was easily outmatched by the north. Despite these disadvantages the south won some early victories. In the early 20th century three new states were admitted to the union, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico. In 1929 the American economy was unstable, because the period of the Depression began. After the Japanese attacked the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Congress declared war on Japan, later Germany and Italy declared war on the USA. The USA's massive industrial strength made the defeat of the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) inevitable. In the mid and late 1980s the economy grew steadily. Nowadays the American people enjoy a very high standard of living.