NA - Human Geography Lesson

Human Geography

^{The text below was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a CC-BY-NC-SA without attribution as requested by the work's original creator or licensee.}

European History in North America

North America was inhabited by many American Indian groups before the Europeans arrived. While the indigenous population of North America was robust at the time of the European encounter, within a few generations, these native peoples were overwhelmed by the diseases, weapons, and sheer numbers of the European arrivals.

Both the United States and Canada are products of European colonialism. The oldest colonial city in North America is St. Augustine, Florida (1565), which was founded by Spain when Florida was a remote portion of the Spanish Americas. While Spain governed the southern portion of what is now known as the United States, France ruled what is now Canada and much of the interior of the United States. The French originally came to Canada in the late 1500s to fish in the North Atlantic, but soon expanded their interest to include furs. This caused fur trappers to explore the interior lands of the continent which were teaming with animals suitable for making fur pelts.

Although there were fewer settlers from France than from the other European countries, the French left behind place names (Baton Rouge and Detroit), and a French-speaking population in what is now Quebec, Canada.

The earliest permanent British colony, Jamestown, was founded in 1607 in what became Virginia. From there, the British built up a successful empire in the New World. Their thirteen American colonies became populous, economically robust, and militarily strong enough to gain independence in 1776. Although the United States achieved independence through war, the Canadians chose to remain under British control. Today, Canada functions as an independent country, but remains part of the British Commonwealth. Despite the early European influences of Spain and France in North America, Britain's colonial dominance in the United States and Canada resulted in English being the native language of most people.

 

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