History of The United States - Colonial Period

Colonial Period

Main article: Colonial history of the United States

After a period of exploration sponsored by major European nations, the first settlements were established about 1600. Europeans brought horses, cats, cattle, and hogs to the Americas and, in turn, took back to Europe maize, turkeys, potatoes, tobacco, beans, and squash. The disease environment was deadly for many explorers and early settlers exposed to new diseases. The impact of new disease was even worse on the Native Americans, especially smallpox and measles. They died in very large numbers, usually before large-scale European settlement began.

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Famous quotes containing the words colonial and/or period:

    “Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
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    “His singing carried me back to the period of the discovery of America ... when Europeans first encountered the simple faith of the Indian. There was, indeed, a beautiful simplicity about it; nothing of the dark and savage, only the mild and infantile. The sentiments of humility and reverence chiefly were expressed.”
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