HISTORY OF U.S.A.

About 40,000 years ago – The first men reached America. These ancestors of the American Indians walked across a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, and from there spread throughout North, Central and South America.

About 1000 A.D. – The Vikings are believed to have been the first Europeans to discover America.

1492 – Christopher Columbus sailed on an economic mission. When he landed on an island in the Caribbean, he believed that he had reached the shores of India and thus named the natives “Indians”.

12^th October – Columbus Day

1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh established the first English colony in the USA and called it Virginia. This colonization wasn't successful.

1607 – Start of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown.

1620 – Ship called Mayflower from England reached northeast coast where they founded the colony called Plymouth. They were Puritans – members of a religious sect which wanted to reform the Church of England. They called themselves Pilgrim Fathers and wanted to build up a colony based on their own religious ideals. The winter was cold and about half of them died. In spring they planted corn and other plants with help and advice from the Indians with whom they lived in peace. In October 1621 they celebrated good harvest and held a feast with much food. They called this day their day of Thanksgiving.

1636 – Harvard College, the oldest university in the U.S.A., was founded. The founder – John Harvard.

17^th century - many colonists (mostly Britain, but also French, Spain, German, Dutch). They settled along the eastern coast.

1773 – in protest against the duty on tea, a group of citizens of Boston threw tea from the English ships into the sea – The Boston Tea Party. Causes: the English exploitation of colonies, the British government imposed duties on tea, paper, glass and so on.

1781 - Britain recognized the independence of the USA (thirteen colonies). And two years later they signed the peace treaty ending the War of American Independence.

1776, July 4^th – rose an independent state. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.

1789 - George Washington was elected the first President.

1800 - The Congress met for the first time in Washington D.C., the new capital (before it was Philadelphia), and the American President entered the White House.

1861-1865 – Civil War - worst episode in American history. Economic and political differences grew between the Northern and Southern states. In the south, the economy was based on agriculture and slavery. In contrast, the northern states were more industrial and slavery was illegal. It was the causes of the Civil War. The North was victorious in the war and slavery was abolished.

1865 – Abraham Lincoln was shot; he was the most favourite President.

1865-1900 – Period of Reconstruction, period of great economic growth.

1866 – the defeated Southern planters founded a secret organization, the Ku-Klux-Klan which prosecuted black people.

1867 – the US bought Alaska from Russia for 7 million dollars.

By 1890 the US became the leading world power; many immigrants entered the US from Europe.

1917 – the USA entered the First World War as late.

1920´s - large economic grow until the Great Depression.

1929 – There was great crash on Wall Street and it was the beginning of a deep economic crisis – the Great Depression, which lasted till the beginning of the Second World War.

1932 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected the President. He introduced the New Deal, a new economic reform – the main aim was to stimulate business and provide employment. After him a new law was passed that every President can be elected only twice.

1941, December – The USA entered the Second World War – after the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbour.

Roosevelt was succeeded by Harry Truman. He was responsible for dropping the Atomic bombs on Japan (1945)

After the World War II - The Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union was the characteristic feature of this period.

- the Soviet Union - first to put man in space x USA - first man to walk on the Moon (July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong)

60´s - social changes (the Civil Right Movement - Martin Luther King (1968) and the end of racial discrimination).

70´s - political corruption (Nixon - the Watergate scandal).

80´s - economic issues (high unemployment, inflation, slow economic growth).