Independence Day and American History

In the U.S., Independence Day, more commonly known as the 4^th of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the continental congress on July 4^th, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Declaration of Independence is a document which declares the independence of the U.S. from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

In the 17^th century, the colonization of the New World went on after Columbus has discovered the New World in 1492. The Europeans started arriving there. The first of the colonists were the Spanish, as Columbus worked for the Spanish King and Queen Isobel helped him a lot with the permission to leave and with the preparations. After landing on the island called San Salvador, Columbus called the local inhabitants the Indians because he thought that had landed in India.

Before his voyage, Columbus had been thinking of a new route to India because he supposed that the Earth was round, not flat.

During the 16^th century, the Spanish and the Portuguese, as rivals, built colonies on the newly discovered continent. It was called America after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. He proved that the New World was an independent continent.

In the beginning of the 17^th century, settlers from other European countries began to arrive in America. They were the English, the Dutch, the Swedish, and the French.

The Dutch founded today’s New York, originally called New Amsterdam. The Swedish settled in today´s Pennsylvania, the French built their colonies in the south of today’s U.S. and in the southeast of today’s Canada.

The first English colony was built in 1607, the other one in 1612. New people from England kept arriving to escape the persecution from the Church and the King. The English settlers built their colonies on the northeastern coast of today’s U. S.