Chapter 1 Welcome to the New World Only 20 years after it became independent the United States doubled in size thanks to President Thomas Jefferson’s wise purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France Within 50 years the country stretched across immense plains and towering mountain ranges to touch the Pacific Ocean OREGON TERRITORY 1846 CEDED BY MEXICO 1848 GADSDEN PURCHASE 1853 Territories Acquired by the United States 4 ESTABLISHED 1818 LOUISIANA PURCHASE 1803 TEXAS ANNEXED 1845
How the United States grew so fast in such a short time is an amazing tale But the expansion that took place after the American Revolution was only a logical continuation of the westbound movement Europeans had begun in 1492 with Christopher Columbus Before that date America had a few visitors but they did not bring permanent settlers The voyages of Columbus were a milestone in American history because they eventually brought great hordes of people from across the sea And once religious and political leaders decided a region might be worthy of settlement families began to arrive UNITED STATES PRIOR TO 1803 CEDED BY SPAIN 1819 Christopher Columbus 1451-1506 5
THE VIKINGS More than 500 years before Columbus Norse or Scandinavian seamen known as Vikings had sailed to the coast of North America One of them Leif Eriksson landed in 1000 on the coast of what was probably Newfoundland and called it Vinland His followers tried to live there but constant battles with Native Americans made them give up after a few years Leif Eriksson spies the New World However the first European explorers of the New World were not looking for new places for people to live The sailors who arrived from Spain France England Portugal and other countries were actually seeking a sea route to the Orient India China Indonesia the Spice Islands and their neighbors produced highly desirable goods such as silks jewelry and spices The Italian adventurer Marco Polo had helped introduce these lands and their products to Europe in the 13th century But the routes Marco Polo pioneered leading eastward were often blocked by hostile forces or controlled by groups that demanded high taxes 6
For the first time Europeans were building ships that were large and seaworthy enough to sail into the uncharted waters to the west Christopher Columbus an Italian whose voyage was paid for by Spain was one of the first explorers to try to reach the Orient by sailing west In 1492 he landed on an island in the Bahamas Thinking it was India he called the indigenous people he encountered Indians Columbus made several more voyages the last in 1502 to 1503 visiting present-day Hispaniola Cuba which he thought was Japan and Jamaica He died in Spain in 1506 still believing he had reached the Far East After ten long weeks at sea Christopher Columbus lands in America in 1492 7
