First settlers:

The natives of North America are the different North American peoples.

The European colonists, from England, settled in Virginia in 1607 and in New England in 1620 (Pilgrim Fathers of the Mayflower). The English flee religious persecution from the Anglican Church. Other Europeans follow, coming from Ireland, Scotland, Holland and Sweden.

In Plymouth, half of the community who arrived on the Mayflower died of malnutrition. The local Native Americans helped them by showing them how to grow corn, beans and pumpkins and where to hunt and fish. They also signed a peace treaty with the Wampanoag.

The European settlers traded with the Native Americans iron pots, blankets and guns for furs.

However, conflict started when the settlers wanted to move on the Native Americans' lands. This led to King Philip's War in 1675 when the Wampanoag people were defeated, destroying any power of the Native American in New England and allowing the colonists expansion of their settlements.

The colonists will create thirteen colonies of the British Crown (from Massachusetts in the North to Georgia in the South). With an increasing European immigration, they will reach a population of three million in 1776.

US Revolution:

The colonists began rebelling when the British wanted to tax the colonies. The colonists felt these taxes were unfair since they were being taxed without representation in the parliament. The British responded with violence. In Boston, colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped tea in the harbor, it was the Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts was the hotbed of rebellion.

War broke out with the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. The 2nd Continental Congress voted to raise an army with George Washington as commander-in-chief.

July 4th, 1776, the colonists voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, the first time a nation's people formally asserted their right to choose their own government. The primary author was Thomas Jefferson. The rights were not guaranteed for men without property, women and slaves though.

France sent a decisive help to the American independentists, with the training by the French army and Marquis de Lafayette.

The British were forced to surrender at the battle of Yorktown, which was decisive as they signed the Treaty of Paris where they recognize the United States independence in 1783.