Colonial Era (1607–1776)

American history begins — from a European perspective — with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, the first permanent English settlement in North America. In 1620, the Pilgrims, Puritan separatists, followed, arriving on the Mayflower in Plymouth (Massachusetts) to escape religious persecution in England. They nearly starved in the first winter, had it not been for the Wampanoag natives who taught them survival — a help that the colonists later "thanked" with displacement and violence.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, 13 British colonies emerged along the Atlantic coast. Each had its own character: Puritan Massachusetts with its educational tradition (Harvard was founded in 1636, just 16 years after the Pilgrims' arrival), the tolerant Quaker Pennsylvania, the aristocratic Virginia of tobacco planters, and cosmopolitan New York (originally the Dutch Nieuw Amsterdam).

Two dark chapters marked the colonial era: The systematic displacement and murder of the indigenous population (whose total number before the Europeans' arrival is estimated at 5–15 million) and slavery — the first African slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619, just 12 years after the founding of Jamestown. By the time of independence, slaves made up over 40% of the population in some southern states.