American History - From Discovery To the 19th Century
The Europeans discovered the North & South Americas during the last decade of the 15 th Century. Very little was known about this New World before. Between 1492 and 1503 AD, Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies, Central America, and northern South America for Spain. John Cabot was the first person to reach North America in 1497. It is estimated he discovered Newfoundland (Canada) for England. A Portuguese explorer, Pedro Alvares, discovered Brazil in 1500 AD. Modern-day United States of America (USA) was initially discovered by a Spanish explorer Juan Ponce in 1513 when he arrived in modern-day Florida. This article covers the History of the United States of America (USA) rather than the continents of North & South America. Period before Discovery It is not exactly known when the Native Americans initially settled in the Americas and modern-day USA. However, it is estimated that they started arriving in the USA (including Alaska ) about 30,000 years