1. Early American History: A Summary
Around 200 years in around 10 minutes

2. First English
The first permanent English settlers arrived in 1607 in search of gold. (Note: the first attempt at English settlement was in Roanoke, North Carolina in They all vanished. Spooooky). Things did not go well for the Jamestown settlers, as there was no gold, and they didn’t want to farm, starved, and probably resorted to cannibalism.
John Rolfe saved the colony by bringing tobacco seeds, which the colonists grew (along with food) which made the survivors very rich.

4. The Pilgrims
The Pilgrims were a group of Puritans seeking religious freedom in the Americas (England did not make life easy for them). They arrived in November of 1620 in Massachusetts, by accident. It was almost Winter, and they were not prepared for the cold and hunger. Many died. Local Native American tribes created friendly relations with the Pilgrims and taught them how to live. This is the origin of Thanksgiving.

6. The Colonies
As more permanent colonies were established, more settlers came to America to try their luck. Based on colonial background and location, the different colonial regions has different values and behavior.

7. The New England Colonies
Due to a lack of farmable land and religious values, the New England colonies were characterized by religion, shipbuilding, lumber, iron, strong economy, and the development of governments and cities. The first American examples of direct democracies can be found here.

8. The Middle Colonies
The middle colonies had very fertile soil, which caused it to be historically referred to as the “Bread Basket”. Featured some important religious minorities, including the Quakers and Methodists.

9. The Southern Colonies
The Southern Colonies were solely concerned with the growth of “Cash Crops”, or crops that could be sold at a high value, like tobacco and cotton. As such, it featured large plantation style farms with a lot of slaves, wealthy white landowners, and not much in terms of towns or communities.

10. Expansion and Troubles
As more Europeans arrived, they desired to move further West, and this caused them to have problems with the local Native American tribes and their French allies. This led to big trouble and defining movements in American history, as I’ll let John Green describe.