Prior to European colonization, the United States  was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous people known as Native Americans. There are many tribes and each has it’s own culture, language and religious beliefs.

European expeditions to this area began in the late 15th century and in 1607 the first successful English colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia. In 1620, the ship Mayflower landed in what is currently Massachusetts and the Puritans founded the second permanent British settlement called Plymouth Colony there. Colonists from other European countries had come to America. However, by 1733 the English settlers had founded 13 colonies and in 1763 England was in control of Canada and all of North America east of the Mississippi. 

Tensions were rising between the American colonists and the British homeland and on July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress of the British Colonies adopted a Declaration of Independence. After an eight year long struggle, the American Revolutionary War came to an end with the Treaty of Paris in 1783 by which the English recognized American independence.