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35,000 years ago a glacial Ice cap connected Siberia and Alaska. The first Americans were thought to have crossed over from Russia and made their way through Canada and into the United States. *Timetoast wouldn't let me put a really early date, so i put the year 1100 to keep the timeline in the same area on the page
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Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the Americas while searching for a shorter route to the Indies. He landed in the Bahamas, and mistook the area for the Indies, which is how the Indians got their name.
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The Virginia company revieved a charter from King James I of England with the hope of discovering gold and a shortcut to the Indies. About a hundred men disembarked in the area around the Chesapeake Bay. Once in Virginia many settlers got sick, starved, and died.
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Seeking riches, the Dutch East India Company sent out an English Explorer to the American Northeast. The explorer, Henry Hudson, ventured into Delaware Bay and New York Bay. He went up the Hudson River and claimed the land of "New Netherland" for the Dutch.
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Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams who fled there to escape exile to England. There he established freedom of religion, and as a result people began to migrate to this area.
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During the years of 1630 to 1642 70,000 English migrated to the Americas. about 11,000 ended up in New England, another 11,000 ended up in the Chesapeake. the remainder migrated ti the West Indies.
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Lord Baltimore financed the creation of Maryland to serve as a haven for Catholics. Two hundred settlers arrived to colonize the area, and huge plots of land were awarded to Baltimore's family and relatives.
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The Carolinas were created after an interruption in colonization due to unrest in England. The kind awarded large plots of land to eight of his favorites. Many of the people inhabiting the Carolinas immigrated from Barbados as well as England.
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William Penn recieved a charter from the King. He used this land to create a safe haven for those of Quaker religion. His liberal land policy attracted a large influx of new immigrants
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In 1698 the Royal African Company lost its monopoly on carrying slaves to the Americas. Enterprising Americans jumped at the opprotunity, and began importing slaves by the shipload.
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In response to the great demand for Beaver Pelts, the french beaver trappers and their Native American partners migrated all over America. From Canada they traveled to the Great Salt Lake, through Arkansas and Missouri, to the Rocky Mountains, and south to the border of Spanish Texas.
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Georgia was the last of the 13 colonies to be created and was to serve as a buffer between the colonies and the Spanish. The colony was launched by philanthropists who intended for the colony to be a haven for those in debt, and to produce silk and wine.
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From 1791 to 1819 nine frontier states joined the nation. This push was a continuation of the westward movement and the result of cheap land in the west appealing to European immigrants.
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Jefferson Purchased Louisiana Territory from the French, and sent Explorors to map the area in the subsequent years. Americans began to slowly push into the Territory as migration west grew in popularity.
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President Monroe negotiated the land area of Oregon from the British. Slowly, pioneers began to trickle into this area. West Florida was already inhabited by Americans, and during the war of 1812 America obtained the remainder of Florida. Following the war many south American countries revolted against spain, and so immigrants moved northward into Florida.
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In 1823 the Mexican Government gave Stephen Austin a huge area of land in Texas to bring over American Farmers to populate the Area. Americans flooded into this region but did not relinquish their American citizenship.
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The Indian Removal Act transplanted the tribes that resided east of the Mississippi, west into the Oklahoma region. Many Indians died on the "trail of tears" westward.
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Chinese Immegrated to America when gold was discovered in California. The immegrants were mostly men who sailed into San Francisco California to seek their fortune on the "gold mountain". Many single, male immegrants came from the K'uang-t'ung district in southern China. Although most came seeking their fortune in gold, many ended up working on the transcontinental railroad.
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Miners migrated to Nevada in 1859 to uncover wealth from the newly discovered Comstock Lode.
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In the 1860's the government intensified their actions of moving the Indians into smaller reservations. As the white settlers pushed farther West and there was financial gain to be had on Indian occupied territories, the federal government pushed the Indians onto small reservations in the Dakota territory and Oklahoma.
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The gradual shift West exploded in the mid to late 1800s. Familys began to move futher and further west, all the way to California. Canals, and Railroads helped move goods longer distances, allowing for the western communities to grow.
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The Homestead act gave up to 160 acres of western land to settlers for free, providing they lived on the land for five years, improved it, and paid a $30 fee. During the fourty years after this act was passed aproximately 500,000 families migrated west and took advantage of the Homestead Act.
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New immigrants from eastern and southern europe being to flood into America. In the past most immigrants were from western Europe. The new immigrants came from Italy, Poland, Greece, and Croatia and brought with them orthodox churches and synagogues. These people came seeking job opprotunities in American citites.
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Barred nearly all Chinese from entering the United States. This lasted for aproximately six decades.
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In 1889 the Oklahoma territory was legally opened for settlement. Aproximately 50,000 people, "boomers", were waiting on the boundry line to rush into the territory. By the end of the year the Oklahoma Territory had approximately 60,000 residents.
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New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia have well past 1 million inhabitants. There was a general trend since the 1870's of people moving into the cities due to industrialized job opprotunities. by 1900 New York was the second largest city in the world with 3.5 million inhabitants.
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The completion of the transcontinental railroad made it easier for farmers and pioneers to move west.
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In an effort to reduce tensions between the US and Japan an informal agreement was made in which the US agreed not to segregate Japanese Immegrants in California into a separate school and Japan agreed to restrict its citizens from migrating to the United States.
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Congress grants Puerto Ricans citizenship. Many migrate to New York after this.
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During World War One many African Americans moved from the South, Northwards in seach of Work. With conscription in place and the ideas of "work or fight" there were job openings and incentives to work in the northern factories.
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The immigration legislation of 1921, was replaced in 1924 with the Immigration act of 1924. This act reduced that total quotas of immigrants allowed in from 3 percent to 2 percent. It also shifted the racial quotas from the 1910 census to the 1890 cencus. This ensured that fewer immigrants were allowed into the US and that the immigrants who did come were mainly from western europe.
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By 1929 there were 26 million cars on the roads. These cars allowed for many people to travel around the country with relative ease. As cars rapidly became a necessity, families began to travel and take road trip vacations.
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The economic crisis of the great depression forced many families out of their homes when they couldn't pay their mortgages. Once homeless, many migrated to shanty towns near big cities. These congregations of homeless were called "Hoovervilles".
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During World War II many people migrated within the US. Northern cities like LA and Detroit gained a huge influxes of migrants because of the jobs created by their war industry factories. Nearly 2 million people moved to California. FDR seized the war-time opprotunity to boost the south's economy. Asa result floods of people moved to the south. Yet, about 1.6 million blacks left the south to look for factory jobs in the north.
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In 1941, there was much prejudice against the Japanese people residing in America. Many Japanese immigrants were centered on America's western coast. Seeing a threat of espionage against the US, the government relocated people of Japanese heritage who were living in California to internment camps farther inland.
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Post WWII many people moved to the southern states- the "sunbelt" region. This region felt a population increase of nearly double what the northern states were experiencing. Many people saught out these southern states for their job market, the better climate, and the lower taxes.
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After WWII many white people fled the crowded cities and moved the the suburbs. They were encouraged by government policies promoting their migration. The Federal Housing Authority and Veterans Administration made it easy to pay for a house in the suburbs. The government built highways to make it easy for men to commute to work. Also, tax deducations provided an extra incentives for people to move to the suburbs. While the white Americans moved out of the citites, many blacks stayed in cities.
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President Eisenhower rounded up over 1 million illegal Mexican immigrants for "Operation Wetback". The purpose of Operation Wetback was to return the illegal immigrants , who were undercutting the legal immigration for the Bracero program, back to Mexico.
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The Immegration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the "national origins quota" that had been put into place by previous legislation. It also doubled the total amount of immigrants allowed into the US annually. It allowed close relatives of indeviduals residing in the US to enter legally. But, the act also limited the number of immigrants from the Western Hemisphere allowed into the US.
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Once this legislation was passed the ethnic diversity in America rapidly changed. Less immigrants were comming in from Europe, while more Latin American and Asian immigrants were pouring in.
