Early Colonial History

Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.

Did you know that the first English settlement in the New World was a disaster? Perhaps you have heard the story of Roanoke before. Or maybe even the creation of Jamestown. But have you heard about the Spanish colonies in North America? Or the French and Dutch settlements? Colonial America was diverse, with European settlers from various nations coming to the New World and meeting the Native Americans who already inhabited the land. What were their interactions like? Was there any semblance of peace between all of the groups who called this land their home?

When Samuel de Champlain founded the colony of Quebec in 1608, he established elaborate gardens where he sowed French seeds he had brought with him and experimented with indigenous plants that he found in nearby fields and forests. In A Not-So-New World, Christopher Parsons observes how it was that French colonists began to learn about Native environments and claimed a mandate to cultivate vegetation that did not differ all that much from that which they had left behind.

Leading into the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower, Martyn Whittock examines the lives of the "saints" (members of the Separatist Puritan congregations) and "strangers" (economic migrants) on the original ship. Collectively, these people would become known to history as "the Pilgrims". The story of the Pilgrims has taken on a life of its own as one of our founding national myths - their escape from religious persecution, the dangerous transatlantic journey, that brutal first winter.

Discover the Origins of New Orleans: From Prehistory to Creole Society Explore the untold story of New Orleans in this comprehensive two-volume history, tracing the city’s evolution from its prehistoric roots to the vibrant Creole society of the mid-18th century. Volume I delves into the Mississippi Valley before European settlement, revealing the complex lives of Indigenous peoples, their trade networks, cultural practices, and stewardship of the land that would later become the Crescent City. Volume II chronicles New Orleans’ founding under French rule (1718–1763), a time of ...

Discover the Epic Birth of a Nation The Thirteen Colonies by Jaime Bedoya Martínez is a powerful and engaging journey through the early history of the United States. From the indigenous roots and European conquests to the foundation of each of the thirteen original colonies, this book brings to life the struggles, ideals, and triumphs that shaped America. With vivid storytelling and a humanist lens, Bedoya explores the political, cultural, and religious forces that drove English settlers across the Atlantic. Readers will uncover the foundations of democracy, freedom of religion, economic ...

The setting for this haunting and encyclopedically researched work of history is colonial Massachusetts, where English Puritans first endeavored to "civilize" a "savage" native populace. There, in February 1704, a French and Indian war party descended on the village of Deerfield, abducting a Puritan minister and his children. Although John Williams was eventually released, his daughter horrified the family by staying with her captors and marrying a Mohawk husband.

Philadelphia was the beating heart of America’s Revolution. From the mid-1750s to 1783, the city faced war, occupation, and social upheaval, yet emerged transformed and resilient. Volume II explores how Philadelphians navigated political change, economic disruption, and shifting communities, from artisans and merchants to women and African Americans. Discover the city’s role in the fight for independence, the rebirth of commerce and civic life, and the cultural and social networks that sustained its people. Through vivid detail and careful scholarship, this volume brings to life a ...

Discover & Enjoy America’s Past Like Never Before with An Immersive, Entertaining Journey into United States Early History! Step back into enchanting, early America & bring your family, friends, & history buffs on a thrilling adventure: the first European explorers to the United States birth! Much more than a game—it’s an interactive experience that blends entertainment, education, hilarity & healthy, friendly competition. You’ll Love: 1. 776+ Engaging, Entertaining Questions – Packed with hundreds of multiple-choice questions & long, intriguing, interesting fact filled, often ...

Why are the pyramids often explained through speculation, while Greek temples are widely credited to their builders? The answer highlights one of the most enduring misconceptions in human history. For centuries, the contributions of African civilizations have been overlooked, minimized, or misattributed in mainstream historical narratives. Monuments have been altered, records lost or ignored, and African achievements frequently credited to outsiders rather than to the cultures that created them. Hidden Origins examines this long-standing imbalance and presents research that places Africa at...

In One Volume, The Histories of Delaware, Maryland & New Jersey. Neither fully North nor South, the Mid-Atlantic states have always existed in between—and that's precisely what makes them essential to understanding America. This first volume explores three small states with outsized influence. Delaware, "The First State," may be tiny, but it became the legal home to more than half of America's corporations and cast the decisive first vote for the Constitution. Maryland, divided by the Chesapeake Bay and nearly torn apart during the Civil War, has reinvented itself repeatedly while ...

This series is written for non-Historians as a handy easy-to-read look at American History. It’s guaranteed to reveal to the average reader things about America’s story they don’t know. This first volume covers our Colonial History. It’s composed of short chapters each of which is designed to be a stand-alone treatment of a segment of time. It’s my hope that this book will contribute to our historical perspective the lack of which which I believe is a major factor in the current lack of appreciation for the uniqueness which is the United States of America.

In One Volume, The Histories of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, & Vermont Three small states. Three powerful stories. One surprising truth about American independence. New Hampshire's granite peaks and "Live Free or Die" spirit. Rhode Island's defiant embrace of religious freedom and stubborn autonomy. Vermont's revolutionary birth as an independent republic. These three states seem to have little in common—one stretches to Canada, another fits inside a county, the third wasn't even part of the original thirteen colonies. Yet together they reveal the radical diversity at the heart of the ...

In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today. In the late 1960s, an archivist in the New York State Library made an astounding discovery...

From a preeminent legal scholar, a “fascinating” and “masterful” (Wall Street Journal) history of the American Constitution's formative decades When the US Constitution won popular approval in 1788, it was the culmination of thirty years of passionate argument over the nature of...

Over the last generation, historians have broadened our understanding of colonial America by adopting both a trans-Atlantic and a trans-continental perspective, examining the interplay of Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the flow of goods, people, plants, animals, capital, and ideas. In this Very Short Introduction, Alan Taylor presents an engaging overview of the best of this new scholarship.

El Capitán: José Francisco Ortega and the Birth of California sweeps you onto a saddle beside the little-known scout who changed the map of the American West—then asks why you’ve never heard his name. Ride shotgun on Spain’s last great gamble. Feel fog sting your cheeks as Ortega becomes the first European to glimpse the vast, hidden harbor we now call San Francisco Bay—and watch an empire pivot on his hastily penciled sketch. Build a frontier—in real time. March into wildfire heat, mix adobe alongside Chumash brickmakers, and raise the guns of Santa Barbara’s presidio before ...

A book about a tiny island with a huge history, from a New York Times bestselling author of the forthcoming book, Valiant Ambition (May 2016) “For everyone who loves Nantucket Island this is the indispensable book.” —Russell Baker In his first book of history, Away Off Shore, New York...

In the beginning, North America was Indian country. But only in the beginning. After the opening act of the great national drama, Native Americans yielded to the westward rush of European settlers. Or so the story usually goes. Yet, for three centuries after Columbus, Native people controlled most of eastern North America and profoundly shaped its destiny. In Facing East from Indian Country, Daniel K. Richter keeps Native people center-stage throughout the story of the origins of the United States.

Beneath the cobblestone streets and candlelit alleys of America’s oldest cities lie stories that never made it into the history books. Urban Legends of America’s Oldest Cities explores the whispered tales born alongside the nation itself—accounts of vanished settlers, sealed-off tunnels, cursed buildings, and crimes buried deeper than any archive. These are the stories passed quietly from generation to generation, shaped by fear, guilt, and the lingering presence of unfinished business. Each chapter focuses on a different historic city, uncovering legends rooted in colonial life, ...