The first ihabitants of the US were the indians, who came from Asia there. They were spreading all over the America. Christopher Colombus discovered America many centuries later in 1492. He was the first European, who landed there, but another sources say, that America was discoverd by Vikings in the 10 century, but we haven ´t any proofs.
Christopher Colombus, thinking, that he landed in India, named original inhabitants as the Indians. The name of America came from Amerigo Vespuci, famous Italian discoverer. The settlement by Europeans was very slow. The first colony was founded in 1607. The small ship called Mayflower brought a group of English Puritans. They escaped from England to avoid persecution after their conflict with King James I and his Church.
They are known as Pilgrim fathers and they landed near present day Boston, on the place which they called Plymouth. Half of them died during the first winter. Those who survive celebrated their first harvest as the Thanksgiving Day. The Pilgrim Fathers were followed by thousands of the Europeans in the next years.
There were 13 colonies under the rule of England along the Atlantic coast in the 18th century. France has got its colonies in the west. There were wars between these 2 rivals, which lasted for a long time. Britain needed money for the warfare and so the governement raised the taxes on the colonies. It caused the rebelion there. In 1773, the North Americans, dressed as the Indians, emptied the cargo of the British tea into the sea in Boston. It is called as Boston Tea Party and it marked the beginning of the War of Independence ( 1775 - 1783 ). The Declaration of Independence was addopted on the 4th of July 1776 and the United States of America were established. Britain recognized the United States in 1783. The American Constitucion was addopted in 1788 and George Washington was elected as the first president next year.
The 19th century was the turning point in the immigration. Milions of the Europeans arrived to America. Most of them settled on the North, where the industry was growing very rapidly. For these people was the South, with its slavery system, like a foreign country. But the prospority of the South depended on the hard work of the slaves. These questions, about economic and social differents and election of Abrham Lincol as the president ( who was against the slavery ) led to the Civil War ( 1861 - 1865 ). The United States of America was separated in two countries.