American Colonization

The first settlements on the American continent were attempted by Lief Ericson in 1000 AD. His family migrated from Norway to Iceland.  He made his first settlement in Greenland and made a second settlement in Vinland in Canada  Evidence of his settlement dated to 1050 AD and was abandoned. 

Christopher Columbus was sponsored by Spain to explore the western Atlantic.  He landed in San Salvador in the Bahamas in 1492. He then sailed to Haiti and Santa Domingo and established a Spanish settlement in 1493. He  sailed back to Spain in 1493 and reported his findings. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494 by Spanish Pope Alexander VI to allow Portugal to colonize parts of Spanish claimed land in South America. Portugal ended up with the Amazon and Brazil.

The French colonized Canada in 1535 and were pushed out by the British in 1763 in the French Indian War. France retained the Louisiana Territory that was purchased by the US in 1803.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader