UNITED

PERIODS.

THE ABORIGINAL PERIOD.

1 Aboriginal. 2 Period of Discovery. 3 Colonia Period. 4 Revolutionary Period. 5 Nonal Period.

1. Aboriginal Period.

The time from the first peopling of America to its disco very by Columbus A. D. 1492.

2. The Period of Discovery. The time from 1492 to 1607. A. D.

3. The Colonial Period,

The time from 1607 to 1755. A. D.

The Indians were called such because of their resemblance to the people of India and because Columbus thought he had probably discovered a portion of India. Nothing is known of their origin, although some have supposed they were descended from the Israelites., The Indians inhabiting the greater part of the United States east of the Missouri river were Algonquins. The Huron and Iroquois lived around the shores of Lake Erie and Ontario. South of the Algonquins were the Cherokees and the Mobilian Nations. The Mobilian Nation embraced the Yamasees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws. The tribes west of the Mississippi River were the Dakotas, Comanches, Shoshones and the Aztecs. Among the tribes now extant are the Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks and Chickasaws in the Indian Territory.

THE PERIOD OF DISCOVERY.

4. The Revolutionary Period. The time from 1775 to 1789.

5. The National Period.

From the organization of the Government under the Constitution, to the present time.

The western Continent was first seen by Herjulf. son, an Icelander, in the year 986, A. D. The actual discovery of America was made by Lief Erickson, a Greenlander, fifteen years later, and during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries other voyages were made to this continent but without result.

In the year 1492, Christopher Columbus, a Genoese,

under the patronage of Ferdinand, King of Spain, sailed from the port of Palos, and landed on the Island which he named San Salvador. This navigator made three more voyages to the new land, but beyond its discovery little was done to render it of much value to Europe.

The first ones to discover the Continent af America proper, were John Cabot, a Venetian, and his son Sebastian, who, sailing under English colors, in 1497 reached the coast of North America and explored it from what is now New England to Labrador. The Greater Antilles were occupied and settled by the Spaniards, from whence they sent out many expeditions to the main land.

SUMMARY OF SPANISH EXPEDITIONS.
Ojeda, 1510, settled Darien; from which place.
Balboa, 1513, started and discovered the Pacific.
Ponce de Leon, 1512, discovered Florida.
Cordova, 1517, discovered Yucatan.
Grijalva, 1518, explored Mexico.
Cortez, 1519-21, conquered Mexico.

De Soto, Governor of Cuba, landed in Florida, and going north and west discovered the Mississippi, 1539. Melendez, attempted to settle Florida, where, 1565, he founded St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U. S. In the meantime other nations were also engaged in exploring the new world, chief among which were the French and English.

PROMINENT FRENCH EXPLORERS.

Verazani, 1524, sailed along the eastern coast from North Carolina to Newfoundland. This was made one of the grounds of the French claim during the French and Indian war.

Cartier, 1534, sailed up the St. Lawrence, and tried to form a settlement on Orleans Island, but failed; he tried it again in 1541, but again was unsuccessful.

Ribaut, 1562, tried to start a Huguenot colony at Port Royal (N. C.), but failed. Two years later,

Laudonnierre, 1564, came for the same purpose, but the settlers were attacked by the Spaniards and nearly all put to death.

De Monts, 1603, obtained the grant of Acadia and

settled it at Port Royal, 1605. Champlain, 1608, founded Quebec and, 1609, discovered the lake called after him.

PROMINENT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. Frobisher, 1576, in search of a northwesterly route to India, cruised around northern British America.

Drake, 1579, while on a plundering expedition, entered San Francisco harbor, and named the California coast New Albion.

Gilbert, 1583, took possession of Newfoundland for England, but his ship was lost on the homeward voyage and all perished.

Raleigh, 1584, received a grant of territory from Queen Elizabeth, and sent out au exploring expedition under Amidas and Barlow who named the tract they explored Virginia.

Gosnold, 1602, explored the Massachusetts coast and named Cape Cod.

NAMES GIVEN BY EXPLORERS. Acadia, which consisted of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; Canada, which included the tract along the St. Lawrence and great lakes; Virginia, the district from the St. Lawrence to Albemarle Sound; New Spain, or Mexico and Central America; New France, including Acadia, Canada, and much other territory, overlapping the English claims; New England, a name given later to the northern part of Virginia; and New Netherland, the name of the Dutch claim.

From these facts we find that the claims of the four strongest powers were:

France:-Canada and Acadia and the district north of New York Bay, besides a portion in the south called Carolina.

England: From Labrador to Florida, extending indefinitely westward.

Spain:-The region bordering on the Gulf of Mexico including Florida,