American history

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

I want suggestions for good reading on pre-U.S.A. north America. I'm more interested in European colonial powers than Injuns at the moment (just to clarify what I'm looking for).

sort it out !!!


P.S. cheers

Edit: P.P.S. I'm also wanting to find out more about the urbanisation of the United States.

[matteus the inbred]

try
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_America
for loads of reading suggestions...can't personally vouch for any of 'em though, that wasn't my period of history at uni!
i think the first English colonial activities took place during James I's reign and were on and off for quite some time before they really settled.

Herbert Asbury's Gangs of New York is a good read for a picture of early urban life, more 18-19th century though.

[Redleg]

I want suggestions for good reading on pre-U.S.A. north America. I'm more interested in European colonial powers than Injuns at the moment (just to clarify what I'm looking for).

sort it out !!!


P.S. cheers

Edit: P.P.S. I'm also wanting to find out more about the urbanisation of the United States.

I am at work right now - but give me a little more detail on what you want. I have some books at home that might fit the description that you are looking for.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Matteus: thanks for that. Wasn't Elizabeth the one who got English colonization going? I was thinking of all the Elizabethan planters who were settling Ireland and the Americas at the same time and applying the same methods. I think it was then.
Anyway, that's the sort of stuff that I'm looking for. cheers.

The urbanisation topic was more about the drift of population from the country to the city that took place in the U.S.A.

I'll have to look at the "Gangs of New York" book sometime though.

Redleg:
I'd just like some colonial history from the 16th century to the end of the 18th century. I'm most interested by the French at the moment but Spanish and English/British recommendations would be excellent.
And Russian in Alaska (I'm not sure if that's in the time period or not).

I'd like to find out about American industrialisation and rural migration to the cities.
Also some things about heavy industry in the country like the small mining and steel towns in Appalachia.

[matteus the inbred]

Wasn't Elizabeth the one who got English colonization going?

you're undoubtedly right there, and clearly know a lot more than i do!
John Cabot was one of her explorers, i think...no, having checked, he was one of Henry VII's and was lost at sea in 1497. He possibly voyaged to Newfoundland...

If you haven't already, check out the Jamestown mystery, the whole story of the first British colony in the Americas (in Virginia, 1607) is definitely an interesting one.

[Redleg]

Matteus: thanks for that. Wasn't Elizabeth the one who got English colonization going? I was thinking of all the Elizabethan planters who were settling Ireland and the Americas at the same time and applying the same methods. I think it was then.
Anyway, that's the sort of stuff that I'm looking for. cheers.

The urbanisation topic was more about the drift of population from the country to the city that took place in the U.S.A.

I'll have to look at the "Gangs of New York" book sometime though.

Redleg:
I'd just like some colonial history from the 16th century to the end of the 18th century. I'm most interested by the French at the moment but Spanish and English/British recommendations would be excellent.
And Russian in Alaska (I'm not sure if that's in the time period or not).

I'd like to find out about American industrialisation and rural migration to the cities.
Also some things about heavy industry in the country like the small mining and steel towns in Appalachia.

I don't have any in my library at home in that range. And I can not remember any in that time period that I could recommend as worthy of reading.

I am sure a google search of say Amazon might get some decent recommendations. However your rural migration question centers primarily after the colonial period if I remember my history correctly.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Red:
What books were you thinking about recommending to me before I explained what I was initially looking for?

[Alexanderofmacedon]

My grandma is mormon. You could read "The Book of Mormon"

It's great (so I've heard) I never really read it.

[Brenus]

For the French side, few tracks:

Giovanni da Verranzano
In 1524 Verranzano explored the New World for France. He searched for a route to the Indies through the continent. Verranzano sailed up and down the East Coast of America looking for a passage that would take him further west. He could not find one so he returned to France.

Etienne Brule 1592?-1633), a noted French adventurer, was the first European to reach Lake Ontario. He arrived there in 1615 while on a mission for Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer who founded the Canadian city of Quebec. Brule may have been the first European to see Lakes Erie, Huron, and Superior.

Jacques Cartier (1491?-1557), was a French navigator. His explorations established the basis for France's claims to territory in what is now Canada. In 1535, he led the first European expedition up the St. Lawrence River.

Samuel de Champlain (1570?-1635), was a French explorer who founded the Canadian city of Quebec. He helped colonize French North America, once known as New France, and is often called the Father of New France. He founded Quebec.

Sieur des Groseilliers (1618?-1696?), was a French explorer and fur trader. Historians believe he and his brother-in-law, Pierre Esprit Radisson, probably were the first whites to explore north and west of the Great Lakes.

Sieur de Monts (1560?-1630?), was a French explorer and colonizer who settled the region of Acadia in Canada. King Henry IV of France made de Monts a lieutenant general and the governor of Acadia. The king also granted de Monts a monopoly over the fur trade in Acadia on the condition that he brings settlers there.

Jean Nicolet (1598-1642), also spelled Nicollet, was a French explorer, fur trader, and interpreter. He was the first European to enter Lake Michigan and travel in what is now Wisconsin, adding to French knowledge of North America.

Pierre Esprit Radisson (1640?-1710?), was a French explorer and fur trader. He and his brother-in-law, Medard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers, were probably the first white people to explore the area north and west of the Great Lakes.

Sieur de Roberval (1500?-1560), was a French nobleman and soldier and an explorer and colonizer in Canada. He made the first French attempt to establish a permanent colony in America, but failed.

Henri de Tonty (1650-1704), was a French fur trader, explorer, and assistant to the French explorer Sieur de La Salle. Tonty's name is sometimes spelled Tonti.

Sieur de la Salle, Robert Cavalier, (1643-1687), was a French explorer. He led the first European expedition to track the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France. His many explorations strengthened France's hopes for a great empire in the New World.
Jacques Marquette (1637-1675), was a French explorer and Roman Catholic missionary in North America. He joined the French-Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet on a trip down the Mississippi River. They were probably the first Europeans to explore the upper Mississippi and parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Louis Jolliet (1645-1700), also spelled Joliet, was a French-Canadian explorer who led an expedition down the Mississippi River. He and Jacques Marquette, a French missionary, were probably the first white explorers to reach the upper Mississippi and parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Nouvelle France:
Giovanni Verrazzano was the first explorer commissioned by the French King. He described the Cost from florida to Terra-Neuva and give its name to the Nouvelle France.
It was in 1524 (Under Francis the 1st . Ten years later Jacques Cartier discovered the St Laurent Gulf and explored the river in 2 campaigns.
Under Louis the XIV, the Nouvelle-France was the name for the entire region of North America under French Administration before 1763. In it biggest size before the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the Nouvelle-France included five colonies having each their administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Terra-Nova and Louisiana.
The Western Border of these colonies was open on all the western side of the continent, without clear limits.

I can't paste the map.:furious3:

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Good post man!:2thumbsup:

[Redleg]

Its been awhile since I read anything on that time period but a few that might be interesting

Robert J. Allison, ed., The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself (1995; originally published, 1791).

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/equiano.html

Colin Calloway, ed., The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America (1994).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312083505/102-5197398-2662512?v=glance&n=283155

Some possible suggestions of other books are included in the Amazon description

Peter C. Mancall, ed., Envisioning America: English Plans for the Colonization of NorthAmerica, 1580-1640 (1995).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312096704/ref=sib_dp_bod_ex/102-5197398-2662512?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S004#reader-page

There are some good ones on the Spanish Colonization also but I can not remember them.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Brenus:
thanks for the pointers. Do you know if they wrote first hand accounts and if they are easily available?

Red:
thanks for that, especially the primary sources. I'll look them up.

[Duke Malcolm]

"Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World" Is good for British colonisation of North America. I recently found out that the self-styled "Pilgrims" only made up about a third of the "Mayflower" and that other folks on the ship included early types of communists and just others seeking, well, liberty. I also found out that the Boston Tea Party occured not because tea taxes were too high (they were, in fact, terribly low, recently lowered to threepence per pound of tea) but was committed by tea smugglers who would have lost business due to the newly lowered tea prices...

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

cheers Malc, I've been meaning to have a look at that book for a good while now. It seems to wind up the PC thugs so it must be a fun read.

[Brenus]

Some did. Unfortunately for you, it is in French XV century. However, go to Canadian sites (Quebec) and their sites have probably translations in English: www.collectionscanada.ca/explorers is a little bit for children. Search for discoverers will give you a good site.

[Kickius Buttius]

This is a good book for reading a bit more than just the English side of things (includes the French, Dutch, Spanish, and even the much under-studied Russian attempts in Alaska):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142002100/qid=1137615309/ref=br_lf_b_18/102-3976376-7359315?n=465264&s=books&v=glance

In case the link doesn't work, it is American Colonies: The Settling of North America by Alan Taylor