The History of America

The arrival of the first European peoples in the region

The History of America began, from the Eurocentric point of view, with the arrival of the first navigators to the region, in the 15th century.

As for the people who already inhabited the lands, this origin is quite ancient. The first great navigations took place between the 15th and 18th centuries, when the need arose to overcome the trade barriers of the Middle Ages. Furthermore, the growth of European countries has awakened in governments the need to invest in discovering new continents.

America was found in 1492 by the navigator Christopher Columbus. Sponsored by the kings of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, the journey across the Atlantic Ocean had the objective of finding the Indies, thus creating a new trade route. As a result of this route, the newest territory was named “New World”.

However, it was only in 1504 that the navigator (in the service of Spain) American Vespúcio named the new lands as continent. It crossed all of Central America and entered the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, in honor of him, the continent was marked as America.

With developed technology, Portugal was really the first nation to face the seas in search of new areas. The economic need to expand their trade, combined with the ideas of catechization, further motivated the expeditions.

History of America: Assembly of the Colonial System  Within the history of America, the colonial system was characterized by monopoly relations between the colonizer and the dominated.The Europeans made adjustments in trade, but the colonies were responsible for producing wealth.The manufacturing methods were also determined by the colonizer and the main focus was always on profits, favoring the exploitation of slave labor.

Population

Present with more intensity in North America, they were small cities that tried to maintain the economic and social organization of Europe, the dominant continent. Families of Europeans, English and the natives themselves inhabited these regions and moved the domestic market and urban life. A certain freedom was valued, but religious traditions still held sway. Work in the production of food, clothing and candles also served to stimulate exports.

The thirteen English colonies, for example, were part of the settlement colonization. The inhabitants settled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains during the 17th century. They were:

• North Carolina

• South Carolina

• Connecticut

• Delaware

• Georgia

• Island of Rhodes

• Massachusetts

• Marilândia

• New Hampshire

• New York

• New Jersey

• Pennsylvania

• Virginia

In addition to determining occupation strategies, the English Crown also organized the entire administrative system of this type of colonial extension. Among the measures were the prohibitive laws, that is, the laws that concentrated the British control power of everything that was produced in the domains

Apart from the prohibitive ones, other laws sought to standardize what was manufactured:

Sugar Law : aimed at taxing goods imported from other regions, such as sugar, fabrics and coffee. 

Currency Law: sought the weakening of the colonists' currency and appreciation of the crown currency, thus leaving economic transactions in imperial hands. 

Quartering Act: Colonists were required to provide food to English soldiers on mission.

Obviously these oppressive laws ended up fueling the revolts and crises in the American colonies. The metropolis tried to break the colonial pact and impose a monopoly policy, in which only it could control the market.

In reaction, the thirteen colonies joined the struggle for independence. The main reasons were:

• Propagation of Enlightenment ideas in Europe;

• Seven Years' War, fought in North America between the British and the French;

• Implementation of the Tax on Tea;

• Insertion of the Stamp Act, ordered by Great Britain

Exploration

In the tropical zones of America, the only objective of the metropolises was the exploitation of natural resources, through agriculture and slavery. The internal market always depends on the wishes of the dominant ones. Only landowners and slaves had full power within the colonies. Therefore, many social clashes took place in these territories.

In short, all production in the south was aimed at export, while in the north for the domestic market.

In Brazil, during the pre-colonial period, the country was an exploration colony. Initially, brazilwood was the most withdrawn raw material, followed by sugar cane. In the case of sugarcane, the elaborate system was that of plantation, which brought together different characteristics: latifundia (large hectares of land), monoculture (plantation of only one raw material), the use of slave labor, especially Africans, and a focus on the absolute profit of the metropolis (Portugal).

It can be seen that this system hindered the country's internal economy, as nothing remained in place and residents did not have any autonomy from the metropolis.

America's History: Liberation

In the History of America, after a long process of exploration, the struggle for independence began in the 17th and 19th centuries. The French Revolution, among others, resulted in Italian and German Unification, and in the reformulation of the former colonies' modes of production. 

Even with the conquest of sovereignty, during the 19th century and half of the 20th, the domains remained economically dependent on France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

For this reason, the installation of American political organizations in other places happened intensely, during its phase of territorial expansion and also because of the combination of financial and industrial capitalism, especially after the Second Industrial Revolution.

From the 20th century, other facts also marked the history of America, such as the entry of Brazil and the United States into World War I and the Mexican Revolution.

In addition to these events, America witnessed the emergence of fascist, anarchist and communist ideologies in its territory, in which the most relevant period was the Cuban Revolution. The growth of Latin American populism, the dictatorships during the Cold War (United States x Soviet Union-USSR), the new methods of redemocratizing countries, especially after the fall of the USSR, are also recorded in American History.

Cultural, economic and political influence of America 

Due to the economic strengthening, the US exerts great power over international financial organizations, forcing the opening of the economy of underdeveloped countries, however, it has protectionist measures or policies regarding the entry of foreign products into its country by creating customs fees, in addition to exercise a strong power of manipulation over the international market.

In the cultural issue, Americans develop the dissemination of their culture, this occurs through mass communication vehicles such as American channels, series, music and especially cinema, which sells an image or a model to be followed, dictating to the world what should be done . . dressing, eating, buying, watching, listening, an example of this are the multinationals that change, with fast food, eating habits.

NAFTA and FTAA are undoubtedly US economic strategies, as they are the main nation in the Americas, they exercise a foreign policy that is aggressive towards other countries and favorable to their interests.

The US stands out as a power in the military segment. Since the end of World War II, high investments have been made in the armed forces, even during the Cold War period (between the capitalist USA and the socialist USSR) when war could break out at any moment.

Over the decades, one can clearly see the American bellicose power in the wars involving the Gulf War (1991), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). They invest 3% of their GNP, which corresponds to 25% of all defense spending in the world, in addition to a contingent of 1.5 million military personnel who represent 1% of the country's economically active population.

But all this hegemony could go into decline, according to some scholars, caused mainly by the drop in GNP from 1960 to 2003, the threat of countries like Japan, the Asian Tigers and Germany, the absorption of imported products by the Americans, leaving negative balances in their trade balance.