Pontiacs Rebellion - Research Paper Example

The United States as we know of it today went through many phases of colonization and some brutal wars since; a Spanish voyager who was exploring new trade routes first discovered it. The indigenous people of the American lands had for long shielded their World from the colonizing European Powers. Little is known about the history of North America before. History records that the Native Americans came to the North American region 10,000 years before it became America. They crossed over from Asia by land, which would have been the Bering Straits.

They developed into individual nations who are believed to have spoken over 1000 languages. People within a group or nation however spoke the same language. The Native Americans were very spiritual people who did not believe people should rule or take over any land. They believed that all that God or the spirits had bestowed upon them belonged equally to everyone. These beliefs probably were the main influences of John Locke’s political theories in the first and second Treatises of Government.

The history of the Native Americans is filled with their struggle to hold on to these lands that they believed were given to them by a higher power. These indigenous people spread their roots over many different parts of North America and made use of what the land, water and life provided for them. It is recorded that there were almost 15 to 20 million. Native Americans already living in the land when Columbus sailed to the North American shores in 1492.. By the 19th century there were more Europeans in the America’s who had migrated from their respective countries.

The French tried to colonize North America and part of Canadian Quebec but the other European powers proved too much for them and eventually invaded parts of Louisiana and the Appalachian region and shared the Caribbean islands and some of Dominica with the British and the Dutch. Conflict started when the British tried to usurp the island of St Martin and thus started the seven years war between the French an the British between the years 1756 to 1763, which was a war fought between all the major European powers.

These wars also resulted in many treaties that changed the face of history. The notable among those is the treaty signed between the French and the British in 1763 called the treaty of Paris. This treaty was signed between the French and British along with the Spanish and in the presence of Portugal. By the signing of this treaty, most of the disputed territories were returned back to their original invaders with the British taking over a good part of North America. France lost its control over the Dominic islands and most of the Caribbean islands.

The treaty of Paris also coincided with the French-Indian war over possession of French Louisiana. The French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War, began in 1754. The cause of the war was a race for possession of the same territory, the trans-Appalachian region. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, France ceded almost all of its territory in mainland North America, but retained fishing rights off Newfoundland and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, two small islands where it could dry that fish.

In turn, France gained the return of its sugar colony,