A History of North American Settlers

The Age of Discovery

The history of North American exploration dates back more than a millennium and involves people from around the world. When European settlers came to North America, their goals were to map out and explore the vast land and advance their economic interests. As with most exploration, profit was one of the main motivators.

But the very first people to ever settle in North America weren’t from Europe. It’s widely accepted that the first settlers were hunter-gatherers that came to North America via the Bering Land Bridge that once connected Asia and North America, an ecosystem now known as the mammoth steppe. This land bridge existed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to low sea levels in the Last Glacial Maximum, the time during the Last Glacial Period when ice sheets reached their greatest extent. These settlers spread throughout both North and South America approximately 14,000 years ago.

A lot has happened since then, to say the least. The Age of Discovery is presumed to have started with the Vikings. It is generally understood that Scandinavian Vikings discovered North America during their maritime explorations of the late 10th century, which later resulted in the Norse colonization of Greenland and of L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. This puts the Vikings in America around 500 years before Columbus. Their voyages were not widespread knowledge, however, leaving the continent open for a historic discovery.

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Photo: shutterstock and Camille Seaman

The Age of Exploration

You can’t talk about the history of North American exploration without mentioning Christopher Columbus. Traditionally speaking, the Age of Exploration starts with Columbus in 1492. When he and his crew realized that they had found a completely new continent, numerous ships from Europe were sent to explore, conquer, and permanently settle the Americas.

The Age of Exploration typically refers to the time between the 1500s and the 1800s. During this period, several European empires launched major colonization programs, including Spain, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Britain. While most intended to settle in America, the Spanish motive in entering the new continent was different: Make a fortune off the new land and bring it home to Spain. They defined three goals: Conquer, convert, and become rich. The Spanish believed they had to save the indigenous people from eternal damnation by converting them to Christianity.

Portugal claimed lands in North America and colonized much of eastern South America, naming it Santa Cruz and Brazil. The French colonies included the eastern parts of North America that Spain had not conquered, a number of Caribbean islands, and small coastal parts of South America. Approximately 16,000 French people came to the Americas during colonization. The great majority of them became subsistence farmers along the St. Lawrence River.

The British were late to the game and started their colonization almost a century after Spain. After several failed attempts, their first successful permanent settlement was in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The Dutch did less colonizing in North America than other empires, but did found the ‘New Netherlands’ colony on today’s east coast of the United States. They later established that the southern tip of Manhattan Island was to serve as the seat of the colonial government, and it was named New Amsterdam. In 1664, the English took New Amsterdam and renamed it New York City after the Duke of York.

While cruising with us, you’ll sail the famous routes that these brave explorers sailed all those years ago. Join us on this adventure!