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The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European settlements from the start of colonization of America until their incorporation into the United States. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major colonization programs in eastern North America.〔 Small early attempts—such as the English Lost Colony of Roanoke—often disappeared; everywhere the death rate of the first arrivals was very high. Nevertheless, successful colonies were established. European settlers came from a variety of social and religious groups. No aristocrats settled permanently, but a number of adventurers, soldiers, farmers, and tradesmen arrived. Diversity was an American characteristic as the Dutch of New Netherland, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden, the English Quakers of Pennsylvania, the English Puritans of New England, the English settlers of Jamestown, and the "worthy poor" of Georgia, came to the new continent and built colonies with distinctive social, religious, political and economic styles. Non-British colonies were taken over and the inhabitants were all assimilated, unlike in Nova Scotia, where the British expelled the French Acadian inhabitants. There were no major civil wars among the 13 colonies, and the two chief armed rebellions (in Virginia in 1676 and in New York in 1689–91) were short-lived failures. Wars between the French and the British—the French and Indian Wars and Father Rale's War—were recurrent, and involved French support for Wabanaki Confederacy attacks on the frontiers. By 1760 France was defeated and the British seized its colonies. On the eastern seaboard of what would become the United States, the four distinct British regions were: New England, the Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake Bay Colonies (Upper South) and the Lower South. Some historians add a fifth region, the Frontier, which was never separately organized.〔Cooke, ed. ''North America in Colonial Times'' (1998)〕 By the time European settlers arrived around 1600–1650, the majority of the Native Americans living in the eastern United States had been ravaged by new diseases, introduced to them decades before by explorers and sailors.〔Richard Middleton and Anne Lombard, ''Colonial America: A History to 1763'' (4th ed. 2011) p. 23〕 See timeline of Colonial America for list of historical events. ==Goals of colonization== Colonizers came from European kingdoms with highly developed military, naval, governmental and entrepreneurial capabilities. The Spanish and Portuguese centuries-old experience of conquest and colonization during the Reconquista, coupled with new oceanic ship navigation skills, provided the tools, ability, and desire to colonize the New World. These efforts were managed respectively by the Casa de Contratación and the Casa da Índia. England, France and the Netherlands had also started colonies in both the West Indies and North America. They had the ability to build ocean-worthy ships, but did not have as strong a history of colonization in foreign lands as did Portugal and Spain. However, English entrepreneurs gave their colonies a base of merchant-based investment that seemed to need much less government support.〔Wallace Notestein, ''English People on Eve of Colonization, 1603–30'' (1954)〕 Initially, matters concerning the colonies were dealt with primarily by the Privy Council and its committees. The first special body convened to advise on colonial (plantation) questions was the Commission of Trade set up in 1625. From 1696 until the end of the revolution, colonial affairs were the responsibility of the Board of Trade in partnership with the relevant secretaries of state,〔(Board of Trade and Secretaries of State: America and West Indies, Original Correspondence ), The National Archives〕〔Charles McLean Andrews, (Colonial Self-Government, 1652-1689 ), (1904)〕〔Charles M. Andrews, (British Committees, Commissions, and Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675 ), (1908)〕 which changed from the Secretary of State for the Southern Department to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1768.〔(American and West Indian colonies before 1782 ), The National Archives〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Colonial history of the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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