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HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERY.

REFERENCES.

General. George Bancroft, History of the United States, i. 7-83; Richard Hildreth, History of the United States, i. 35-98; Bryant and Gay, A Popular History of the United States, i. 1-267, well illustrated; T. W. Higginson, A Larger History of the United States, pp. 1-107, finely illustrated; John Fiske, The Discovery of America, 2 vols., graphic and clear in style; J. A. Doyle, History of the United States, pp. 1-40; Epochs of American History, R. G. Thwaits, The Colonies, pp. 1-44; American History Series, G. P. Fisher, The Colonial Era, pp. 1-29.

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Special. For Geography and Physiography: N. S. Shaler, The Physiography of North America, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, iv., pp. i.-xxx.; N. S. Shaler, The United States, vol. i., or his Story of our Continent; J. D. Whitney, The United States, pp. 1–128.

For Prehistoric America: J. W. Powell, The Forum, viii. 489; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, i. 329-444; Nadaillac, Prehistoric America; American History Leaflets, No. 3, Extracts from the Sagas; Old South Leaflets, No. 31, "The Voyages to Vinland."

For the Indians: F. Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, pp. 1-45, also Introduction to his Jesuits in North America; N. S. Shaler, Story of our Continent, Chap. iv.; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, i. 283-316; H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, i. 1-28; J. W. Powell, The Forum, xv. 343; G. Bancroft, History of the United States, ii. 86-136. For Columbus and the Period of Discovery: C. K. Adams, Columbus, (Makers of America Series); P. L. Ford, Writings of Columbus, N.Y. 1892 ; W. Irving, Life of Columbus; Century Magazine, May and October, 1892, illustrated; Harper's Magazine, October, 1892; Magazine of American History, vols. for 1892; "Where did Columbus Land?" Nineteenth Century, October, 1892; " Amerigo Vespucci," Harper's Magazine, May, 1892; Amer

ican History Leaflets, No. 1, Letter of Columbus; No. 9, Voyages of John Cabot; Old South Leaflets, No. 17, Verrazzano's Voyage, 1524; No. 20, Coronado's Letter to Mendoza, 1540; No. 29, The Discovery of America ; No. 33, Columbus's Letter to Sanches; No. 34, Americus Vespucius's Account of his First Voyage; No. 35, Cortez's Account of the City of Mexico; No. 36, The Death of De Soto; No. 37, The Voyage of the Cabots. F. Tarducci, John and Sebastian Cabot (translated from the Italian).

1. North America: its Inhabitants. (1492.)-Four hundred years ago the territory now known as the United States was a vast wilderness, occupied rather than settled by numerous tribes of red men, or Indians, as they have since been called. Roving from place to place in search of game upon which they chiefly depended for food, they seem to have made little progress toward civilization during the centuries of their occupation of the land. They tilled a little land, but in a rude way, raising tobacco and a few vegetables, and also maize. Occasionally they built rude timber houses of one story, but for the most part they lived in rude huts, or in wigwams, a kind of tent made by setting poles in the ground and bending them over or bringing them together at the top, and covering the whole with skins or with mats. In the southwest the tribes were more civilized and built more substantial dwellings. As the Indian men disdained to work, nearly all the manual labor fell upon the women.

It is possible that this condition of the hunter stage remaining so long unchanged was due in a great degree to the absence of native animals which could be domesticated, as was remarkably the case in the Mississippi valley and on the Atlantic slope. The turkey is the only domestic animal North America has furnished; for though the horse existed at one time in America, it was not known to the Indian.

Farther to the south, on the borders of Mexico and within its bounds, and also in Central America, there were men showing a considerable degree of civilization, but with them

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the Indian of the central portions of the continent seems to have had little if any intercourse.

In Ohio and in some of the western states many remains in the form of mounds and enclosures have been found, and the implements and ornaments discovered in these have led

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some to believe that a race superior to the Indians inhabited this continent centuries before its discovery by Europeans; but recent investigations show that the Mound Builders, as they have been called, were probably Indians.

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2. The Indians. (1492.) (1492.) At the time of the discovery of the continent, the present territory of the United States was

occupied by a race which has been divided into four principal groups based upon language:

(1) The Algonkins, the most numerous, who held the larger part of the country from South Carolina and Tennessee to the Great Lakes, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. They were very rude and warlike.

(2) The Iroquois, who were chiefly found in what is now central and western New York and in North Carolina. Those in New York were the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and were known by the name of the "Five Nations." When those who lived in North Carolina — the Tuscaroras joined them in 1713, they were called the "Six Nations." The Hurons, who lived near the lake of the same name, though Iroquois, were hostile to the "Five Nations."

(3) The Southern Indians, sometimes called the Muskogee family, occupied the country south of the Algonkins. The most important of this group were the Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Seminoles. They were less savage than the other groups and more readily adopted the habits and customs of civilization.

(4) The Sioux or Dakotas occupied the country along and beyond the Mississippi River, and were the wildest of all.

3. The Northmen. (900-1000.) There is but little doubt that, somewhere about the year 1000, Norwegian sailors, often called Northmen, had extended their voyages from Iceland to Greenland, and thence to Labrador; possibly they may have sailed along the coast of North America as far as Rhode Island, which some think is the Vinland of the old Sagas. Some even think that traces of their settlements can still be seen within the bounds of the present United States. Doubtless the news of their discovery was carried home; but Norway was an out-of-the-way country whose inhabitants were

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