Before Europeans arrived, diverse Indigenous cultures thrived across North America. The Ancestral Puebloans (Southwest) built cliff dwellings, the Mississippians (Southeast) built huge mounds like Cahokia, and the Iroquois (Northeast) formed a powerful political league (the Iroquois Confederacy). Most tribes relied on hunting, fishing, and farming—especially maize (corn), which allowed populations to grow.
In April 1775, British troops marched to Concord, Massachusetts, to seize colonial weapons. At Lexington and Concord , the “shot heard ‘round the world” started the war. american history beginnings to 1877 myworld interactive
The Proclamation of 1763 banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachians—enraging land-hungry colonists. Then came a series of acts: Sugar Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767) . Colonists shouted, “No taxation without representation!” They boycotted British goods, formed the Sons of Liberty (led by Samuel Adams), and staged protests like the Boston Tea Party (1773) dumping tea into the harbor. In April 1775, British troops marched to Concord,