The History of North America

North America enters this timeline before Columbus: Norse sailors winter in Vinland around 1000, while Cahokia rises near the Mississippi and indigenous nations shape the continent for centuries more. European colonization then rewrites everything, through conquest, disease and settlement from New Spain to New France to the thirteen colonies. The American Revolution turns colonies into a republic, the Civil War decides what kind of republic it will be, and Canada and Mexico chart their own paths through confederation and revolution. The twentieth century sees the United States become an industrial, then nuclear, then digital superpower whose choices echo through every other page of this site. The events below run era by era, each linked to its full story.