Elements of American Culture and Civilization

1497 Christopher Columbus discovered the island that he called San Salvador (Saint Savior. Neither he nor his men understood that they made the greatest discovery in the world since the birth of Christ. It meant the gateway to a New World full of resources of any kind and a labor force that was no longer available back in Europe. Pope Alexander VI in Vatican encouraged Spain and Portugal to conquer the New World because the two countries showed allegiance to the catholic religion. While Portugal concentrated more on the colonies in Africa and S-E Asia, Spain concentrated on Central America and South America, except Brazil that remained Portuguese in cultural manifestation. The present day U.S.A. was conquered by the U.K. under Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII, who invested heavily in ship building, constructing a powerful navy. Sir Walter Raleigh became the commander of the British fleet and was practicing commerce by day and piracy by night. He promised his sovereign that by conquering North America he would give the name of Virginia to The New World which he did. But the way to the rest was blocked for the British by the Spaniard and the Portuguese, so Elizabeth challenged Spain at sea and defeated the Invincible Armada and the way to the New World was open. The U.S. to be was conquered in two periods / steps that account for the character of culture, language, civilization and art. By conquering the east part, the British set up Virginia and the two Carolinas and a transfer of the British way of living, of institutions and of population began. English beginnings in America A fist element that opposed the colonists was made up of the Amerindians (Red Skins) that had lived there since times out of mind. Because the newcomers were better equipped, had guns and were very resolute in setting the foot on a property the Indians were pushed little by little to the highlands, into the woods where they lived in reservations. Because the colonists found out the Indians had no natural immunity against measles, mumps or smallpox they used to send an ill person into the reservation and the Indians died in hundreds. In the beginnings there was a lot of food and resources but the climate was very harsh (extremely cold winters and extremely hot and wet summers) and there was a scarcity of women. Fact is the colonists were not all of them people of great respectability, the infusion of population into the five great colonies of the U.K. meant an opportunity for the impoverished and once in a lifetime occasion for prisoners, criminals, robbers, thieves to change and reconstruct a character in new circumstances. U.K. colonies still under influence: U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, Australia, India, Gibraltar.

Spending the longer evenings without a family maddened, so to speak, the tough men in the New World. From the countries back home letters, portraits and magazines used to be sent for them to choose a future wife or consort. In fact, two ways of life started in the country: The South a vast stretch of land to the Mexico Bay including Florida and New Orleans, was employed for agriculture. Rich crops of cereals but mostly cotton were grown in the South. The most important city used to be Charleston and little by little the land owners became very rich. That was possible because the capital was doubly rewarded for the colonists: they received land and money for labor force only. Two political parties came into being in that economic development of the country: the Democrats and the Republicans to become. Even a specific architecture started to be built of which manor houses or mansions appeared everywhere. That kind of imposing lodgings was inspired by the southern European temples in Greece and Rome. In fact, there will always be a French element kept in the civilization of the South because of some reasons: a) There has always been the ideal of a poor English person to go to Paris b) Because the French manners were believed more courteous and polite c) Because the middle part of the country practically one third of the surface today was bought from French as Louisiana Purchase. *It was in the period when the North was buying rifles from Napoleon* Talleyrand sold Louisiana to the Americans because Napoleon was interested to conquer Russia. The North In the evening, the families were busy to weave linen, make clothes and boots and spend a quiet evening by reading as back in the U.K. Products that came from the U.K.: tea, spices, alcohol. The seaports in the North were developed so that the large ships could enter the harbor and building their own ships started to be set up. Industry by far became the most important sector of the activity in the North which kept thousands of workers a more secure job. The cultural life flourished because of the money they produced and the cities they built. The institutions of the country became more important and were housed by imposing buildings: library, stock market, but the cities were also dirty, full of sailors in transit and prostitution. With the American Revolution, the American War of Independence, America became independent from the U.K. We understand that there was an awareness of American interests and they needed a powerful country to present to the world.