unincorporated territories are accounted for, then credit would go to Christopher Columbus who

landed in Puerto Rico on his 1493 voyage. The Spanish set up the first settlements in Florida and
New Mexico such as Saint Augustine[75] and Santa Fe. The French established their own as well
along the Mississippi River. Successful English settlement on the eastern coast of North America
began with the Virginia Colony in 1607 at Jamestown and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620.
Many settlers were dissenting Christian groups who came seeking religious freedom. The
continent's first elected legislative assembly, Virginia's House of Burgesses created in 1619,
the Mayflower Compact, signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking, and the Fundamental
Orders of Connecticut, established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government
and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies. [76][77]
Most settlers in every colony were small farmers, but other industries developed within a few
decades as varied as the settlements. Cash crops included tobacco, rice, and wheat. Extraction
industries grew up in furs, fishing and lumber. Manufacturers produced rum and ships, and by
the late colonial period, Americans were producing one-seventh of the world's iron supply.
[78]
 Cities eventually dotted the coast to support local economies and serve as trade hubs. English
colonists were supplemented by waves of Scotch-Irish and other groups. As coastal land grew
more expensive, freed indentured servants pushed further west.[79]

European territorial claims during the mid-18th century

A large-scale slave trade with English privateers was begun. [80] The life expectancy of slaves was
much higher in North America than further south, because of less dis