Books
Period
Colonial Americas
1492–1825 CE
Colonial Americas covers the transformation of the Western Hemisphere after sustained contact with Europe from 1492. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and British empires established colonies through conquest, settlement, alliance and war, while Indigenous peoples resisted, adapted and negotiated with expanding imperial powers. African slavery and the Atlantic trade became central to many colonial economies and societies.
The period extends into the early nineteenth century because colonial rule ended at different times across the hemisphere. It includes Spanish imperial America, French and British North America, plantation societies, migration, religious settlement and the political crises that led toward independence. The branch overlaps deliberately with later national histories during the revolutionary transition.
Related people for Colonial Americas
Absalom Jones1746–1818 Antonio de Mendoza1490–1552 Benjamin Banneker1731–1806 Benjamin Franklin1706–1790 Bess Throckmorton1565–c. 1647 Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck1644–c. 1660s Charles II of England1630–1685 Charles I of England1600–1649 Charles V1500–1558 Christopher Gist1706–1759 Edward Braddock1695–1755 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Francisco Tenamaztledied 1556 Francis Drake1540–1596 Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon1635–1719 George Washington1732–1799 Henry IV of France1553–1610 Hernán Cortés1485–1547 John Carverc. 16th century–1621 John Tradescant the Younger1608–1662 Jonathan Edwards1703–1758 Lawrence Washington1718–1752 Louis XIV1638–1715 Martín Cortésc. 1522–1569 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla1753–1811 Myles Standish1584–1656 Napoleon1769–1821 Oliver Cromwell1599–1658 Pedro de Alvarado1486–1541 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Phillis Wheatley1753–1784 Richard Allen1760–1831 Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury1563–1612 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex1565–1601 Samuel de Champlain1574–1635 Walter Raleigh1552–1618 William Bradford1590–1657
Non-Fiction
13 Best Non-Fiction Books About Colonial Americas
Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.
