View source for About North American history

'''North America''' has a very extensive history, beginning with the Indigenous population's arrival from Siberia some 50,000 years ago and their settlement in the American supercontinent after crossing the Bering land bridge, a bridge which is believed to once have existed across what is today the Bering strait. Events occuring throughout North American history include the fall of the Olmec civilization, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Maya, the establishment of the British (and later French) colony of Canada, and the establishment of the United States. Manifest destiny, the term used to describe the expansion of the US further westward, and the conquest of territories "from sea to shining sea" by European settlers, had a large impact on the Native populations and on North American history in general.

For much of modern history, emigration to North America served as a safety valve for European countries.  It was a place they could dump excess population, the poor, and minorities.

During World War I and II, North America served as a final reservoir of strength for crumbling European civilizations.  In the words of Winston Churchill, "We shall never surrender and even if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old."