The history of the United States is what happened in the past in the United States, a country in North America.

Native Americans have lived there for thousands of years, long before Europeans went there. In 1492, Christopher Columbus went to America. In 1607, English people went to Jamestown, Virginia. This was the first successful town in the United States. The American colonies were settled mostly by England, who had thirteen colonies in what would become the United States. People from France, Spain, and the Netherlands also settled in America. While the english colonies were growing, many Native Americans died of disease or lost their land. By 1733, there were 13 colonies. They were the first states. In 1775, at Lexington and Concord, a war between the colonies and England called the Revolutionary War started. This war started because the American colonists believed that they were not being treated equally to the Englishmen living in England. On July 4, 1776, people from 13 colonies created the United States Declaration of Independence. This said that they were free from England. George Washington helped lead the Americans during the Revolutionary War, which the Americans won. After the Revolution, the United States set about becoming a new nation. The leaders of the states created a constitution in 1787 and a Bill of Rights in 1791. These were based on the idea of "social contracts" by John Locke and others. In the early 1800s, the new nation faced many controversial issues, such as slavery. During the 1800s, the United States gained much more land in the West and began to become industrialized. In 1861, several states in the South left the United States to start a new country called the Confederate States of America. From 1861 to 1865, the North and South fought a war called the American Civil War over states' rights, slavery and the type of country the United States would become. After the North won the war, all of the states that had left joined the United States again. The country went through reconstruction, which meant putting the country back together. In the late 1800s, many people came to the United States from Europe and worked in large factories. This period also led to the rise of rich businessmen, which is why it is called the Gilded Age. In the early 20th century, the United States became a world power. It was also one of the largest economies in the world. The United States fought in World War I and World War II. Between the wars, there was a period of "boom and bust", or a period of good times followed by a period of bad times. The boom period was known as the Roaring Twenties. The bust period was known as the Great Depression. The Great Depression ended with World War II. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered a time known as the Cold War. During the Cold War, the United States government spent a lot of money on defense. It fought in Korea and Vietnam. It also put Neil Armstrong and other Americans in space. During this time, African-Americans, Chicanos, and women fought for more rights. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States started to make fewer things in factories than they used to. The Cold War ended in 1991 when the Soviet Union fell apart. The Middle East became important in American foreign policy, especially after the September 11 attacks in 2001.