Riverboat Pilot

Twenty-one-year-old Samuel Clemens decided he needed a change. He would leave his dull job as a printer and head to New Orleans. From there, he would get passage on a ship to South America. He hoped to have great adventures and become a wealthy businessman.

France Stakes a Claim

Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary, J arrived in Quebec, New France (present-day Canada), in 1666.

First Peoples

Prehistoric North American peoples traveled in small nomadic family groups.

Getting Started

Old Man River. The Father of Waters. The Mighty Mississippi.

REMEMBERING ROBERTO CLEMENTE

Since baseball was introduced to the people of Puerto Rico in the 1890s, it has become the most popular sport on the island. Puerto Ricans brought the sport home after learning to play while visiting the United States. Baseball's popularity grew after the Spanish-American War in 1898. U.S. soldiers stationed in Puerto Rico played games against local clubs. By the 1930s, the island had its own professional league.

STATEHOOD

Independence, statehood, or status quo? Puerto Ricans have tried to address that question and their relationship with the United States-for more than 100 years. The island has held six referendums about the issue in the second half of the 20th century.

The United States Step In

By the early 1800s, the once-vast Spanish Empire was fading. Many of its original colonies in the Americas had fought for and won their independence. But Spain was determined to hold on to its few remaining territories. Puerto Rico was one of them.

SAN JUAN: Puerto Rico's Caribbean Jewel

When the Spanish settled San Juan in 1521, they quickly recognized the value of Puerto Rico's capital city. It became an important port, outpost, and gateway for exploration of the Americas. Spain's enemies, primarily the British and the Dutch, coveted its strategic military location. Its excellent harbor was one of the largest and best in the Caribbean.

Spanish Conquest

The promise of gold and a sea route to India. Those were the two J main reasons why Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella backed Christopher Columbus's voyages.

Getting Started

Puerto Rico is a small island with a big presence. Its rich heritage is pulled from a combination of Indigenous Taino people, Spanish conquerors, enslaved Africans, and its relationship with the United States. Most Puerto Ricans speak Spanish, but the island's official languages are Spanish and English.

A Son of the Revolution

Dark clouds of smoke spiraled into the sky over Breed's Hill as cannon roared.

MR. PRESIDENT

The Democratic-Republican party was the dominant U.S. political party in the first two decades of the 1800s.

Life of Service

Even for a person of John Quincy Adams's remarkable credentials, the practice of law was challenging.

Old Man Eloquent and the GAG RULE

The Speaker of the House punctuated his shouts with the banging of his gavel. Across the marble-columned U.S. House of Representatives, enraged southern congressmen howled and shook their fists.

Fight For Freedom

Locked in a crowded Connecticut jail cell in the winter of 1841, 11-year-old Kali was a world away from Mendeland (present-day Sierra Leone).

At Home in Quincy

Today, the National Park Service (NPS) oversees three historic residences connected to the Adams family.

The Rise of New Spain

Within a couple of years of arriving in Mexico, Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire.

Rethinking A Holiday

Columbus Day has been an official U.S. holiday since 1937. But some people question the idea of celebrating Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the “New World.”

A New Conflict Threatened The US And Mexico's Relationship

More than 60 years after the United States and Mexico fought their last battle over land, a new conflict threatened the two countries’ relationship.

Celebrating Our Southwest Heritage

A talk with Khristaan Villela

Getting Started

Did you know that the Spanish arrived in North America more than 100 years before the English settled their first colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts?

From Tejas To Texas

The republic of Mexico—newly independent from Spain—faced some big problems in the early 1820s.

The Final Piece

The dark green color in the map depicts the land that was the Gadsden Purchase.

The Promise Of Gold And A Sea Route To India

The promise of gold and a sea route to India.

Neighbors North And South

Refugees from the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s head for Marfa, Texas.

Alta California Becomes A State

This 1750 map captures the Spanish belief—based on the Baja Peninsula—that California was an island.

A Democratic Influence

Look on the back of a one-dollar bill, and you will find the Great Seal of the United States.

Keeping The Culture Alive

A Talk with Mike Tarbell

Friends And Enemies In Times Of War

Long before the first European settlers arrived in North America, the Haudenosaunee formed their confederacy. Joining together allowed them to establish themselves as a dominant native force.

Meet The Haudenosaunee

Thousands of years ago, five distinct Native American nations—the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas engaged in constant war with one another.