Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2012 Between the Orinoco and the Amazon lies a fabulous forested land, barely explored. Much of Guiana seldom sees sunlight, and new species are often tumbling out of the dark trees. Shunned by the conquistadors, it was left to others to carve into colonies. Guyana, Suriname and Guyane Française are what remain of their contest, and the 400 years of struggle that followed. Now, award-winning author John Gimlette sets off along this coast, gathering up its astonishing story. His journey takes him deep into the jungle, from the hideouts of runaway slaves to penal colonies, outlandish forts, remote Amerindian villages, a 'Little Paris' and a space port. He meets rebels, outlaws and sorcerers; follows the trail of a vicious Georgian revolt, and ponders a love-affair that changed the face of slavery. Here too is Jonestown, where, in 1978, over 900 Americans, members of Reverend Jones's cult, committed suicide. The last traces are almost gone now, as the forest closes in. Beautiful, bizarre and occasionally brutal, this is one of the great forgotten corners of the Earth: the Wild Coast.

In this book, Colonial America is defined as the years from 1607 when Jamestown was founded to 1776 when the American Revolution began, following the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The focus of the book is on the English settlements that fought for independence from England and became the United States of America.

On June 3, 1513, ships commanded by Juan Ponce de Leon were attacked by a group of Calusa Indians in one of the first hostile encounters recorded between Europeans and American Indians. Over the next four centuries, fundamental differences would cause these two disparate cultures to clash numerous times with untold loss of life and property. From the 1500s through 1901, this comprehensive reference book details individual armed conflicts between Native Americans and Europeans. Chronologically arranged entries include information such as origin of the European party, Indian tribe involved (if known), location of the skirmish and number of casualties. The establishments of various forts are also given within the chronology. An appendix provides a brief summary of related events after 1901.

When the Europeans first arrived in America, they had a number of preconceptions, prejudices, expectations and hopes about what life in the New World would be like. This book examines the different visions and representations of America conveyed in the writings of Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and the Pilgrim leader William Bradford, taking both writers within their respective literary and historical contexts. Anthologies of American literature have consistently ignored Spanish-language achievements on the grounds of a restrictive interpretation of American literature based on linguistic boundaries. Consequently, Spanish-language texts such as Cabeza de Vaca's or the account by the Hidalgo de Elvas, to name but two examples, have been marginalized in the narrative of American literary history. In seeking to redress this neglect, Galisteo contributes to scholarship which seeks to analyze Early America as a whole, including not only Anglo American perspectives but also the Spanish American aspect of the colonization process.

Colonial America was largely rural. Learn the dangers and delights of daily life in the countryside during the founding of the United States.