Discovery of America, 12th of May, 1492.–Columbus erects the Cross and baptizes the Isle of Guanahani by the Christian Name of St. Salvador.–From a Stamp engraved on Copper by Th. de Bry, in the Collection of “Grands Voyages,” in folio, 1590.
Amazing facts about USA
The first confirmed landing in America was by Christopher Columbus in 1493.
The explorer Amerigo Vespucci gave his name to America.
The first English settlement was in Jamestown Virginia in 1607. The Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 and then came the Puritans.
Hernando de Soto became the first European to reach the Mississippi River in 1581.
The oldest city in the U.S. is Santa Fe founded in 1610.
July 4, 1776, is the “official” date when America was born, but actually was not one country until 1788.
In the sixth century AD the Ancestral Pueblo built villages in the south-west of the country. An example of Ancestral Pueblo architecture can be seen in Mesa Verde National Park.
Gen. Robert E. Lee married a relative of George Washington, Mary Ann Randolph Custis. She owned a plantation called “Arlington.” They lived there 30 years until Gen. Lee resigned his commission to avoid fighting against his home state. The Lees vacated the property in 1861. Union troops occupied it and 200 acres were set aside to bury fallen Union soldiers. Today over 250,000 war dead are buried there. Now of course, it is known as Arlington National Cemetery.
American Indians were not made citizens of the U.S. until congress acted in 1924.
In 1940, Maurice and Richard McDonald opened a barbecue car-hop type restaurant located in San Bernardino, Ca. Shortly after W.W.II, they paired the menu down to offer burgers, fries, and shakes. Ray Croc, a restaurant appliance salesman, was baffled as to why they needed so many milk shake makers. He found out soon enough. Franchise rights were sold in 1955, and Ray Croc opened one up in Des Plaines, Ill. This was his first, but actually the 9th McDonalds. And the rest, as they say, is history. A museum has recently opened up at the original location-14th and E streets in San Bernardino.
The first motel was built in San Luis Obispo, California during the 1920’s when the Motor Inn merged the two words, motor and hotel.
Original copy of the Declaration of Independence is lost. The copy in Washington D.C. is what is referred to as a holograph. That is a term for a handmade copy of a document and is not the same as a laser produced hologram.
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that US Supreme Court justices have to be lawyers or have any legal training. In fact, several justices in the court’s history had never attended law school. James Byrnes, on the court from 1941 to 1942, had little formal education and never attended college.
A mechanical engineer invented a device in the 1870’s to oil train wheels while the train kept running. It was called a lubricator. He made several others for various machines. His name was Elijah McCoy, and imitators followed. These imitations did not work as well, and people coined the phrase, “The Real McCoy” to denote the originals. What is so amazing about this fact? He was born to a runaway slave family. That’s right, The Real McCoy was an African-American!
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