Christopher Columbus started this New World thing in 1492 by discovering several Caribbean islands, quickly followed by Juan Ponce de Leon, who landed on mainland and called it Florida in 1513. Spanish settlers followed to occupy the South West and the French established themselves along the Great Lakes.
It took the British until 1607 to establish Jamestown, Virginia and the English Mary Chilton took even longer. In seeking religious freedom her parents first moved to the Netherlands with the other Pilgrims before they boarded the Mayflower heading for the area now know as New England. When Mary jumped ashore she became the first woman settler of the Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts in 1620.
This opened the doors for the Puritan John Winthrop who arrived in 1630 to create a pure community of Christians and created his “City on the Hill”, Boston. The society educated in Oxford or Cambridge soon founded Harvard College in 1636, consistent with the prevailing Puritan philosophy and continued building on the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
More British settlers crossed the Atlantics and by 1733 twenty English colonies were established along the East coast of the New World. Thirteen of them: Province of New Hampshire, Province of Massachusetts Bay, Colony of Rhode Island, Connecticut Colony, Province of New York, Province of New Jersey, Province of Pennsylvania, Delaware Colony, Province of Maryland, Colony and Dominion of Virginia, Province of North Carolina, Province of South Caroline and Province of Georgia became known as the Thirteen Colonies. In an attempt to exert control over the Thirteen Colonies, the British Parliament enforced the Townshend Acts, a law to keep judges and governors under the British Government and to be able to tax the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. With the slogan “No taxation without representation” (the lack of direct representation of the colonists in the British Parliament, an illegal denial of the rights of the Englishmen, making laws and tax applying only to the colonies unconstitutional) the Boston colonists started protesting which escalated into the Boston Massacre in 1770 where 5 civilians were killed.
Another result of the Townshend acts was a heavy tax on tea accompanied with laws beneficial for the British. Tea got taxed, tea got less taxed to compete with the Dutch smuggled tea, the British East India Company was not allowed to export tea to the colonies directly, the East India Company was allowed and could create a monopoly, all leading to more uproar. When the vessel, the Dartmouth, arrived in 1773 full of tax-tea in the Boston Harbor, Samuel Adams called for a mass meeting, which thousands of people attended. And when you start messing with the Englishman and his tea things get quickly out of control. Instead of paying the tax, a group of 30 men left the meeting and boarded the vessel and dumped the cargo into the water, the Boston Tea Party.
The colonial Militia grew stronger and each colony formed its own Provincial Congress and rejected the Parliament. In 1774 a delegate from each colony gathered in the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest, the boycott of all British goods. That was enough for the British to send out an order to disarm the rebels in Concord and capture the rebellion leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington in 1775. The rebellions were however well informed about the upcoming events and send out William Dawes and Paul Revere to warn the leaders and colonial militias in nearby towns that the Kings troops were coming. The next day the first bullets were fired in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, marking the start of the American Revolutionary War, between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies.
Being more in numbers the Militia could overthrow the British troops in the Concord battle. The battle spread but the colonist kept fighting back and gathered in the Second Continental Congress in 1776. This time adopting a Declaration of Independence, rejecting the British Monarchy and creating a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. 
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 after the British admit their defeat and the independence of the United States was a fact. A United States Constitution was drawn, the first Senate and the House of Representatives were installed and George Washington took office as the first President in 1789. A civil war, 2 world wars, a cold war, a misleading war against terror, 220 years, millions of immigrants and 44 Presidents later, I walk the Freedom trail together with my friend C in Boston. A trail marked by a red line, through the heart of Boston, along all the historical sides.
The next day we meet L and his cousin P in the subway on the way to the science museum, one of the last immigrants. With knowledge about Optics, Electronics, Brain Neurons and the Higgs boson now in hand, we stroll the whole day through the museum together. My wonderful weekend in Boston ends with chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra all around me in a small temple where L brings us in the evening. I admit, Eastern cities are way cooler then the big cities in the west (except San Francisco of course), probably because of the more European feel to them. And Boston, Boston is definitely one of them.
Dag,
Iris (Boston, 23510 miles)
