native americans lived in the americas for thousands of years. english people in 1607 went to the place now called jamestown, virginia. other european settlers went to the colonies, mostly from england and later great britain. france, spain, and the netherlands also colonized north america. in 1775, a war between the thirteen colonies and britain began when the colonists were upset over paying taxation to their government in the uk, but were not being given any chance to vote in the uk/british elections, to contribute to how that money was spent.