In this episode, John gives a breakdown of the origins and character of each of the original thirteen colonies that will compose the United States. John will cover who it was that created the colonies, the motivations of those who did so and how they evolved over the first few decades of their respective existences. The colonies will be grouped into regions and John will explain what makes each region different and how the colonies within that region had common-or different--characteristics.

In addition, John gives each colony its very own colonial motto! Are you from one of these thirteen states now? Let's see if you agree or disagree with the motto that John thinks might give those less familiar with Pennsylvania or Virginia or Massachusetts, a picture of what those states were like as colonies. Beware: some of these are definitely not for kids!

In this episode, John explains how the English colonized Ireland in the 1500s and 1600s and how the English transferred there experiences in Ireland to North America. John will cover the English decisions and processes for how they tried to assert their authority over Ireland, how the Irish resisted and what all this meant for the relationship between England and Ireland.

John will also explain the demographic crisis that unfolded among Native American communities east of the Mississippi and north of the Gulf of Mexico. He will explore why the period 1580 to 1650 was so catastrophic for Native Americans in this region, how they reacted to this catastrophe and what it meant for their interactions with Europeans who were increasingly populating Native American territories.

In this episode, John goes through the various groups of people who colonized North America and explains how and why they did it. Specifically, John will discuss the Spanish presence in what is now the Southwestern United States, the French colonization of Canada and the Mississippi River Valley and the first two English colonies in what would be the United States at Jamestown and Plymouth. The episode will go into detail about the motivations for each group of colonizers, how they interacted with Native Americans and what ultimately became of their efforts at colonization in the 1500s and 1600s.

In this episode of How the Hell Did We Get Here?, John explains both the "discovery" of the New World and the way it was colonized by various European peoples in the 16th century. Beginning with how Europeans started to explore more of the Atlantic world in the 1400s and concluding with some brief consideration of English and French involvement in the New world toward the end of the 1500s, John will go through the most impactful events, the primary motivations and the most important circumstances of how colonization unfolded.

By the end of the episode, listeners should have a firm grasp on why the Portuguese took the early lead in exploration, why the Spanish came to dominate colonization of the Western Hemisphere in the 16th century and how European presence in the Americas permanently altered Native American civilization. This is all vital context for anyone who wants to understand how the 13 original American colonies became what they were, and consequently, how the United States was launched along its historical trajectory.

In this episode, John examines the regions of the world that will intertwine with one another to create what will be the United States, well before those regions were even aware of one another. What was North America like before Europeans arrived? How did North and West African civilization function before Europeans began to trade with those areas regularly? And what was going on in Western Europe before Europeans began to look outward and imagine themselves as part of a much larger world?

This series is all about context and this show will explore the backgrounds of the most important places to have an influence on what will eventually be the United States. John will explain what they all looked like before they regularly interacted with one another and how their existing conditions would affect the ways in which they would behave when they finally did meet and start to coexist.

In this episode, host John Miller introduces himself to the audience and explains his motivation for starting the podcast, How the Hell Did We Get Here? John gives a little background about himself, why he is so interested in history, what he hopes to accomplish with the show and why he thinks history is so important.

John also delves briefly into some examples of how historical thinking works, how historical understanding can contextualize current events and why examining history is kind of weird.