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This is a brief history of the evolution of arms leading to the development of the American Long Rifle in the 18th century. The foundations for that development were laid, as was the transformation of America itself, in Europe. This history has been written as a complement to American Historic Arms high quality prints. It is not intended to be definitive, merely providing a flavour for further reading.
As Captain John Smith founded the very first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607, the French navigator and explorer Samuel de Champlain established the city of Quebec in 1608, as well as the colony of New France. A few years later, in 1614, an English sea captain called Henry Hudson (who gave his name to Hudson's Bay) sailed under the Dutch flag to found the settlement of New Amsterdam as a part of the Dutch colony New Netherland. Now, the reason for the initial settlement of the New World was substantially influenced by the rules of the established Church in Europe, and separatists soon realized that their beliefs could breathe afresh, unhindered in the new colonies. As an example of the disaffection created by the Church and State, under the reign of Elizabeth I the English Parliament enacted a law effectively forcing all people to attend Church of England services, and conform to this religious doctrine. Following continued persecution by the Church, a small band of dissenters
the Puritans finally left England during the reign of James I on a ship called The Mayflower. Arriving at Cape Cod on 11th November, 1620, the Mayf lower's 102 passengers (about half were Puritans) brought with them all the food and furniture needed to begin their life in the New World. They also brought with them long guns, lead and powder. On the 6th October, 1683, the very first German immigrants arrived at Philadelphia to enjoy the religious freedom they had been denied in Europe. The thirteen families of this first settlement at Germantown were mostly Mennonite and Quaker. With ever more immigrants arriving in the New World, religious exiles included, all of the Old World skills were brought by farmers, builders, furniture makers, tradesmen, explorers, soldiers, blacksmiths and gunsmiths, and these first gunsmiths were from Germany and Switzerland, settling in Pennsylvania.
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