The House Removals Company

Moving to USA?

Over the last two centuries, the world’s biggest melting pot has had more impact than any other country. Originally inhabited by Native American tribes, who hunted the continent guided by the spirits of their ancestors and left vast sky cities behind them, the New World was “discovered” by Cristobal Colon in 1492. The first conquistador landed in Florida twenty years later; Spanish settlements across the Southwest were quickly followed by French colonists, who were drawn to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. The first British immigrants arrived in 1607 – by 1634 the East Coast had been settled by a wave of Puritans escaping religious persecution at home. The influx of indentured workers began in the seventeenth century; by 1770 one in five Americans were black slaves.

After the bloody Revolutionary War, Britian recognised American independence in 1781. A constitution was ratified in 1788 and George Washington became the first president in 1789. Thereafter, Americans were busy stamping their rights on their country. At the turn of the nineteenth century the Indian Wars removed most of the land from the indigenous population; next they started to expel the Spanish from the West. Slavery became contentious and in 1861 the Civil War broke out between the free northern states and the slave states in the south. Four years of bitter fighting ended in victory for the north. The twentieth century saw the USA’s meteoric rise as a world power. It became the richest country in the world in the Roaring Twenties, ending abruptly with the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The effects of the Great Depression were counter-acted by the Second World War – this was the only country to become richer. Since then it has become the world leader in everything, retaining its pole position through the Cold War, the civil rights movement, the boom and bust of the eighties and the highly controversial War on Terror.

No trip could encompass all of America. The continent ranges from lush green forests to arid desert, from ancient eerie rock formations to the world’s most exciting city. New York is in a league of its own, with world class museums and galleries, a hodgepotch of cultures and stunning architecture of all periods. New England is a charming combination of gorgeous mountain and forest scenery and gentle old world towns and villages. Plymouth, where the original English settlers landed, is a must-see, as are the White Mountains in autumn.

The Deep South teases and beguiles, its steamy swamps and gracious cities the backdrop to some of America’s most tortured history. New Orleans, unbowed by Hurricane Katrina, is the home of jazz, Mardi Gras and the most unctuous Creole cooking. Beautiful Savannah evokes mint juleps on wide verandahs – don’t miss the Spanish moss-swathed old district or the evocative waterfront. Moving west, the Grand Canyon is unimaginably vast, so deep that the mighty Colorado River looks like a thread when viewed from the top. The Ancient Puebloan culture is best seen in the cliff palaces of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and the ruins of Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.

California is the home of beach beauties, health fads and, of course, Hollywood. Outside liberal San Francisco and bubbling LA, it’s also one of the most beautiful states. Yosemite Valley, with its extraordinary geology, is perfect for hiking, while thrill seekers will enjoy Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth. And how could you miss the original Disneyland? Finally, Las Vegas has to be seen – a neon monument to greed, its absurd palaces and casinos evoke everything from the Pyramids to the Eiffel Tower.