Four hundred years ago, the land that is now the United States was inhabited only by the people with light brown or tan skin we now call Native Americans or American Indians. They lived in small settlements, some of which were nomadic ( they moved from place to place, depending on the season ). They hunted, fished and grew corn, squash, and other crops. They had no metal tools, only wood, bone, and stone. They made pottery and baskets, and clothing made from the hides of animals ( like leather ).
The first settlers from Europe arrived a few years after 1600--the pilgrims in the north, Jamestown in the south. These were the first whites in America. A few years after 1600, some of the whites brought black people from Africa to serve as slaves and farm workers.
The settlement of the continent of South America ( where Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and other countries are ) was similar to the settlement of North America in many ways. South America was inhabited by people with light brown or olive skin. People came from Spain and Portugal, at first only looking for gold. There were some cities and large settlements in South America, and the Spanish and Portuguese took them over or destroyed them. The Europeans started farms or took farms belonging to the natives, often worked by the local "peons". They also imported black slaves from Africa, especially in what is now Brazil. The Spanish took over what is now part of the American west--California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. These territories later became part of the United States that had begun on the east coast.
So America was a great "melting pot" long before the great waves of European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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