Amy Congress, age 9, of Peoria, Illinois, for her question:

Which was the first University in America?

The first universities in the New World were founded by the Spanish. The oldest one is the University of Santo Domingo. It was founded in what is now the Dominican Republic way back in the year 1538. In 1551, the University of San Marcos was founded in Lima, Peru. In the same year, the National Autonomous University was founded in Mexico.

The oldest universities in North America are older than the United States. The first one was founded in 1636, in Massachusetts. At that time it was called Newtowne College    and later it became Harvard University. The first plans for a university in Virginia had to be abandoned because of trouble with hostile Indians. This was around 1620_ But in 1693, the University of William and Mary was founded at Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the second oldest university in North America.