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Jamestown established; the first permanent English colony
In May 1607, after five storm-tossed months at sea, 104 colonists, reached Chesapeake Bay, which extends 200 miles along the coast of Virginia and Maryland.To avoid Spanish raiders, the colonists chose to settle about 40 miles inland.They called it James, in honor of the king, and later renamed it Jamestown.If not for the food acquired or stolen from neighboring Indians, Jamestown would have collapsed.This showed Jamestown becoming the first permanent English colony. -
John Rolfe begins growing tobacco for export
Over the next several years, the Jamestown colony limped along until at last the settlers found a profitable crop: tobacco.In 1612, settlers in Virginia began growing tobacco for export to England, using seeds brought from South America.One of the first settlers, to grow tobacco was John Rolfe, who was experimenting and profiting from tobacco after cultivating seeds that he brought from South America. -
Plymouth Colony is founded by Pilgrams
In September 1620, a 102 people crammed aboard the tiny Mayflower, across the Atlantic, bound for the Virginia colony where they had obtained permission to settle, they experienced multiple storms during hurricane season and had no choice but to settle in a "hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and wild men".They called their hillside settlement Plymouth, after the English port city from which they had embarked. -
Massachusetts bay Colony is founded
The Plymouth colony's population never rose above 7,000, and after 10 years it was overshadowed by its much larger neighbor, the Massachusetts Bay Colony.This new colony was also intended to be a holy commonwealth for Puritans, but the Massachusetts Bay Puritans were different from the Pilgrims, who remained Anglicans. -
Tolerant Act in Maryland
When Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans took control in England and executed King Charles l in 1649, Cecilius Calvert feared he might lose his colony.To avoid such a catastrophe, he appointed Protestants and wrote the Toleration Act (1649), revolutionary decrement that welcomes all Christians, regardless of their denomination or beliefs.This also promised to execute anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus.This act was rescinded in 1654, and denied Catholic colonists the right to worship. -
First Navigation Act passed by Parliament
The Navigation Act of 1651 required that all goods going to and from the colonies be transported only in English- owned ships.The law was intended to hurt the Dutch, who had developed a thriving shipping business between America and Europe. -
Bacon's Rebellion erupts in Virginia
Simmering tensions, caused by failing tobacco prices, and crowds of landless freed servants sparked what came to be called Bacon's Rebellion.This discontent erupted when a squabble between a White planter and Indians on the Potomac River led to the murder of the planter's herdsman.Enraged Indians took revenge by attacking frontier settlements. -
Glorious Revolution
In 1688, the Dominion of New England added the former Dutch provinces of New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey to its control, just a few months before the Glorious Revolution erupted in England.People called the revolution " glorious" because it took place with little replaced by his daughter Mary and her husband William lll, the ruling Dutch Prince. -
South Carolina passes first slave codes
During the 1660s, colonial legislatures formalized the institution of race- based slavery, with detailed slave codes regulating most aspects of enslaved people's lives.The South Carolina code, defined all "Negroes, Mulattoes, and Indians" sold into bondage as having become enslaved for life, as were the children born of enslaved mothers. -
"Witches" in Salem spreading
Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout Europe and the colonies in the seventeenth century. Prior to the dramatic episode in Salem, almost 300 New Englanders (mostly middle-ages women) had been accused of practicing witchcraft, and more than 30 had been hanged.