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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Discovered America
When Columbus tried to sail west to Asia from Europe he underestimated the circumference of the Earth and ended up landing in the Bahamas. He treated the Native Americans in the area very poorly, and he called them Indians because he thought that he had landed in India. (http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=2&smtid=1) -
Settlement of Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia was the first successful attempt by England to establish a permanent colony in America, but it was close to destruction in its first two decades because of disease, hunger, and Indian attacks. Also, in the brutal winter of 1609-10, few even resorted to cannibalism. The introduction of tobacco as a cash crop in 1612 saved the colony from economic failure. (http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/2?articleId=1009462&q=%22Jamestown%22) -
Proclamation Line of 1763
Issued by King George III, it prohibited settlers from going west of the Appalachian Mountains in order to avoid conflict with the Native Americans. The settlers were unhappy with it because they had just finished fighting for and won the land in the French and Indian War, and it pushed them towards rebellion. (https://americanhistory-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/1881267?terms=proclamation+line+of+1763&sType=quick) -
Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions
The Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions were a statement against the Stamp Act and in support of colonists' rights proposed by Patrick Henry. The main points were colonists should have all of the same rights as British citizens and that they can't be taxed without someone representing them in England to fight for them. They showed rebellion against Britain.
(https://americanhistory-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/255234?terms=virginia+stamp+act+resolution&sType=quick) -
Boston Tea Party
150 patriots, who had disguised themselves as Native Americans, threw 342 chests of tea belonging to the East India Company into the Boston Harbor to protest the British Tea Act of 1773, which raised tea prices. Britain recognized it as a strong act of a rebellion that needed to be stopped. (https://americanhistory-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/252736?terms=Boston+tea+party&sType=quick) -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase has been called the greatest real estate deal in U.S. history because America got 909,000 square miles of land stretching from the Ohio River to the eastern border of New Spain. They got it for only $15 million, and it doubled their land size.
(https://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/266024?terms=louisiana+purchase&sType=multi) -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was used to force many Native Americans tribes to leave their fertile land to go to Oklahoma so that the colonists could have it. Even though the Cherokee's case to stay on their land won in the Supreme Court, President Andrew Jackson still forced them to leave, which resulted in thousands of Native American deaths along the way. (http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/2?articleId=192191&q=indian%20removal%20act) -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a bill to organize the Great Plains for settlement. Southerners agreed to pass it if Kansas and Nebraska were organized by popular sovereignty. It caused a lot of conflict and violent attacks as the North sent abolitionists and the South sent proslavery settlers to occupy Kansas. (https://americanhistory-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/2123356?terms=kansas-nebraska+act&sType=multi) -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the war because it marked the northernmost limit of Confederate success. General Lee invaded the North, but when the Confederacy lost they decided to only fight defensively from then on. (https://worldatwar-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/959829?terms=battle+of+gettysburg&sType=multi) -
Lincoln's Assassination
During a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., Confederate supporter John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln, and he died the next day. Booth believed that by killing the president, they could stun the Federal government, allowing the Confederacy to resume the war. After Lincoln was killed, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president. (https://worldatwar.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/959879?terms=lincoln%27s+assassination&sType=multi) -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment is the first of three Reconstruction Amendments enacted in the years immediately following the Civil War. The Thirteenth Amendment officially abolished slavery in the United States and its territories. -
Connection of the Transcontinental Railroad Lines
The transcontinental railroad lines built by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met at Promontory Summit, Utah, where a final, golden spike was driven in. The newly built railroad allowed for goods to now be shipped from coast to coast and for families moving west to get there in less than three and a half days instead of months. (https://americanhistory-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/581397?terms=transcontinental+railroad&sType=quick) -
Great Chicago Fire
The fire spread across three square miles of Chicago, and it caused the Chicago River to boil, killed at least 300 people, and left 90,000 homeless. The overall losses are estimated at $196 million, and it was rebuilt by 1893. (http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/3?articleId=245659&q=great%20Michigan%20fire) -
Johnstown Flood
It happened when the South Fork Dam in western Pennsylvania failed after days of heavy rainfall, sending a wall of water toward unprepared communities in the Conemaugh River valley below and left more than 2,200 dead. Governments, communities, and individuals across the United States donated almost $4 million to the recovery effort. (http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/3?articleId=244561&q=Johnstown%20flood) -
Galveston Hurricane
A Category 4 hurricane killed at least 6,000 of its 38,000 residents, and 10,000 people lost their homes. To protect the island from future hurricanes, a 17-foot-high seawall was built along the Gulf Coast. In 1902 Galveston designed a project to raise the island's elevation above sea level, and now most of the city is 15 feet higher. (http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/3?articleId=246577&q=Galveston%20hurricane) -
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
A major earthquake hit and the following day there was a massive fire. 700 people died and 300,000 became homeless. The damage costs were $500 million. (http://go.galegroup.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CEJ2104240762&docType=Event+overview&sort=RELEVANCE-SORT&contentSegment=&prodId=MSIC&contentSet=GALE%7CEJ2104240762&searchId=R3&userGroupName=tlc041872947&inPS=true) -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
In an attempt to unite Serbia, members of The Black Hand were sent to assassinate Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand during his trip to Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip got lucky and was able to shoot Franz Ferdinand and his wife from five feet away. This caused Austria to declare war on Serbia, which began World War I. (https://worldatwar-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/757304?terms=assassination+of+franz+ferdinand&sType=multi) -
Tri-State Tornado
It is the deadliest tornado in U.S. history, with 219 miles of destruction through Missouri, Maryland, and Illinois. It did not resemble a typical tornado with a whirling funnel, and because of this, many people did not realize what was happening until it was too late to take cover. It killed nearly 700 people, injured more than 2,000, and destroyed 15,000 homes. (http://go.galegroup.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&search) -
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Dust Bowl
Overproduction and overgrazing stripped the Great Plains of its topsoil, and later, when a drought turned the soil into a fine powder, violent winds then lifted the soil to create dust storms. Crops were destroyed, and large numbers of livestock died of starvation. More than 300,000 farmers and their families abandoned their land and headed west in the hope of finding work. (http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/3?articleId=45437&q=dust%20bowl) -
Pearl Harbor
Japan's invasions of China and French Indochina had led President Roosevelt to embargo scrap metal and oil and to freeze Japanese assets in the U.S., so tensions were high. The Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii killed 2,280 people and wounded 1,109. It also caused America to enter World War II because it united America behind the war effort. (https://worldatwar-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/758444?terms=pearl+harbor&sType=multi) -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It was reported that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked U.S. destroyers twice, and Lyndon Johnson was convinced that concluding the war would require an armed attack on North Vietnam. Johnson got Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution because he wanted the authority to do whatever he felt necessary to resolve the conflict and assist South Vietnam in the war. (https://worldatwar-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/759119?terms=gulf+of+tonkin+resolution&sType=quick) -
"Tear Down This Wall" Speech
After Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, relations with the West gradually improved. In his speech, Reagan urged Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall and allow the people of East Germany to have democracy. Less than three years later, Gorbachev relaxed Soviet control, and the people of Berlin tore down the wall themselves. (https://worldatwar-abc-clio-com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/1288106?terms=fall+of+berlin+wall&sType=multi) -
Murder of Versace
On the morning of July 15, Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot and killed outside his oceanfront villa in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, Florida. He was approached by a middle-aged white man who shot him twice in the head. (http://go.galegroup.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CBT2359039750&docType=Event+overview&sort=RELEVANCE-SORT&contentSegment) -
Hurricane Katrina
80 percent of New Orleans was flooded, and more than 500,000 people had to be evacuated, as well as tens of thousands of others left homeless. The death toll across the region topped 1,836 people, making Katrina the deadliest North Atlantic hurricane in more than a century. Property losses from Katrina were estimated at $82 billion.
(http://online.infobase.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/HRC/Search/Details/3?articleId=293536&q=hurricane%20katrina) -
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy created erosion, record floods, and power and transportation disruptions across 24 states, mainly in the Northeast. Between 7 and 9 million homes and businesses struggled without power, the death toll was in the low hundreds, and the storm damage costs were $50 billion. (http://go.galegroup.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CEJ2644042544&docType=Topic) -
Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey hit the U.S. as a category 4 hurricane with wind speeds of up to 130 mph. It is estimated to have caused up to 190 billion dollars in damages in Texas with 30,000 people displaced, and it submerged 70% of Houston in a foot and a half of water. (http://go.galegroup.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CBT2359030582&docType=Event+overview&sort=RELEVANCE) -
Hurricane Maria
The hardest hit Caribbean island was Puerto Rico, which took Maria’s 155 mph winds. It caused $90 billion in damages, making it the third most expensive hurricane in US history, and it left millions of people without power for months. The local government believes that the death toll could be more than a thousand. (http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/NDNZPR065682967/MSIC?u=tlc041872947&sid=MSIC&xid=cd8e5865) -
Southern California Wildfires
There were nearly nine thousand fires in Southern California that destroyed more than 10 thousand structures, killed dozens of people, and burned more than one million acres. The largest number of firemen to fight a wildfire in California history were involved, and the death toll rose was at least 20 people. (http://go.galegroup.com.kinkaid.idm.oclc.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CBT235)
