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Virginia Company
The Virginia Company was established with the approval of King James I of England. The Virginia Company hoped to find gold, silver, and other commodities in the New World. -
Jamestown Colony
Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. English volunteers traveled to the New World to start Jamestown on three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. The Virginia Company hoped to find economic opportunity in the New World, so they funded the establishment of Jamestown. -
Santa Fe Colony
The first permanent European settlement in the Southwest established by the Spanish. -
Discovery of Tobacco
John Rolfe discovered and planted tobacco at Jamestown, and it became extremely popular in Europe. Tobacco saved the Jamestown colony from financial ruin. -
Jamestown Headright Policy
Jamestown attracted settlers by offering fifty acres of land to anyone who came to the colony. -
The Birth of Slavery in America
In 1619, Dutch slave merchants sold twenty Africans to Jamestown. -
House of Burgesses
The Virginia Company established the House of Burgesses as the first legislative assembly in America. -
Plymouth Colony
A radical group of puritans called the Separatists and known as the Pilgrims separated from the Church of England and began a new colony at Plymouth in North America for religious freedom. The Pilgrims journeyed to America via a ship called the Mayflower. -
The Jamestown Massacre
Opechanough and the Powhatan Tribe attacked Jamestown and killed over 350 colonists. The Powhatan tribe attacked Jamestown because they felt that the colonists were being invasive. -
Maryland Colony
King Charls I gave twelve million acres of land to his friend Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, to begin a new colony. Cecilius Calvert took over Maryland named after Queen Mary and hoped to create a haven for Catholic people. -
Establishment of Harvard
The Puritans started Harvard to train more clergymen for the New World. Harvard was the first College in America. The school was named after its primary benefactor, John Harvard. -
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Pequot War
The English with some Native American tribes fought against the Pequot Indians and the Dutch to gain control over the fur trade. -
Virginia Hereditary Slavery Law
Virginia passed a law that stated that the children of Africans inherited "the condition of the mother" when they were born. This meant that the children would be slaves if their mother was a slave. Other colonies passed similar laws. -
New Netherland Becomes New York
The English attacked the Dutch at New Netherland and won. The colony was renamed after the financial backer of the attack, James the Duke of York. -
Carolina Colony
King Charles II of England funded the Carolina colony to strengthen England's control of the east coast in the New World. The leader or Lords Proprietor of Carolina offered 150 acres to each person that paid for their passage to Carolina. -
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King Philip's War
The English discovered a dead body and they executed three Wampanoag Indians who were suspected of murder. Metacom, the chief of the Wampanoag Tribe and known as King Philip, retaliated by attacking an English town. The English defeated the Wampanoag tribe in a brutal war with over four thousand casualties. The war increased English hatred toward the Native Americans and removed the Native Americans' influence in New England. -
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Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was a conflict between the English and the Native Americans. A farmer and the Doeg Native Americans in Virginia entered conflict over a debt. Nathaniel Bacon and some other colonists went to war with the Native Americans without the consent of governor Sir William Berkeley. Berkeley sent armed forces to stop Nathan because he was rebelling against the Virginia Colony. In the end, Nathan died of typhus and the other colonists who participated were accused of treason and tried. -
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Pueblo Revolt
The Puebloan Native Americans in the American Southwest revolted against the Spanish and forced them out of the Southwest for twelve years. The Puebloans destroyed churches and weakened the power of the Spanish in North America. -
Pennsylvania Colony
The Duke of York granted William Penn forty-five thousand square miles of land for a new colony. Penn was a Quaker. He wanted Pennsylvania to be a "colony of Heaven for the children of Light" and he wanted the colony to be harmonious. -
Witch Hunts
People became afraid of the supernatural and accused people of being witches. Salem Town, Salem Village, Ipswich, and Andover tried and executed numerous people as witches.