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Period: 1492 to 1502
Columbus' Four Voyages
Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean in Spain in 1492-3,1498, and 1502. He went to the Caribbean Islands in the Bahamas, Central and South America. His mission was to explore uncharted area of the Caribbean and to find a passage to the Orient. -
Period: 1519 to 1521
Cortes conquers the Aztecs
The Spanish conquest of 1521 was considered a landmark victory for Hernan Cortes. A battle also took place between the Europeans and the Aztecs under the rule of Montezuma. There was both a positive and a negative impact at the time, as Spain conquered the Aztec Empire. -
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Roanoke Island Colony fails
Established in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh, Roanoke Island had a group of 120 people settling. The purpose for settling was to harass Spanish shipping, to find gold and silver, to discover a passage to the Pacific Ocean, and converting the Natives to Christianity. The town unfortunately failed because of the shortage of food and the hostility of the Native, which caused the Pilgrims to leave. -
Jamestown, Virginia founded
Named after King James I, English men and boys settled there permanently. Captain John Smith played a significant role to making the area successful by making the people work if they wanted the area, and also made peace with the Algonquian Natives. -
First Africans arrive in Virginia
The first Africans arrived at Point Comfort on the James River. They arrived for the sole purpose of being sold as slaves and having to work for the English settlers. This caused more settlers to sell and exchange slaves until trade became illegal in the early 19th century. -
Virginia House of Burgesses formed
The first legislative assembly was founded in Colonial America. Each representative was elected from every county so they could hold and discuss meetings until 1776. The main concept and ideas were brought up and inspired the American Revolution. -
Pilgrims founded Plymouth, Massachusetts
After a long and tiresome journey to the New World, the Pilgrims settled into new territory and named it Plymouth. This was where the first Thanksgiving happened as well as the Mayflower Compact. The Pilgrims settled there to get away from religious persecution in England. -
Puritan Migration to Massachusetts
The main purpose of Pilgrims migrating there was to practice their religion freely because there was persecution there. However, they did not let anyone else, including the Natives, practice their own. -
Calverts found Maryland
George Calvert founded Maryland, which started out as a province approved by Charles I. This territory was named after Henrietta Maria, the queen consort of the king. He established it to bring Catholics and Protestants together to put aside their differences. He later died and it was inherited by his son, Cecil. -
Anne Hutchinson convicted of heresy
"If an individual's beliefs and conduct were strictly matters between that person and God, then what was the need for ministers and government officials?" This was the question that Hutchinson asked and was accused of heresy by the Puritans. She refused to recant this and got exiled. She was also a liberal who became the one of the founders of Rhode Island. -
Fundamental Orders of Conneticut
An early constitution that established a rule under a rule of law governed by the towns of Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford. They described the set up by the Connecticut River towns, settling its structure and powers, and wanted the government to open the ocean to access trading. -
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English Civil War
a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists ("Cavaliers") over, principally, the manner of England's governance. It had a great effect on the development of the military and the economy. During the English Civil War, Cromwell established advanced army. It improved the strength of the English army. -
First Navigation Act
A long series of English laws that developed, promoted and regulated English ships, shipping, trade, and commerce between other countries and with its own colonies. These acts were designed to tighten the government's control over trade between England, its colonies, and the rest of the world. -
English Conquer New Netherlands
Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam to the British. The Dutch gave up the colony without a fight. A few months later, four warships with several hundred soldiers on board arrived in New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded that the Dutch surrender. New Netherlands is currently New York. -
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King Phillip's (Metacomet) War
An armed conflict in 1675–78 between Indian inhabitants of the New England region of North America versus New England colonists and their Indian allies. It was fought between the English colonists of New England and a group of Native American tribes. The main leader of the Native Americans was Metacomet, chief of the Wampanoag peoples, also known as King Phillip -
Bacon's Rebellion
An armed rebellion by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The uprising developed because of high taxes, low prices for tobacco, and anger towards Sir Berkeley because he provided special privileges that were given to those close to the Berkeley. -
Pennsylvania Settled
William Penn wanted his colony to be a refuge for Quakers. He wanted all settlers to be able to worship as they pleased. Quakers and other settlers who wanted religious freedom went to Pennsylvania. Philadelphia became the main port of the colony for goods and immigrants. -
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English Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights
The overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III, Prince of Orange, who was James's nephew and son-in-law. It was to destroy any chance that England would have an absolute monarchy like that of France. Then the Bill of Rights came, which was an Act of the Parliament of England that sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown. -
Massachusetts becomes a royal colony
The Puritans established a theocratic government with the franchise limited to church members, increasing estrangement between the colony and England resulted in the annulment of the company's charter in 1684 and the substitution of royal government under a new charter granted in 1691. -
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Salem Witch Hunts
A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. More than 200 people were accused, nineteen of whom were found guilty and executed by hanging. Many innocent lives were taken and everyone was just accusing each other of witchcraft. -
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Queen Anne's War
The North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession, as known in the British colonies, and the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England in North America for control of the continent. The War of the Spanish Succession was primarily fought in Europe. -
England, Wales, and Scotland unite into the UK
The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into being, the result of Acts of Union being passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland to ratify the 1706 Treaty of Union and so unite the two kingdoms. -
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George II's Reign
King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1760. He ruled the British kingdom through some turbulent times including the American Revolutionary War after which the colonies gained independence. Until Queen Victoria, he was Great Britain's longest reigning monarch. -
Georgia founded
James Edward Oglethorpe, a philanthropist and an English general, along with twenty-one other men, created a charter to settle a new colony which they named Georgia in honor of King George II. The grant established land between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers as well as the waters of these rivers. -
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First Great Awakening
A series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its Thirteen Colonies between the 1730s and 1740s. The revival movement permanently affected Protestantism as adherents strove to renew individual piety and religious devotion. First, the Great Awakening affected the colonies by changing many people's attitudes towards religion. Before this revival, religious piety and fervor had been waning in the colonies. -
John Peter Zenger Trial
a German American printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal. He was accused of libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of New York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for freedom of the press. -
Stono Rebellion
A slave rebellion that began in the colony of South Carolina. It was the largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies, with 25 white people and 35 to 50 black people killed. It changed slavery in Carolina, and had ramifications for other colonies as well. It solidified slavery in a way that it hadn't been before, and probably would have happened anyway. -
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King George's War
The third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia. American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession, third and inconclusive struggle between France and Great Britain for mastery of the North American continent. The war was characterized by bloody border raids by both sides with the aid of their Indian allies. -
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George I's Reign
The King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698 until his death. A succession of European wars expanded his German domains during his lifetime, and in 1708 he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of his second cousin Anne, Queen of Great Britain, George ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. -
Albany Congress
A meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the thirteen colonies. British officials believed that a North American war with France was imminent and urged colonial leaders to prepare for the common defense. A meeting was held in Albany and was attended by native leaders, colonial officials and representatives from seven of the British colonies.