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Oct 12, 1492
A Sailor On Board The Pinta Sights Land
A sailor on board of the Pinta sights America from on board. The next day his crew went on shore on the present day Bahamian island. -
May 4, 1493
Catholics claim land for Spain
After Columbus's arrival, the Catholic Monarchs got a papal bull from Pope Alexander VI saying that all lands west and south of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of the Cape Verde Islands should belong to Spain. -
Jun 7, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The treaty of Tordesillas divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islandes. -
May 20, 1498
Da Gama reaches India
Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama was the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Calicut on the Malabar Coast. Da Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal, in July 1497, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored at Malindi on the east coast of Africa in 1498. -
Apr 2, 1513
Ponce de Leon
Near present-day St. Augustine, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore on the Florida coast, and claimed the territory for the Spanish crown. -
Aug 13, 1521
Aztec capital falls to Cortés
Hernán Cortés captures Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. Cortés' men destoryed the city and captured Cuauhtemoc, the Aztec emperor. -
May 21, 1539
De Soto dies
On the banks of the Mississippi River in present-day Louisiana, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto died ending a three-year journey for gold that took him halfway across the United States. After his death his men buried his body in the Mississippi River. -
Sep 4, 1540
Vázquez de Coronado
Coronado led a Spanish expedition up Mexico's western coast and into the region that is now the southwestern United States. The explorers discovered the Grand Canyon and other major physical landmarks of the region. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Queen
Elizabeth became queen in1558 and would rule England until 1603, and in that time make England a power nation. -
Sep 1, 1565
St. Augustine
St. Augustine was founded by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and served as the capital of Spanish Florida for two hundred years. -
Dec 13, 1577
Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth
English seaman Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, with five ships and 164 men on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World and explore the Pacific Ocean. -
Roanoke Island created
The Roanoke Island colony, the first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585 -
Spanish Armada is defeated
Off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain's Invincible Armada is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake. -
Virgina Founded
The colony of Virginia was founded by the London Company. The company sent 104 men to Virgina and they founded Jamestown. -
Jamestown Colony
A group of 100 people belonging to a joint venture called the Virginia Company, founded the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River calls Jamestown. -
Carolina is colonized
King Charles I grants a patent to Sir Robert Heath for the Carolina territory. -
The settlement of Maryland
The first colonists to Maryland arrive at St. Clement's Island on Maryland's western shore and found the settlement of St. Mary's -
Rhode Island is created
Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams in 1636, who had been banished from the Massachusetts colony for his advocacy of religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. -
The English Restoration
Leaders of the English Commonwealth ordered Charles II, the exiled king of England, to assume the throne and end 11 years of military rule. -
Georgia is created
Named after King George II, Georgia was first settled by Europeans in 1733, when a group of British debtors led by Englishmen James E. Oglethorpe traveled up the Savannah River and established Georgia's first permanent settlement called Savannah
