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Feb 4, 1501
First black slaves in America brought to Spanish colony of Santo Domingo.
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Apr 4, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
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Apr 4, 1524
Verrazano, sailing under the French flag, explores the New England coast and New York Bay.
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Apr 4, 1527
Troops of the Holy Roman Empire attack Rome, imprison Pope Clement VII—the end of the Italian Renaissance. Castiglione writes The Courtier. The Medici family expelled from Florence.
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Apr 4, 1582
Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar
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Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote de la Mancha, the first modern novel.
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Jamestown, Virginia, established-first permanent English colony on American mainland. Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, saves life of John Smith.
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Pilgrims from England arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Mayflower.
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In Massachusetts, the general court approves a law that makes religious heresy punishable by death.
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The English monarchy is restored under King Charles II.
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January 17, Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston. In November, South Carolina establishes the Anglican Church as its official church.
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Hostilities break out between Native Americans and settlers in North Carolina after the massacre of settlers there. The conflict, known as the Tuscarora Indian War will last two years
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Queen Anne's War ends with the Treaty of Utrecht.