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Jan 1, 1492
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Christopher Columbus, funded by the Spanish, accidentally sailed to the Americas trying to find an alternate route to Asia through the Atlantic Ocean. -
Jan 1, 1511
First enslaved Africans arrive in the Americas
European colonists who were in need of cheap labor began to use African slaves on their farms and plantations. For the next 300 years Africans were transported to the Americas, often forced from their homes and treated brutally. -
Jan 1, 1521
Cortes conquers Aztec Empire
Hernando Cortes was a Spanish explorer, or a conquistador, who heard of the vast and wealthy Aztec Empire and marched his men to its capital, Tenochtitlan. Disease and the advanced weaponry of the Europeans helped them easily defeat the Native Americans. -
Jan 1, 1533
Pizarro conquers Incan Empire
Francisco Pizarro marched his army of around 200 men into South America and crushed the Incan forrce of 30,000 mostly unarmed men and kidnapped the Incan ruler, Atahualpa. Once recieving the ransom they gave, Pizarro killed Atahualpa. Pizarro took over the rest of the empire without struggle. -
English found Jamestown
A company of London investors recieved from King James a charter to found a colony in North America. After four months of travel, they finally reached the coast of Virginia and named their settlement Jamestown. -
English found Plymouth
A group known as the Pilgrims, who were persecuted for their religious beliefs in England and saught out religious freedom in America, found another British colony called Plymouth. -
French and Indian War ends
The war between the British and the French over the American territory is called the French and Indian War. The British colonists eventually defeated the French and surrendered their territory.