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Founding of Roanoke Colony
White took the letters to mean that the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island, some 50 miles away, but a later search of the island found none of the settlers. The Roanoke Island colony, the first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585. -
The Founding of Jamestown
In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
Founding of House of Burgesses
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, which created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America, and to make conditions in the colony more agreeable for its current inhabitants. -
Establishment of Massachusetts
The Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 by Pilgrim Fathers, or Pilgrims, sail on the Mayflower Ship and founded the colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts based on the Mayflower Compact. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1630 by John Winthrop and other colonists. -
Signing of the Mayflower Compact
The "Mayflower Compact" was signed on 11 November 1620 onboard the Mayflower shortly after she came to anchor off Provincetown Harbor. The Pilgrims had obtained permission from English authorities to settle in Virginia, whose northern border at the time extended up to what is now New York. -
First Thanksgiving
For many Americans, the Thanksgiving meal includes seasonal dishes such as roast turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The holiday feast dates back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth. -
New Hampshire Colony
The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later of Great Britain. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. -
Maryland Colony
The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland. -
Establishment of Connecticut
Governor John Haynes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony led 100 people to present day Hartford in 1636. He and Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan minister, are often considered the founders of the Connecticut colony. -
Rhode Island Colony
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of England's original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America bordering the Atlantic Ocean. -
Anne Hutchinson kicked out of Massachusetts
As she had in England, Anne Hutchinson held religious meetings in her home and refused to stick closely to the rules of worship required by the Puritan leaders who governed the colony. She was put on trial in 1637, convicted and banished from Massachusetts. -
establishment of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Fundamental Orders, in U.S. history, the basic law of the Connecticut colony from 1639 to 1662, formally adopted (Jan. 14, 1639) by representatives from the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, meeting at Hartford. Thomas Hooker, John Haynes, and Roger Ludlow were most influential in framing the document. -
New York Colony
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British crown colony that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania. The majority of this land was soon reassigned by the Crown, leaving territory that included the valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and Vermont. -
Delaware Colony
Delaware Colony in the North American Middle Colonies consisted of land on the west bank of the Delaware River Bay. In the early 17th century the area was inhabited by Lenape and possibly the Assateague tribes of Native Americans. -
New Jersey Colony
The New Jersey Colony was founded by Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley in 1664. The New Jersey Colony was originally named the Province of New Jersey, after the British island named Jersey. Prior to 1664 when it was surrendered to the English, the New Jersey Colony region had been ruled by Swedish and Dutch. -
Pennsylvania Colony
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was founded in English North America by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. -
the Carolinas Colonies
The Province of South Carolina was originally part of the Province of Carolina in British America, which was chartered by eight Lords Proprietor in 1663. The province later became the U.S. state of South Carolina. The Province of North Carolina was originally part of the Province of Carolina, which was chartered by eight Lords Proprietor. -
First Great Awakening
The Great Awakening was an evangelical and revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American Protestantism. -
Georgia colony
The Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original American colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States.
