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Jan 1, 1000
Lief Eriksson
Eriksson led the Viking sailors to North America 500 years before Columbus! They created a settlement in Newfoundland which they called Vinland. -
Jan 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus
Columbus was an Italian man who was hired by the Queen and King of Spain (Isabella and Ferdinand). He convinced them he would find a more direct rout to the Indies by sailing west. Instead he discovered the "New World". -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther
Luther was a German priest who had become disillusioned by the actions of the Catholic Church. So, he wrote a document called the 95 Theses. He nailed the document to the door of his local Catholic Church. This caused the Protestant Reformation in 1517. It caused such an uproar becasue Luther accused the Catholic Church of being corrupt and forgetting the ture mission of God which was to serve mankind. -
Jan 1, 1519
Ferdinand Magellan
Magellan was a Portuguese man who was hired by Spain to sail around the world. He was the first person to circumnavigate the globe. 237 men left Spain for the trip and only 18 completed the journey. Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippine Islands in 1521 before the journey was completed. -
Period: Jan 1, 1519 to Jan 1, 1522
Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe
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Oct 1, 1522
Juan el Cano
Magellan's first officer who took charge of the voyage after Magellan's death. -
Jan 1, 1554
King Philip II
He was married to England's Queen Mary I which made him brother-in-law to Princess Elizabeth. When Mary died, Philip offered to mary Elizabeth but she refused. He was a devout Catholic and had hoped to keep Englad in the Catholic fold by marrying Protestant Elizabeth after Mary's death. He organized the Spanish Armada in 1588 to invade England and overthrow the rule of Elizabeth I. -
Jan 1, 1558
Queen Elizabeth I
She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and the half sister of Queen Mary I. She became queeen when she was 25 and reigned until her death in 1603. Queen Elizabeth was Protestant while her half sister was Catholic. During the early part of Elizabeth's reign she served as Englands tie to with the Catholic Church in Rome. -
Period: Jan 1, 1560 to
Sea Dogs
Sea Dogs were English pirates hired by Queen Elizabeth I to rob Spanish galleons of their gold and silver as they sailed from Americas to Spain. One of the most famous sea dogs was Sir Francis Drake. -
Jan 1, 1572
Sir Francis Drake
Drake was the greatest of the English sea dogs. On one of his expeditions he attacked a Spanish galleon off the coast of Peru and stole a shipload of silver. He then proceeded west on his way home to England. During this voyage, Drake became the 1st Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Queen Elizabeth I was so pleased that she rushed to the docks and knighted him on the deck of his ship, the Golden Hind. -
Sir Humphrey Gilbert
He attempted to create a colony in Newfoundland, but failed due to the harsh weather conditions. He then attempted to find more suitable lands to the south but died in a sea storm. -
Sir Walter Raleigh
Raleigh was the half brother of Gilbert and an acquaintance of Queen Elizabeth I. Raleigh was given a charter to establish a colony in North America by the queen. Raleigh selected an island off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina (Roanoack Island) to establish his colony. -
John White
White was selected by Raleigh to lead his 2nd attempt to colonize Roanoak Island. White served as a map maker and an artist for the area. He thought the area was such a good location that he took his entire family, including his pregnant daughter and her husband. -
Roanoke Island
The 1st attempt at colonizing the island was a failure because only men were sent. Things started well because the island was a good location for creating a colony, but after some time, the men began to miss home. They were picked up by Sir Francis Drake on one of his voyages and returned to England. -
Virginia Dare
Dare was John White's granddaughter and the 1st English child born in North America. She was named in honor of Queen Elizabeth I who was also known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married. -
Spanish Armada
The armada was the largest naval force in the world had ever seen before that point. The armada consisted of 130 ships with between 20-30,000 men. Half of the armada was destroyed or returned to Spain when it ran into a massive storm while the remaining fleet was humbled by the English sea dogs. -
Virginia Company of London
This was a joint-stock company created by investors who wished to colonize North America. The investors pooled their money, obtained a charter from King James I and then organized an expedition to Virginia. -
Jamestown
The 1st working English colony in North America was estabilshed in 1607. Three ships arrived in the Chesapeake Bay and sailed up the James River until a sutiable area was found on a peninsula in the river. Several hardships such as disease, starvation, and Native American attacks almost destroyed the colony. -
Pocahontas
She was Chief Powhatan's daughter. She is said to have saved John Smith's life by throwing herself over him just beofre he was to be executed at her father's command. She is said to have had romantic feelings toward John Smith, but she eventually married John Rolfe. They had a son together before she died in her early 20's. -
John Smith
Smith was an English explorer and former soldier who constantly sought out adventure. Smith was imprisoned buring trans-Atlantic voyage by Captain Christopher Newport who intended to execute him upon arrival in North America. Newport released Smith as a leader of the colony. Smith was responsible for saving the colony in the first year. He also had a brief friendship with Chief Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas. -
John Rolfe
While John Smith saved the early colonists at Jamestown, Rolfe saved the entire colony. He crossbred 2 types of tobacco that weren't popular and created a thrid type that Europeans fell in love with almost immediately. Jamestown now had something that it could use to make money and encourage new settlers to take up residence.
