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Verrazano sailing for France and discovered New York Harbor.
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Frenchman Jacques Cartier navigates the St. Lawrence River and names an island along the River Montreal.
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James town is founded on the coast of Virginia by 100 English settlers.
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French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founds the colony of Quebec.
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Henry Hudson, exploring for the Netherlands, claims land that will become New Netherlands.
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An epidemic of smallpox, brought by the Europeans, kills many native Americans on the New England coast.
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Pilgrims from England found an English Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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The Duke of York drives out the Dutch in New Netherlands. The Duke of York claims the colony for England and renames it New York.
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King Phillips War Begins in colonial villages of Massachusetts, between colonists and Native Americans.
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Sieur de la Salle explores the lower Mississippi Valley river, and claims the valley for France and names it Louisiana in Honor of the French King Louis XIV.
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War between the British and French, known as the French and Indian War. The war is fought over disputed land claims in the Ohio Valley.
