Europeans in the Americas

By avasquez2
  • Oct 12, 1492

    Columbus sailed the ocean blue

    Columbus was sent from Spain to go look for another route to the East Indies, but he miscalculated and ended up in an island in the Bahamas in the Caribean (which he called San Slavador). This caused others to go explore more land towards the Atlantic Ocean.
  • Jan 1, 1511

    First enslaved Africans arrive in the Americas

    Europeans had set up a system named encomienda, where they used the Native Americans as slaves. But the Native Americas were not used to the diseases or the work that gave them, and the Europeans saw how successful the Muslim slave trade was, so they got slaves from Africa.
  • Jan 1, 1521

    Cortes conquers Aztec Empire

    Cortés was a Spaniard that landed on the shore of Mexico. He colonized several Caribbean islands. Cortés was warmly welcomed by the Aztecs; they ackowledged he came for gold and they gave him gold. Some of Cortés men killed many Aztec warriors and chiefs, and this upset the Aztecs so much, they decided to rebel against the Spanish intruders. The Spainish won because they had diseases that the Aztecs weren't immune to.
  • Jan 1, 1533

    Pizarro conquers Inca Empire

    Pizarro and his small army met the Incan ruler, Atahualpa. Atahualpa came with his unarmed and the Spaniards ambushed them, crushed the Incan force, and kidnapped Atahualpa. Atahualpa offered them a room filled with gold and two rooms filled with silver. Though the Spainsh received the ransom, they still killed Atahualpa. This loss caused the rest of Incan empire to fall apart.

  • English found Jamestown

    In 1606, London investors received a charter from King James to found a colony in North America -who was inspired by the explorations of the Spanish and French. Three ships and more than 100 settlers left the English harbor and set off for America. In about four months, they reached the coast of Virginia and calimed the land. They named the settlement Jamestown.

  • English found Plymouth

    A group named the Pilgrims came from England to Massachusetts and founded a second English colony namd Plymouth. Since the Pilgrims were being persecuted for their religious beliefs, they decided to leave England and move to America to express their Anglican religion freely.

  • French and Indian war ends

    The English quickly became hungry for more land, so they pushed farther west into the continent and collided with France's North American holdings. As each of the colonies expanded, he French and English began to interfere with each other. In 1754, a dispute in the Ohio Valley caused a war between the British and French. The English won with the help of the native Indians. This became known as the French and Indian War, which became apart of a larger conflict called the Seven Years' War.