Timeline

By KapKai
  • 1524

    Giovanni da Verrazzano

    An Italian in the service of France. In 1524, he sailed to North America in search of a sea route to the Pacific.
  • Apr 15, 1524

    Giovanni da Verrazzano

    Verrazzano did discover what is today New York harbor.
  • 1534

    Frenchman Jacques Cartier

    reached a gulf off the eastern coast of Canada that led to a broad river. Cartier named it the St. Lawrence.

  • London investors

    In late 1606, the company’s three ships, and more than 100 settlers, pushed out of an English harbor. About four months later, in 1607, they reached the coast of Virginia.

  • Samuel de Champlain

    Another French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, sailed up the St. Lawrence with about 32 colonists. They founded Quebec

  • Henry Hudson

    He did, however, explore three waterways that were later named for him—the Hudson River, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait.

  • Pilgrams

    A group known as Pilgrims founded a second English colony, Plymouth, in Massachusetts

  • Puritans

    Ten years later, a group known as Puritans also sought religious freedom from England’s Anglican Church. They established a larger colony at nearby Massachusetts Bay.

  • French Jesuit , Jacques Marquette, and trader Louis Joliet

    French Jesuit priest, Jacques Marquette and trader Louis Joliet explored the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi River

  • Sieur de La Salle

    years later, Sieur de La Salle explored the lower Mississippi. He claimed the entire river valley for France. He named it Louisiana in honor of the French