Mendez_HIS103_Fall2019_American History Timeline

  • 1464 BCE

    Kingdom of Songhai

    Centered in the middle and reaches the Niger River.
  • 1390 BCE

    Kingdom of Kongo

    A major source of slaves for Portuguese traders and other European countries.
  • 1235 BCE

    Kingdom of Mali

    Empire was founded by Sundiata Keita
  • 1055 BCE

    Kingdom of Ghana

    Also known as Wagadou, an important trading center, and cultural crossroads from 400 to 1100 C.E.
  • 1492

    Voyages of Christopher Columbus

    He completed a total of 4 voyages.
  • 1492

    First voyage of Christopher Columbus

    King Ferdinand initially intended for Columbus to find an all-water route to Asia but instead, he stumbled upon America.
  • 1494

    Treaty of Tordesillas

    Spain and Portugal settled over lands newly discovered by Columbus.
  • 1521

    Cortes conquered the Aztecs

    A Spanish conqueror that was best remembered for conquering the Aztec Empire in 1521 claiming Mexico for Spain.
  • English settlement of Roanoke

    An attempt to establish the first English settlement.
  • Establishment of Jamestown

    This was the first permanent English settlement in the United States of America.
  • Pilgrims land in Plymouth

    The Mayflower arrived in Plymouth Harbor in 1620, it was the land in which settlers first set foot.
  • Maryland granted to Lord Baltimore

    English statesman who projected the founding of the North American province of Maryland.
  • Navigation Acts

    A series of laws passed by the English Parliament to regulate shipping and maritime commerce.
  • King Philip's War

    The cause of the war was the colonists' desire for more land.
  • Bacon's Rebellion

    It rid the government of corruption and expanded the territory into Indian land which were immediate consequences of the rebellion.
  • Queen Anne's War

    Second of a series of wars fought between Great Britain and France in North America for control of the continent
  • The Great Awakening

    A series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its Thirteen Colonies.
  • 7 Years' War

    Also known as the French and Indian War, began in 1756 when the fighting between French and colonists merged into a European conflict involving France, Austria, and Russia against Prussia and Britain
  • Sugar Act

    Reduced the previous tax on molasses.
  • Stamp Act

    An act of the British Parliament in 1765 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents
  • Tea Act

    The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses
  • Intolerable Acts

    The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British
  • Declaration of Independence

    It served to show the world that the 13 colonies obtained their independence from Great Britain.
  • The Battle of Saratoga

    The turning point in the Revolutionary War.
  • Whiskey Rebellion

    Uprising of farmers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government.
  • Ratification of the Articles of Confederation

    The ratification of the articles was delayed a few times due to several reasons such as the claims to western lands held by the states.
  • The Battle of Yorktown

    On October 19, 1781 the British surrendered thus ending the American Revolutionary War.
  • Shay's Rebellion

    August 31, 1786- June 1787
    Farmers who fought in the Revolutionary War wanted more compensation which led to an uprising.
  • The Northwest Ordinance

    Also known as Ordinances, these procedures were intended to establish ordered and equal procedures for settlements in the Northwest Territory.
  • The US Constitution (the year it was ratified)

    June 21, 1788 The Constitution became the official transcript of the United States when New Hampshire ratified it.
  • Alien and Sedation Acts

    A series of four laws which limited freedom of speech and freedom of the press to foreigners.
  • Louisiana Purchase

    The largest land purchase made in the United States. It doubled the size of the country.
  • Embargo Act

    December 22, 1807, Prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports.
  • War of 1812

    June 18, 1812 - February 18, 1815
    A war fought between the United States and Great Britain.
  • The Battle of Horseshoe Bend

    Fought during the War of 1812 in the Mississippi Territory,
  • Missouri Compromise

    The legislation that provided for the admission of Maine to the United States as a free state along with Missouri as a slave state.
  • Mexican Independence

    The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict, lasting over a decade, which had several distinct phases and took place in different regions of the Spanish colony of New Spain.
  • Texas declares independece

    It was issued during a revolution against the Mexican government.
  • Mexican-American War

    The main cause of the war was the westward expansion of the United States.
  • Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

    The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States.
  • The Compromise of 1850

    It put off the secession of the South for a little while.
  • The Nebraska-Kansas Act

    It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.
  • The Dred Scott Decision

    A decision that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle a slave freedom.
  • The Secession of South Carolina

    First slave state in the South to declare separation from the United States.
  • The Civil War

    A war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South.
  • The Battle of Bull Run

    The first major battle of the American Civil War and was a Confederate victory.
  • The Battle of Antietam

    Over 23,000 men fell as casualties in the one-day Battle of Antietam, making it the bloodiest day in American history.
  • The Emancipation Proclamation

    The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States if the States did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863
  • The Battle of Gettysberg

    The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point.
  • Lincoln's Assasination

    He was assassinated in a theatre.