-
Jan 1, 1000
1000 A.D.
Leif Ericson explores the eastcoast of North America -
Jan 1, 1215
1215
The Magna Carta document isadopted in England -
Oct 12, 1492
1492
October 12 – ChristopherColumbus makes his first voyageto the New World -
Jan 1, 1497
1497
John Cabot of England exploresthe Atlantic coast of Canada -
Jan 1, 1513
1513
Ponce de Leon of Spain lands inFlorida -
Jan 1, 1517
1517
Martin Luther launches theProtestant Reformation in Europe -
Jan 1, 1519
1519-1522
Ferdinand Magellan and his creware the first people to sail aroundthe world -
Jan 1, 1519
1519
Hernando Cortes conquers theAztec empire -
Jan 1, 1524
1524
Giovanni da Varrazano exploresthe Carolina area, Hudson River,Narragansett Bay, and NovaScotia -
Jan 1, 1541
1541
Hernando de Soto of Spaindiscovers the Mississippi River -
Jan 1, 1565
1565
St. Augustine, the first permanentcolony in Florida by the Spanish -
1585
Roanoke Island settled by SirWalter Raleigh -
1590
Roanoke colony vanishes,leaving only “Croaton” carved ona tree -
1606
The London Company sponsors acolonizing expedition to Virginia -
1607
Jamestown is founded in Virginiaby the colonists of the LondonCompany -
1608
January – Jamestown founded -
1609
Tobacco planted in Virginia -
1609
Henry Hudson explores NorthAmerica from Hudson River toAlbany -
1616
A smallpox epidemic amongNew England Native Americans -
1616
Tobacco becomes an export staple for Virginia -
1619
Slavery begins in ColonialAmerica -
1619
Virginia House of Burgessesconvenes in Jamestown -
1620
November 9 -- Mayflower landsat Cape Cod, Massachusetts -
1620
November 11 -- MayflowerCompact is signed -
1630
March -- John Winthrop andPuritans move to MassachusettsBay -
1630
September – Boston isestablished -
1634
Maryland established -
1636
Harvard College founded -
1636
June -- Roger Williams founded Providence and Rhode Island -
1638
Anne Hutchinson is banished from Massachusetts -
1662
The Half-way covenant enacted -
1663
Carolina established -
1663
Navigation Act of 1663 -
1664
The Dutch New Netherland colony becomes English New York -
1664
Maryland passes a law making lifelong servitude for black slaves mandatory -
1673
British Navigation Act -
1673
Dutch military forces retake New York from the British -
1674
The Treaty of Westminster -
1675
King William’s War begins -
1675
Bacon’s rebellion -
1681
Pennsylvania founded by William Penn, a Quaker -
1682
French explorer La Salle explores the lower Mississippi Valley region -
1685
Edict of Nantes revoked -
1685
King James II takes over Britain -
1689
April -- New England Governor Andros jailed by rebellious colonists in Boston -
1689
July -- the English government orders Andros to be returned to England to stand trial -
1692
May – Salem witch trial -
1696
April – Navigation Act -
1697
September – Treaty of Ryswick ends King William’s War