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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Discovers the New world
When columbus arrived at the Americas he was greeted by the Native Americans who would be impacted for years because of his discovery. With him are the European settlers that will later create the colonies and drive the indians out of thier homes and buy them out of thier land.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/columbus.htm -
Aug 13, 1521
Hernan Cortes conquers the Aztecs
Cortes was a famous spanish conquistador who sailed to South America and was rumored to be obsesed with gold. For a long time Cortes used Moctezuma to gain the riches of the Aztec empire, and Moctezma allowed him to do so because of his reputation. Then, during the Fiesta of Toxcatl Cortez and his men slautered the nobles gathered there. This marked the fall of the Aztecs. -
Jan 1, 1552
Bartalome de las Casas
He wrote a book called "Summary of Debate Concerning the Subjugation of Indians", which is about an arguement he had with a Spanish philosopher, named Juan Gines Sepulveda. He was somewhat responsible for the repeal of the laws that allowed people to use indians as slave laborers. He tried to set up a safe haven in venezuala for the indians that were natives of the south american lands, but it failed because the indians did not believe it would be any better. -
Founding of Jamestown
This was the first permanent settlement that the Europeans set up in America, after the colony of Roanoke was lost. The fact that the colonists in Jamestown were of the upper class put them in danger of death because they had no experience in camping and they had no idea how to farm. this left them stranded in a place, with minimal provisions, until they started trading with the indians. -
Bacon's Rebellion
This was a power despute mainly between Governor Sir William Berkeley and his cousin, Nathaniel Bacon Jr. There were many taxing events on the colonists in virgina that frustrated them and that was let out when the Doeg Indians raided a man's farm. This is when Bacon and a malitia he organized attacked the Susuehannock Indians; wrongly accusig them of attacking the farm, causing a major despute. -
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French and Indian War
This came about because of the struggle for land between Fance and England for land in the new world. France was expanding into the Ohio River Valley which conflicted the claims that theEnglish had in that area. After many skirmishes about the land eventually leading to war in the colonies and then back in Europe. -
Proclamation of 1763
A proclamation issued at the end of the French and Indian War stating that the colonies were not allowed to expand into the west ern part of America, past the Mississippi river and the Ohio Valley. This was made to calm the fears that the Indians had about the colonists running them out of thier land. This also established four new colonies. -
Treaty of Paris
This treaty ended the seven year war; the American version of the French and Indian war. This came out of the replacement of the secratary of state, William Pitt because George III was fearful of his power. With his new secratary George III begane writing treaties and giving back lad that had been wrongly taken so that the conflict could end. -
Treaty of Greenville
This treaty came out of the Battle of Fallen Tembers that ebbed the treat of all out war between the Indians and the colonists. The representatives of the tribes involved and the representatives from the colonies met in Greenville ( in Ohio ) to sigh the treaty. The Indian representatives were not very happy about it though because the treaty was forced onto them because of the advantages the colonists had. -
Louisiana Purchase
This was the purchase of about 530,000,000 acres of land from the French in 1803 for an equivilant cost today of about $15 million. The purchase was made so that the westward expantion could coninue. Since the French owned the land and they followd Napolian, he decided to rebuild the French empire in the Louisiana territory, which would have put an end to the westward expansion of the colonists. -
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Lewis and Clark expedition
Named the "Corpse od Discovery", the exoedition that Lewis and Clarkwent on was a secret on to explore the western lands. During their traveld they met Sacagawea, a shoshone woman who joined them and acted as an interpriter and guide. They found a path through the Rocky Mountains, tracing the Colombia river and then to the Pacific Ocean. This also gave us clame to Oregon. -
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Tecumseh and The Prophet
Tecumseh was a leader of the Shawnee indians and hebelieved that the ribes needed to unite in order to protect thier land, so while he worked on that his brother Tenskwatawa, or The Prophet, worked on starting a spiritual rebirth of the Native American cultures. William Henry Harrison heard of thier plans and quickly looked for a way to stop them. Then Tecumseh left to recruit more tribes Herrison attaked the remaining indians, but the Prophet sent out troops to stall him while he escaped. -
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Creek War
This was inspired by Tecumseh's movement, but if was for the Creek, or the Muscogee, indians. Headed by William Weatherford, Peter McQueen, and Menawa. These chiefs clashed with other chiefs of the Creek on topics pretaining to the white encrochment. The ignition of this civil war was when Little warrior and his group murdered 2 families of settlers on thier way back from Detroit. The other chiefs aske them to turn in the group but the rebelious chief executed them without permission. -
Indian Removal Act
This act was passed by the 21 Congress of the United States. After four months of debates and a signature by Andrew Jacson the Act was set into motion. The main reason that the government was pushing this act so hard was the peoples greed for land. -
Worcester v. Georgia
Samuel worcester was a minister who was sent to the cheokee capital to help translate the Bible into the Cherokee language. After befreinding the tribe he began giving them legal advice and advising them to thier rights under the constitution. Realizing that he was helping the Indians, Georgia's government made extention laws to keep him out. Whe he resisted him and other missionaries were arested three times. Finally after thier third release they filed a case against Georgia and won. -
Trail of Tears
This was a large scale migration of the Cherokee Indians because of the spread of Americans and because of the Indian removal act. After Worcester vs. Georgia and Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia the government used the Treaty of New Echota to justify the relocation of the tribe. -
Oregon Trail
This was the main trail that settlers of the west used to navigate. It spaned 2,170 miles from Missouri to Oregon. The first to navigate this trail were fur traders an those daring enough to brave the terrain and the natives. -
Gold discovered in California
The first peole to discover gold in California were the early scouts of the Oregon Trail, and first findings of gol were reported in 1848, by a man named James W. Marshall accedentally found gold when he was overseeing a construction job on a sawmill in Sutter Creek, near Coloma. After that about 100,000 people flocked to Califonia trying to get rich. -
Passage of the Homestead Act
Land was very expensive back in the mid 1800's so this act was passed to encourage the settling of the western lands. The act stated that any citizen of the U.S. could file for 160 acres of free land as long as they cleared it out, built a house, planted a garden and maintained it for 5 years, then they could file for a deed. This act got alot of opposition from the northern factories because they feared they would loose thier cheep labor. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Colonel John Chivington twas sent to stop indian raids on miners, so him, his trooops and the indian tibes of the plains fought. By the end of the summer the indians were ready for peace but Chivington's supirior gave him the order not to make peace, so he found thier camp, lined his soldiers and weapons up on the ridge and killed as manny of the indians as he could. -
Diminished Buffalo Herds
Durig this time period the furs and other productd from the buffalo were very valuable, so humans killed as many as possible to get money. This left the indians with no food supply and one less source of tradable goods. The railroads also affected the buffalo population because this desroyed some of the grasslands they needed to survive. -
Gold in the Black Hills
In In 1874 General George Custer lead an expedition to the Black Hills of Dakota, and he later reported finding gold in the area. The U.S. government tried to buy the land from the Sioux, but they considered the land sacred and refused. Then the mining town of Deadwood was built in the hills. This later lead to the Battle of Little BigHorn. -
Ft. Laramie Treaty
Was a treaty signed at Ft. Laramie by the Sioux Indians stating that they would move ino the Black Hills reseve anf the treaty also stated that the American Government accepted the Black hills of Dakota as a reserve and that it would not be disturbed, But this trust was broken when Custard lead a group of miners there in search of gold. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
This is one of the worst military disasters of all time. The sioux and the Cheyenne Indians were outraged by the presence of whites on thier land, so they began fighting for thier land. To force the indians back into thier reservations, the army dispatched three colomns to attack the indian force. Custard ws in charge of one of these colomns, He started the attack early and got most of his men killed except for Captain Benteen's men and Major Reno's men, who escaped after the indians broke off. -
Nez Perce War
This all started when in 1877, President Ulysses Grant opened the Nez Percé land up for white settlement, they were told to move to Lapwai reservation. Chief Joseph met with Oliver O. Howard to discuss the terms of the demands. This is when Howard issued a thierty day warning to leave, and they reluctantly did. Soon after this a group of young Nez Perce started raids. Howard prepared for war and marched a batallion of troops into the main camp, where they fought, and the Indians ran for Canada.
