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Nov 11, 1484
1527 Bartolome de las Casas argues against enslavement of Native Americans
Bartolome de Las Casas, a priest, preached against the enslavement of native peoples. The governor of Cuba was shocked and tried to argue that slaves make the Spanish rich and successful. But Las Casas said that slavery was cruel and sinful.
(I couldn't find the exact date for this so I put Bartolome's birth date.) -
Oct 11, 1492
1492 Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492. Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492. His objective was to sail west until he reached Asia (the Indies) where the riches of gold, pearls and spice awaited. -
Jan 1, 1512
1512 Spanish take the first African slaves to Hispaniola
The Spanish began taking African slaves to Hispaniola to replace the dying natives who had been slaves before. Bartolome de Las Casas, a priest who had taught that it was wrong to enslave native Americans, at first approved of the African slaves. Later, he wrote that it was also wrong to enslave Africans. This slave trade became very important in the early development of the Americas. -
Nov 8, 1519
1519 Cortés arrives in Tenochtitlan
Hernando Cortés was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who landed on the coast of Mexico in 1519. Learning of the powerful Aztec empire and its capital city of Tenochtitlán, Cortés traveled over one hundred miles inland to find the city and claim the Empire for Spain. -
Aug 13, 1521
1521 Cortés defeats the Aztecs
The Spanish campaign began in February 1519, and was declared victorious on August 13, 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtemoc and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. -
Jan 18, 1535
1535 Pizarro founds a new capital in Lima, Peru, after defeating the Incas
Lima, Peru was founded by Francisco Pizarro. The Incas had lived there. Today many people live there. -
1590 John White returns to the Roanoke settlement to find the colony has disappeared
The Roanoke Island colony, the first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585. ... White returned to England to procure more supplies, but the war with Spain delayed his return to Roanoke. By the time he finally returned in August 1590, everyone had vanished. -
1607 The English found Jamestown
In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
1608 Champlain founds Quebec
In 1608, Champlain returned to Canada to establish a fur trading post. He chose a site along the St. Lawrence River and named it Quebec. It became the first permanent settlement in New France. Samuel later became co-owner, along with famed explorer, Jacques Cartier, of the Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League. Later, after Samuel’s death, the hockey franchise was sold and moved to Denver where it was renamed the Colorado Avalanche -
1619 House of Burgesses formed
After his arrival in Jamestown in 1619, Governor George Yeardley immediately gave notice that the Virginia colony would establish a legislative assembly. This assembly, the House of Burgesses, first met on July 30, 1619. -
1620 The Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth
Plymouth Colony First colonial settlement in New England (founded 1620). The settlers were a group of about 100 Puritan Separatist Pilgrims, who sailed on the Mayflower and settled on what is now Cape Cod bay, Massachusetts. They named the first town after their port of departure. -
1634 Mathias de Sousa, an indentured servant of African descent, arrives in Maryland aboard the Ark.
Possibly of African and Portuguese descent, Mathias de Sousa was one of the nine indentured servants brought to Maryland by Jesuit missionaries, and was on the Ark when Lord Baltimore’s expedition arrived in the St. Mary’s River in 1634. -
1682 William Penn established Pennsylvania
William Penn (October 14, 1644–July 30, 1718) founded the Province of Pennsylvania, the British North American colony that became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. -
1733 Georgia, the 13th Colony, is founded
In the 1730s, England founded the last of its colonies in North America. The project was the brain child of James Oglethorpe, a former army officer. His choice of Georgia, named for the new King, was also motivated by the idea of creating a defensive buffer for South Carolina, an increasingly important colony with many potential enemies close by.
