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Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus landed in San Salvador
He thought he was near Japan. Sailed to several more islands in the West Indies and "discovered them" even though native tribes had been living there in peace for thousands and thousands of years. -
Jan 1, 1500
European devastation and destruction
The Europeans brought diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, smallpox, measles and influenza to the indigenous population. Their numbers fell from 80 million to less than 1 million in less than 500 years -
Jamestown
Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown -
The Pequot War
The Pequot War - The Pequots were defeated by the colonists led by John Underhill and John Mason allied with the Narragansetts and Mohegans.
In New England
-Whites murdered several hundred men, women, and children in Pequot village
-Sent the survivors to live in slavery
-Whites took over the land -
The Seven Years War
The Seven Years War (French and Indian War) due to disputes over land is won by Great Britain. France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba. -
The Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763) -
The Indian Removal Act
-Moved Native Americans "voluntarily" or at gunpoint to lands west of the Mississippi
-Moved Gulf Coast and Midwestern tribes to "Indian Territory"
-Created the "Trail of Tears" -
The Last Tribes
The Cherokee were the last of the Five Civilised Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminal and Chickasaw) to take the enforced march on the tragic Trail of Tears -
The Trail of Tears
As part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects.