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Apr 22, 1492
Columbin Exchange
The Columbian Exchange refers to the flow of goods between the Americas, Europe, and Africa that followed Columbus’s widely advertised “discovery” of the New World. People, animals, plants, and disease passed from continent to continent affecting virtually all aspects of the environment in all three. This was significant because this was a result of Europeans migrating to this New World and eventually settling in a foreign land in which they brought over food, animals and diseases. -
Apr 22, 1492
European Discovery of New World
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella, accidently discovered the New World.
This is significant because this was the start of European migration out of their own land, looking for smaller trade spots to acquire -
Apr 22, 1493
Columbus reports of first voyage
Christopher Columbus’s letter describing what he discovered during his voyage across the Atlantic was published in Barcelona in April 1493.
This is important because, this gives him authority to explore further and settle in the new found land. -
Apr 22, 1500
Fur Trade
The fur trade was one of the earliest and most important industries in North America. The fur trading industry played a major role in the development of the United States and Canada for more than 300 years.
This is significant because this proved that not only British colonies migrated and settled in America, French (and Spanish) did too. -
Apr 22, 1512
Encomienda System Established
Under the encomienda system, conquistadors and other leaders (encomenderos) received grants of a number of Indians, from whom they could exact “tribute” in the form of gold or labor. The encomenderos were supposed to protect and Christianize the Indians granted to them, but they most often used the system to effectively enslave the Indians and take their lands. This is significant because this was a result of Europeans migrating ang settling in South America as well as taking over the people. -
Apr 22, 1525
Rise of Atlantic Slave Trade
The first record of a slave trade voyage direct from Africa to the Americas is for a ship that landed in Santo Domingo, on the island Española.
This is signficant because this was the migration of Africans to America and a result of European settlement -
Jamestown Virginia, founded
The first English colonists wanted gold and silver and instead they found sickness and disease and requested supplies for a colony still unable survive on its own.
This is significant because it is the first colony to actually settle in North America -
Pilgrims Land
Pilgrims, or Separatists, seeking religious freedom arrived in New England aboard the Mayflower. On November 11, 1620, they signed the Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony.
Significant because with settling comes documents to govern the settled people -
New Amsterdam
The Dutch colonization of New Netherland (which included parts of present-day New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Connecticut).
Significance: another settling colony in this new founded America, thats not British -
New Orleans Established
New Orleans was a colony valuable for trade, shipping, and expansion.
Significance: Once people get settled they need to establish themselves and make sure they can provide the necessary food and supplies. -
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade.
Significant because it was the forced migration of Africans to America due to Europeans needing a source of "cheap" more like free labor. -
Indentured Servitude
Colonial Americans engaged in many forms of unfree labor, with great numbers of youths moving away from their families to become servants or apprentices.
Significant because this was also the migration of Europeans to the New World but particularly those who couldn't be successful in Europe and looked for the New World as a "new" way out -
The French and Indian War
Half a century of conflict between Britain and France over North America culminated in the French and Indian War—the Seven Years’ War in Europe.
Significant not only because it finally put the British colony higher up on the global scale but also because of settling issues including who's land was who's and Indian payback for being pushed out by British colonies. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 “preserved to the said Indians” the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and ordered white settlers “there forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements,” forbade white settlement.
Significance: It actually gave "permission" to Indians to settle on their own land in the west -
Declaration of Independence
Congress declared independence from Great Britain and two days later adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Significant because this meant that this newly settled colony was going to become their own newly settled country, -
Peace of 1783
The Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives of Great Britain and the United States.
Significant because it was the final piece to America becoming their own people. -
Northwest Ordinance
Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance, which provided a model for the organization of future territories. The ordinance gave Congress the power to divide the area into three to five separate territories.
SIgnificant because it was further documents to ensure peace in the new settlement and also other additions of states when people migrate west and want to become apart of the union. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million.
Significant because it was more land that American people acquired and therefore settled in. This purchase doubled the size of America. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30' N. except in Missouri, which was admitted to the Union as a slave state while Maine.
Significant because this proved that there was still settlement growing and this poilcy just allowed for their to be temporary peace in the settlement and adding of states. -
Stephen Austin brings settlers to Texas
In the 1820s, the Mexican government allowed speculators, called empresarios, to acquire large tracts of land if they promised to bring in settlers to populate the region and make it profitable. By the early 1830s many settlers, including Austin, began calling for Texas to separate from Mexico.
Significant because there was still that aspect of new land being acquired and it meant that there was more people settling in America -
Monroe Doctrine
President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere closed to further European colonization and threatened to use force to stop further European interventions in the Americas.
Significant because it discontinued further European settlement in North America and encouraged more Americans to settle west. -
Indian Removal Act
President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized aggressive efforts to open Indian lands to whites and promised financial compensation to Indian tribes that agreed to resettle on lands west of the Mississippi River.
Significant because it encouraged more settlement of Americans but obviously discouraged settlement of Indians concerning any land that wasn't west enough -
Trail of Tears
14,000 Cherokees were removed by troops from western Georgia and southeastern Tennessee and marched down the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.
Significant because this is another example of forced migration by European Americans onto another group of people. -
American Expansion
Texas was admitted to the Union as a slave state in 1845. “Manifest Destiny” or the idea that the United States had a special right and duty to spread its democratic system from coast to coast, was a crucial theme used to justify the Mexican-Amercan War that followed hard on annexation.
Significant because it gave Americans the belief of superiority and idea that they can migrate and settle whereever they want -
Mexican- American War
In 1846 President Polk sent a US representative to the Mexican government to make an offer to buy California and parts of New Mexico as well as to settle disputed territory claims in Texas. Fighting broke out on April 25, 1846
Significant because it put the manifest destiny belief into play and proved the America would do whatever it takes to migrate and settle or take lands from people -
Mormons arrive in Utah
Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church, or Church of the Latter Day Saints, in New York state in 1830.
Significant because it is further settlement and migration into the eastern coast of North American -
California Gold Rush
James W. Marshall, a 36-year-old carpenter and handyman, discovered gold at a sawmill near Sacramento, California. The discovery set off the California gold rush. In 1849, 80,000 men arrived in California hoping to make a fortune in mining. Few struck it rich, and the gold rush lasted less than a decade.
Significant because it showed further expansion and people migrating and ssettling west, in this case, for gold. -
Compromise of 1850
Congress adopted the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California to the Union as a free state without forbidding slavery in other territories acquired from Mexico.
Significant because it was another policy of settlement and added states to the union to keep the peace. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress demanded that Douglas add a clause that specifically repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30' north. Instead, the status of slavery in the region would be decided by a vote of the region’s settlers.
Significant because this concernec settlement and addition of newer states -
Homestead Act
Lincoln signed the Federal Homestead Law. The act granted public land in 160 acres allotments in the West to those willing to farm the land for five years.
Significant because it was one of the first politically concerned push for people to move and settle west. -
Purchase of Alaska
For $7.2 million the deal added 586,412 square miles to the United States—one-fifth of the present United States. The purchase was originally known as “Seward’s Follly” but the land proved to contain natural resources in vast amounts.
Significant because it was America coninue to bargain for and buy land to settle into for profit. -
Transcontinental Railroad complete
The first transcontinental railroad was completed when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met.
Another political and economic advancement to help encourage travel and hopefully settlement to the west. -
Immigration Increases
More than 2,812,191 immigrants arrived in the United States, primarily from Europe, between 1871 and 1880. These immigrants were primarily of Western European background (German, Irish, British and Scandinavian).
Significant because it concerns migration into America -
Indian Appropriation Act
In the late nineteenth century, Indian policy began to place a growing emphasis on erasing a distinctive American Indian identity. To weaken the authority of tribal leaders, Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act, which ended the practice of treating tribes as independent, sovereign nations.
Significant because its another example of American control over Natives. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
In the war against western Sioux, General George Custer and more than two hundred of his men died along Montana’s Little Bighorn River at the hands of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors.
Significant because it came as a result of Americans relentless push to settle west -
Nez Perce War
Hostilities between settlers and the Nez Perce Indians became violent in June 1877. For four months, the Nez Perce were pursued by the US Army, and the two sides clashed across Montana and Idaho.
Significant because it is yet another war where Americans and Natives have to go head to head due to Americans taking over people's land. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act, allowed Indian reservation land to be broken up into small allotments for sale to individuals. The purpose of the act was to encourage American Indians to become farmers, but the plots were too small to support families or to raise livestock.
Significant because it was Americans trying to better control Natives and their land for American benefit. -
Assimilation of Native Americans
Indian policy adopted by fed. govt. in 1871: ended treaty making with tribes, established Court of Indian Offenses and Native American schools, passed Dawes Act.
Significant because it was another way Americans tried to control Natives to control the land that was supposed to be native land. -
Bision Nearly Extinct
Bison had been hunted to near extinction by 1890. In the late 1860s, Cody hunted buffalo on the Great Plains to help feed the builders of the Union Pacific Railroad.
Significant because it proves again that Americans are willing to go through with anything including taking away Native's food source and nearly making a species extinct to benefit for themselves. -
Wounded Knee
US troops slaughtered approximately 200 Sioux, many of them women and children, at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota where they had gathered as part of the Ghost Dance movement.
Significant because its another example of Americans wanting full control over the land and their inhabitants-- victimized natives. -
Annexation of Hawaii
Hawaiians, staged a revolt by declaring Hawaii a republic and seeking annexation by the US. American Marines invaded, Lili’uokalani surrendered, and the US minister to Hawaii declared it a protectorate of the United States.
Significant because it was example of added land and eventually state to the country -
Spanish-American War
Cubans began to fight for their independence from Spain in 1895. Newspaper publishers like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer worked up war fever among the public with reports of Spanish atrocities against Cuban rebels. Congress declared war, but only after adopting the Teller Amendment.
Significant because, even though we were fighting to help a country try to gain their freedom, we still wanted the benefit of land and trade with our new-found ideal of imperialism -
Philippine-American War
On June 12, 1898, a young Filipino general, Emilio Aguinaldo, proclaimed Philippine independence and established Asia’s first republic. He had hoped that the Philippines would become a US protectorate, but pressure on President William McKinley to annex the Philippines was intense.
Significant because it shows how America will sometimes only worry about getting land and not necessarily about the people inhabiting the land. -
Annexation of Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam
In the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States.
Significant because it was America gaining more land to exploit and control. -
US Senate Debates Imperialism
Debates in the US Senate concerning the ratification of the 1898 Treaty of Paris focused on imperialism.
Significant because it determined whether or not America was going to continue to fight for more land to exploit and control -
Start of Panama Canal Construction
American construction began on the Panama Canal. It took ten years and $352 million dollars to complete. The canal opened in 1914.
Significant because it symbolized American want for more land and trade opportunities. -
Roosevelt Corollary
President Roosevelt announced the Roosevelt Corollary, which extended the Monroe Doctrine and asserted the right of the United States to police the Caribbean.
Significant because it was like the Monroe Doctrine and basically gave America the authority to expand -
Start of Great Migration
The Great Migration, in which about half a million African Americans moved to the urban North from the rural South.
Significant because it concerned internal migration within America -
Nicaragua becomes US Protectorate
Nicaragua became a protectorate of the United States when, to protect American interests in the country, President Taft approved sending a contingent of American marines to the country to deter revolution.
Significant because its another example of acquired land by Americans and Americans wnat to expand. -
Dust Bowl and Westward Migration
Dust Bowl conditions forced thousands of farmers from the plains to migrate west in search of work. Many settled in California.
Significant because its another example of internal migration in America -
First Levittown
Entrepreneur William J. Levitt began building the largest housing project in American history. On a thousand acres on Long Island, Levitt began constructing houses using assembly-line techniques to produce many more “Levittowns,” a model for suburban planning that proliferated throughout the United States in the 1950s.
Significant because these new suburban houses were the causes of the migration from cities to the outskirts. -
Berlin Blockade
As American and Soviet forces occupying Germany clashed over punishment and rehabilitation plans for the country, the Soviets cut off access to Berlin. From June 26, 1948, to September 30, 1949, the United States and Great Britain dropped food and supplies into West Berlin via air.
Significant because it was American duty to contain communism and help fellow Europeans to ensure that our own settlement stays in tact -
Internal Security Act
Congress passed the Internal Security Act over President Truman’s veto. Also known as the McCarran Act, it strengthened laws against espionage, allowed investigation and deportation of immigrants who were suspected of subversive activities, and allowed the limitation of free speech for national security reasons.
Significant because it was a defensive attempt to keepthe communism from migrating into the country. -
Federal Highway Act
Congress passed the Federal Highway Act in 1956, allocating $32 billion to build 41,000 miles of interstate highways. Highways were important not only because of Americans’ growing dependence on automobiles but also as a national defense measure, creating a nationwide transportation network for the US military.
Significant because it was a defense measure but allowed for the daily migration from home to work on highway and ensure American settlement. -
NASA Established
The National Aeronautics and Space Act established the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). The primary mission of the agency was to promote manned space flight.
Significant because this was a defense mechanism but also, eventually, inspired the thought of space exploration and the possibility of migration to othe planets in space. -
Immigration Act of 1965
In a ceremony at the Statue of Liberty, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration Act of 1965, which abolished the national origins quota system.
Significant because it finally allowed for immigrants to once again come over to America "freely" -
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) allows immigrants who had entered the U.S. before Jan. 1, 1982, to apply for legal status but required them to pay fines, fees, and back taxes. It also gives the same rights to immigrants who worked in agricultural jobs for 90 days before May 1982.
Significant because it regulates migration into America -
The Immigration Act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 sets an annual ceiling of 700,000 immigrants for three years, and 675,000 thereafter.
Significant because it regulates immigration -
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act broadens the definition of “aggravated felony” and increases the number of crimes classified as such so immigrants could be deported for a wider range of crimes. The law is applied retroactively.
Significant because it proves that Americans really need control over migration into and within the country -
The REAL ID Act
The REAL ID Act of 2005 requires states to verify a person’s immigration status or citizenship before issuing licenses, expands restrictions on refugees requesting asylum, and limits the habeas corpus rights of immigrants.
Significant because it makes sure that noone illegal is trying to settle in the country and controls who is immigrating here -
Mexican Immigration Debate
Basically, American awareness of people illegally crossing the border into America and how we need to handle it.
This is significant because its another idea of control migration into America.
