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Period: 1451 to 1508
Christopher Columbus
"Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator. In 1492, he sailed across the Atlantic from Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña ships alongside, hoping to find a new route to India. Between 1492 and 1504, he made a total of four voyages to the Caribbean and South America and has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization." -
Period: 1492 to 1504
Columbus' Four Voyages
"The four voyages of Columbus began the Spanish colonization of the Americas. For a very long time, it was believed that Columbus and his crew had been the first Europeans to make landfall in the Americas." -
Period: 1519 to 1521
Cortes Conquers the Aztecs
"Cortez conquered the Aztecs in 1521. After landing in Mexico in 1519 he systematically besieged and destroyed the Aztec Empire and on August 13, 1521 he captured Cuauhtemoc, the ruler of Tenochtitlán." -
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Henry Hudson
"Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1609 he landed in North America and explored the region around the modern New York metropolitan area, looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia. He sailed up the Hudson River, which was later named for him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region." -
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Roanoke Island Colony Fails
"The Roanoke settlement is thought to have failed because it was poorly supplied and the colonists failed to ally with or befriend the Native peoples. Roanoke is referred to as the Lost Colony because of the mysterious disappearance of the settlers and the destruction of its buildings, giving birth to myths and conspiracy stories." -
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John Winthrop
"John Winthrop was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England. Winthrop led the first large wave of immigrants from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies." -
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William Bradford
"William Bradford was a founder and longtime governor of the Plymouth Colony settlement. Born in England, he migrated with the Separatist congregation to the Netherlands as a teenager. Bradford was among the passengers on the Mayflower’s trans-Atlantic journey, and he signed the Mayflower Compact upon arriving in Massachusetts in 1620." -
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Anne Hutchinson
"Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan spiritual adviser, mother of 15, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the Massachusetts Bay Colony . Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity helped create a theological schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious community in New England. She was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the colony with many of her supporters." -
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Roger Williams
"Roger Williams was a Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with American Indians, and he was one of the first abolitionists." -
Jamestown, Virginia Founded
"The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the east bank of the Powhatan River about 2.5 mi southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. It followed several failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke, established in 1585 on Roanoke Island." -
First Africans Arrive In Virginia
"Virginia's first Africans arrived at Point Comfort, on the James River, late in August 1619. There, "20. and odd Negroes" from the English ship White Lion were sold in exchange for food and some were transported to Jamestown, where they were sold again, likely into slavery." -
Virginia House of Burgesses Formed
"The Virginia House of Burgesses was formed in 1619 and was the first form of representative government in the United States. It set the precedent for other local legislatures to be formed throughout the colonies and to an extent it inspired the legislative branch of our government." -
Pilgrims Found Plymouth, MA
"Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the modern town of Plymouth, Massachusetts." -
Puritan Migration to Massachusetts
"Puritans initially settled in the New England area. The Great Migration of Puritans began in 1629 after the foundation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and lasted until 1642 when the English Civil War began. Then King Charles I diminished the emigration process to the colonies." -
Calverts Found Maryland
"Calvert took an interest in the British colonisation of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for persecuted English Catholics. he looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state of Maryland." -
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Pequot Indian War, Maryland
"The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the English colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their Native American allies (the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes)." -
Anne Hutchinson convicted of heresy
"Antinomianism is regarded as a heresy by many Christian schools of thought. But the offense for which Anne Hutchinson was tried, convicted, excommunicated, and banished from Massachusets was "traducing the ministers," which meant slandering the male clergy" -
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
"The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council on January 15, 1639 OS (January 24, 1639 NS). The orders describe the government set up by the Connecticut River towns, setting its structure and powers." -
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English Civil War
"The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists over, principally, the manner of England's governance. The first and second wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended ." -
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William Penn
"William Penn was an English nobleman, writer, early Quaker, and founder of the English North American colony the Province of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed." -
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Nathaniel Bacon
"Nathaniel Bacon was a colonist of the Virginia Colony, famous as the instigator of Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, which collapsed when Bacon himself died from dysentery." -
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William III and Mary II
"William and Mary were faced in 1689 with two Jacobite attempts to regain the throne. William’s navy relieved the siege and he led is army to victory at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. James fled back to France.William returned several times to the Netherlands but found the English parliament reluctant to support his continuing war with France." -
First Navigation Act
"The Navigation Act, 1651. The first Navigation Act was passed by the Rump Parliament in October 1651 in the wake of an unsuccessful diplomatic attempt by Oliver St John and Walter Strickland to negotiate an alliance between the English Commonwealth and the United Provinces of the Netherlands." -
English conquer New Netherlands → NY
"The English government of that time was looking for a pretext for a war with the Dutch, partly because English leaders thought they could get rich in such a war, and partly because of old antagonisms. They invaded the Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam, which had existed since 1625, and renamed it New York, in 1664. " -
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King Philip’s (Metacomet) War, MA
"King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–78 between Indian inhabitants of the New England region of North America versus New England colonists and their Indian allies." -
Bacon’s Rebellion
"Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The colony's dismissive policy as it related to the political challenges of its western frontier refusing to allow Bacon to be a part of his fur trade with the Indians, and Doeg American Indian attacks, helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety." -
Pennsylvania settled
"The first permanent settlement in Pennsylvania was at Tinicum. The area was initially settled by Swedes in 1643, later to become Ridley Township" -
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English Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights
"The English Bill of Rights was an agreement signed by William and Mary to respect the rights of English citizens… and of Parliament. The Glorious Revolution was the overthrow of English King James II in 1688 and his replacement by William and Mary." -
Massachusetts becomes a royal colony
"The colony of Massachusetts was founded in 1620, by the Puritans who were seeking a religious haven. The Massachusetts colony became a royal colony in 1691." -
Salem witch hunts
"The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, nineteen of whom were found guilty and hung. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of the United States. " -
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Queen Anne’s War
"Queen Anne's War. Queen Anne's War was the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession, as known in the British colonies, and the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent." -
England, Wales, and Scotland unite into the UK
The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland. By the two Acts, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were, in the words of the Treaty, "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain"." -
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George I’s reign
"During George's reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by a prime minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual political power was held by Robert Walpole, now recognized as Britain's first de facto prime minister. George died of a stroke on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried. He was the last British monarch to be buried outside the United Kingdom" -
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George II’s reign
"As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain. As elector, he spent twelve summers in Hanover, where he had more direct control over government policy." -
Georgia founded
"The colony of Georgia was founded in 1732 by James Oglethorpe, the last of the thirteen British colonies.Georgia began with the intention to have little landholding and no slavery. However, when it became a royal colony in 1752, the ban on slavery was lifted. Plantations and slavery became a major part of the Georgian economy." -
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First Great Awakening
"The Great Awakening was an evangelical and revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American Protestantism. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ." -
John Peter Zenger trial
"Zenger was accused of libel, a legal term whose meaning is quite different for us today than it was for him. In his day it was libel when you published information that was opposed to the government. Truth or falsity were irrelevant. He never denied printing the pieces. The judge therefore felt that the verdict was never in question." -
Stono Rebellion, NC
"The Stono Rebellion (sometimes called Cato's Conspiracy or Cato's Rebellion) was a slave rebellion that began on 9 September 1739, in the colony of South Carolina. It was the largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies, with 25 white people and 35 to 50 black people killed." -
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King George’s War
"King George's War is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia." -
Albany Congress
"The Albany Congress , also known as, "The Conference of Albany" was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of the northern seven of the thirteen British North American colonies."
