13 Colonies

By hiram2600
  • Aug 3, 1492

    Christopher Columbus makes his first voyage to the Americas.

  • The Roanoke Colony is founded.

    It will disappear and become known as the "Lost Colony."

  • The Jamestown Settlement is established.

    The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

  • "Starving Time."

    Only 60 out of 500 settlers in Jamestown survive the winter of 1609-1610.

  • Henry Hudson explores the northeast coast and the Hudson River.

  • Jamestown settler John Rolfe marries Pocahontas, the daughter of the Powhatan Indian chief.

    Chief Powhatan allowed his daughter, Pocahontas, to marry Rolfe in a last attempt to create an alliance between his confederacy and the English colonists. They married, and she converted to Christianity, traveling to England with Rolfe before her death in 1617.

  • The first African slaves arrive in Jamestown. The first representative government, the Virginia House of Burgesses, meets at Jamestown.

  • Plymouth Colony is founded by the Pilgrims.

    Definition. The Plymouth Colony (1620-1691 CE) was the first English settlement in the region of modern-day New England in the United States, settled by the religious separatists known as the “pilgrims” who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower in 1620

  • A royal charter is issued for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

    In 1629 King Charles I granted a royal charter to Puritan leaders of the New England Company, incorporating them as the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the same year, Puritan leaders received authorization to migrate to New England and take the charter with them.

  • Puritans found the city of Boston.

    Boston was founded in 1630 by English Puritans fleeing religious persecution. On 29 March 1630, a fleet of 11 ships carrying 700 people sailed from England to Massachusetts. They were led by John Winthrop (1588-1649). At first, the people settled at Charlestown, which had been founded the year before.

  • Lord Calvert, the first Baron of Baltimore, is granted a charter for the Colony of Maryland.

  • Roger Williams begins the colony of Providence Plantation after being expelled from Massachusetts.

    Williams founded the colony of Providence in present-day Rhode Island in 1636. Freed from the constraints of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams put his ideas about the separation of church and state, land policy, and friendly relations with the Narragansett Indians into practice.

  • Thomas Hooker moves to Connecticut and establishes what will become the Connecticut Colony.

    Hooker and Reverend Samuel Stone led a group of settlers to form Hartford in the soon to be formed Connecticut Colony. The Massachusetts General Court had granted them the right to set up three towns: Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford.

  • The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut describe the government of Connecticut.

    It is considered the first written Constitution of the Americas.
    Stated the powers and limits of government. The preamble of the Fundamental Orders officially formed a confederation under the guidance of God—standing in stark contrast to today's ideas about the separation of church and state.

  • The Province of Carolina is created.

  • England captures the New Netherlands and names it the Province of New York. The city of New Amsterdam is renamed New York.

    The English renamed the colony New York, after James, the Duke of York, who had received a charter to the territory from his brother King Charles II.

  • The city of Charlestown, South Carolina is founded.

  • King Philip's War begins between the colonists in New England and a group of Native American tribes including the Wampanoag people.

    The Wampanoag carried out a series of raids against the Swansea colony of Massachusetts, killing many colonists and pillaging and destroying property. English officials responded by sending their military to destroy Philip's home village of Mount Hope, Rhode Island.

  • William Penn is granted the charter for the Province of Pennsylvania.

  • The city of Philadelphia is founded.

  • The Salem witch trials begin in Massachusetts.

    Twenty people are executed for witchcraft.

  • The capital of Virginia moves from Jamestown to Williamsburg.

  • Delaware separates from Pennsylvania becoming a new colony.

  • The Colony of New Jersey is formed by the merging of East and West Jersey.

  • The Province of Carolina separates into North Carolina and South Carolina.

    As the two locales evolved separately and as their differing geographies and inhabitants steered contrasting courses, calls for a formal split emerged. In 1712, North Carolina and South Carolina became distinct colonies. Each prospered in its own right after this peaceful divorce took effect.

  • The Province of Georgia is formed by James Oglethorpe.

  • The first settlers arrive in Georgia.

  • The College of New Jersey is founded. It will later become Princeton University.

  • The Liberty Bell is cracked when it is first rung in testing.

    It was fixed by 1753.

  • The French and Indian War begins between the British colonists and the French. Both sides ally with various Indian tribes.

    The Native American people from the Algonquin, Lenape, Wyandot, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Shawnee, and the Mi'kmaq sided with the French. The British were supported by the Iroquois Confederacy.

  • The British win the French and Indian War and gain a significant amount of territory in North America including Florida.

  • The British government passes the Stamp Act taxing the colonies. The Quartering Act is also passed allowing British troops to be housed in private homes.

  • The Boston Massacre occurs.

    A crowd confronted eight British soldiers in the streets of the city. As the mob insulted and threatened them, the soldiers fired their muskets, killing five colonists.

  • Bostonian colonists protest the Tea Act with the Boston Tea Party.

  • The First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

  • The Revolutionary War begins.

    In the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 19, 1775, British troops crossed Boston Harbor with the intention of marching to Concord, Massachusetts to seize military supplies stored in the town by Patriot militiamen.