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The first permanent settlement in America, Jamestown, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia.
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Henry Hudson sails to New York harbor and up the river that would bear his name to Albany.
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Henry Hudson sails into Hudson Bay for the Dutch, searching for the Northwest Passage to the Orient.
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Pocahontas and John Rolfe bring tobacco seeds to the colony began its harvesting. Their marriage led piece among the colonists and Indians for years.
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The first representative assembly in America, the House of Burgesses, meets for the first time in Virginia and, the first African slaves are brought to Jamestown.
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The Pilgrims from England established the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. They sailed over on the Mayflower and the 41 passengers that survived the journey signed the Mayflower Compact; an agreement that forms the basis of the colony's government.
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The first Thanksgiving celebration is held in the autumn for three days between the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe who helped them settle and plant the colony's land.
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King Charles receives a Petition of Rights from the English Parliament to gain royal subsidies. Petition of Rights would influence the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Body of Liberties and the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
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Great Colonial Hurricane strikes the Atlantic Coast and the colonies of Jamestown, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay.
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Pequot War begins between Pequot tribe and their alliance against the Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies. The War ended on September 21, 1638 with the Treaty of Hartford with only two hundred Pequot tribe members remained.
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Pequot War ends with Treaty of Hartford after three years of battles between the New England colonists and native tribes.
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Witchcraft is made a capital crime in English law, and the Massachusetts colony becomes the first colony to legalize slavery.
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Maryland passes the Maryland Toleration Act, allowing freedom of religion.
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Slavery is legalized in Connecticut and recognized in the American colonies.
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English Parliament passes the first in a series of Navigation Acts, banning use of anything but English ships in commerce with its colonies.
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Flushing Remembrance signed in New Amsterdam for Quaker religious freedom.
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English seize New Amsterdam (city and colony) from the Dutch and rename it New York.
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Bacon's Rebellion causes the burning of Jamestown. Nathanial Bacon leads the rebellion of planters against Governor Berkeley. Bacon would perish and twenty-three others were executed.
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The colony of Pennsylvania is established when William Penn signs a treaty with the Delaware Indians and pays for Pennsylvania lands.
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Jamestown is abandoned after the statehouse is burned in 1698 with the colonial government moving to Middle Plantation, renamed soon after as Williamsburg.
