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The Dutch East India Company was founded, with a tax free monopoly of the eastern trade for twenty-one years.
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Colonist establish the first British settlement in the new world, at Jamestown.
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The Jamestown settlers meet an unfriendly reception from the local Powhatan Indians, having to use their muskets to beat off an attack within two weeks of their arrival.
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A shipload of Puritans, among them some of the future Pilgrim Fathers, sail from Boston to Lincolnshire to seek religious freedom in Holland.
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The British East India establishes a 'factory' (a secure warehouse for storing Indian goods) at Surat, on the west coast.
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Pocahontas marries John Rolfe.
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The first democratically-elected legislative body in the British American colonies (House of Burgesses) is established
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The first slaves arrive in America
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The Pilgrims, a group of 102 English settlers, sail in the Mayflower to the new world.
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The Pilgrims on the Mayflower select a place for their settlement, and give it the name of Plymouth, their port of departure in England.
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The Mayflower settlers in Plymouth offer thanksgiving for their first harvest, eating turkeys in a celebration shared by local Indians.
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The Dutch West India Company is chartered to trade and found colonies anywhere along the entire American coast.
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Boston was established by John Winthrop.
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Rhode Island is founded by Roger Williams as a colony based on the principle of religious tolerance.
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Connecticut was established by a group of London merchants and their families. The leaders were John Davenport, a Puritan minister, and Theophilus Eaton.
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King Charles II gave the colony of Connecticut an official charter.
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New York is established by Peter Minuit
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The first permanent European settlement is established by the British near Charleston.
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Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion that took place from 1676-1677 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of governor William Berkeley.
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Philadelphia is established by William Penn