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Queen Elizabeth Died
The first efforts towards colonizing the New World were made under her reign. -
Founding of the Virginia Company
The Virginia Company, established in 1606, drew inspiration from Cortés and the Spanish conquests. Its hope was to find gold and silver as well as other valuable trading commodities in the New World: glass, iron, furs, pitch, tar, and anything else the country could supply. -
The Founding of Quebec
Under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain, Quebec was founded in 1608, and it provided the foothold for what would become New France. -
Marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe
The marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe eased the colonists relations with the Powhatan. -
The Establishment of the House of Burgesses
In 1619, the Virginia Company established the House of Burgesses which was a limited representative body composed of white landowners that first met in Jamestown. -
The Establishment of the Dutch West India Company
The Netherlands chartered the Dutch West India Company not only to become less dependent to Spain and Portugal, but also to search for new sources of wealth and additional trading opportunities. -
The Bay Psalm Book
The Bay Psalm Book, which was the first book to be printed in the colonies, has only eleven known copies that have survived. -
Navigation Act of 1651
The Navigation Act of 1651 compelled merchants in every colony to ship goods directly to England in English ships, as Parliament sought to bind the colonies more closely to England and prevent other European nations from interfering with its American possessions. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion began with an argument over a pig in the summer of 1675. Everyone accused everyone else of treason, rebels and loyalists switched sides depending on which side was winning, and the whole Chesapeake disintegrated into a confused melee of secret plots and grandiose crusades, sordid vendettas and desperate gambits, with Native Americans and English alike struggling for supremacy and survival. One Virginian summed up the rebellion as “our time of anarchy." -
Parliament’s 1689 passage of a Bill of Rights
American colonists rejoiced in Parliament’s 1689 passage of a Bill of Rights as it curtailed the power of the monarchy and cemented Protestantism in England. -
Paper Money in the Colonies
In 1690, colonial Massachusetts became the first place in the Western world to issue paper bills to be used as money. These notes, called bills of credit, were issued for finite periods of time on the colony’s credit and varied in denomination. -
Degree of Sanctuary
In 1693 the Spanish king issued the Decree of Sanctuary, which granted freedom to enslaved people fleeing the English colonies if they converted to Catholicism and swore an oath of loyalty to Spain.