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Founding Nova Scotia
Traders established Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1603 and launched trading expeditions that stretched down the Atlantic coast as far as Cape Cod. The needs of the fur trade set the future pattern of French colonization. -
The Death of Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth died at the age of 69, due to blood poisoning. -
The Virginia Company
In 1606 James I approved the formation of the Virginia Company (named after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen). -
The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown Virginia was founded by The Virginia Company of London on May 14, 1607. They named the settlement after James The First. The Jamestown settlement in the colony of Virginia was the first parliament English settlement in the Americas. -
Founding Quebec
Founded in 1608 under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain, Quebec provided the foothold for what would become New France. -
Founding Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States and the oldest European community west of the Mississippi. It was settled by the conquistador Don Pedro de Peralta. -
The Smallpox Pandemic
A lethal pandemic of smallpox during the 1610s swept away as much as 90 percent of the region’s Native American population. -
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Angelo-Powhatan Wars
The Angelo-Powhatan Wars were three wars fought between settlers of the Virginia Colony and Algonquin Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy in the early seventeenth century. The first war started in 1610 and ended with a peaceful settlement in 1614. The second war lasted from 1622-1626. -
Founding New Netherland
New Netherland was the first Dutch colony in North America.It was founded by The Dutch West India Company. It extended from Albany New York, in the north to Delaware in the south and encompassed parts of what are now states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware. -
First Planted Tobacco Crop
In 1616 John Rolfe crossed tobacco strains from Trinidad and Guiana and planted Virginia’s first tobacco crop. -
First Cargo Shipment of Tobacco from the U.S.
In 1617 the colony sent its first cargo of tobacco back to England. The “noxious weed,” a native of the New World, fetched a high price in Europe and the tobacco boom began in Virginia and then later spread to Maryland -
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The Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War began as a religious war between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants in Germany. This war gradually developed into a general war that involved much of Europe for not-so-religious reasons. This war concluded thirty years later with a few results. Germany became further divided, the wars of religion ended, the beginning of the rise of France as a dominant European power, and the balance of power diplomacy in Europe. -
Slavery Begins in Virginia
In 1619, Africans sailed into Jamestown and were sold into slavery. They were packed into these ships, each ship holding hundreds of slaves. There were slaves that died from being so tightly packed in the ship, on the way to America. -
Creating the House of Burgesses
In 1619, the Virginia Company established the House of Burgesses, a limited representative body composed of white landowners that first met in Jamestown. -
The Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact is a document that was signed on the Mayflower boat. It was written by the male passengers of the Mayflower and was the first governing document of Plymouth County. -
The Death of Powhatan
Powhatan died in 1622 and was succeeded by his brother, Opechancanough, who promised to drive the land-hungry colonists back into the sea. -
Jamestown Massacre
The Jamestown Massacre, also known as the Indian Massacre of 1622, there became a blood bath between the English and the Indians. This was the start of the Powhatan War. -
Founding New Amsterdam
The Dutch West Indian company formed New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in 1625. -
Founding Manhattan
In 1626 Peter Minuit therefore “bought” Manhattan from Munsee people. -
Dutch Colonization Imported Slaves
The colony imported eleven enslaved people owned by the company in 1626 and were tasked with Building New Amsterdam. -
Founding Maryland
The Maryland colony was one of the original 13 colonies. It was founded by Leonard Calvert, who led two small ships, named the ark and the dove, to Maryland. -
Founding Providence
After his exile from Massachusetts, Roger Williams created a settlement called Providence in 1636. -
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Pequot War
The Pequot War took place between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists for the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, ans Saybrook colonies. The main cause of the war was the struggle to control trade. The Pequot tribe did defeat the colonists in the war. -
Sword of the Lord
In May 1637, an armed contingent of English Puritans from Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Connecticut colonies trekked into Native American territory that was claimed by New England. Referring to themselves as the “Sword of the Lord,” this military force intended to attack “that insolent and barbarous Nation, called the Pequots.” -
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Kieft’s War
The Kieft’s war is also known as the Wappinger War and was between the Lenape and Wappinger Indians and the colony of New Netherlands. Willem Kieft les his soldiers to victory. -
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The English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of civil wars and political machinations between parliamentarians and Royalists, mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of religious freedom. The war ended with victory from Sir Thomas Fairfax, who led his troops to victory over King Charles The FIrst at the battle of Naseby. -
Founding New Haven
In 1643 New Haven Colony was officially organized, with Eaton named governor. -
The Maryland Toleration Act
The Maryland Toleration Act was passed on April 21, 1649 and was a religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians. The act was meant to ensure freedom of religion for Christian settlers of diverse persuasions in the colony. -
The Navigation Act
The Navigation Act of 1651 compelled merchants in every colony to ship goods directly to England in English ships. -
The First Printed Bible in the U.S.
the first Bible to be printed in America was undertaken by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson and published in 1660. -
Founding Rhode Island
In 1663, Charles II granted the colony a royal charter establishing the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. -
Founding East and West Jersey
In 1664, the Duke of York granted the area between the Hudson and Delaware rivers to two English noblemen. These lands were split into two distinct colonies, East Jersey and West Jersey. -
Founding Charleston
The founding of Charleston (“Charles Town” until the 1780s) in 1670 was viewed as a serious threat by the Spanish in neighboring Florida, who began construction of Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine as a response. -
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King Philip's War
King Philip’s War, also known as the First Indian War, the Great Narragansett War, or Metacom’s Rebellion, took place in southern New England from 1675 to 1676. It was the Native Americans' last-ditch effort to avoid recognizing English authority and stop English settlement on their native lands. -
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Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. The rebellion is significant in that it was the first to unite black and white indentured servants with black slaves against the colonial government, and, in response, the government established policies to ensure nothing like it would happen again. -
The Dominion of New England
James II worked to place the colonies on firmer administrative and defensive footing by creating the Dominion of New England in 1686. -
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The Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution also called The Revolution of 1688 and the Bloodless Revolution took place from 1688 to 1689 in England. It involved the overthrow of the Catholic King James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. -
The First Paper Bills
In 1690, colonial Massachusetts became the first place in the Western world to issue paper bills to be used as money. -
Founding North Carolina
the Lord's Proprietor founded the separate province of North Carolina in 1691. -
The Decree 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