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Virginia Company is Formed
King James I approved the formation of the Virginia Company (named after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen). -
Founding of Jamestown
Three ships—the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery—sailed forty miles up the James River (named for the English king) in present-day Virginia (named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen), and the colonists settled in an uninhabited peninsula. -
Founding of Santa Fe
Santa Fe was established by Juan de Onate with four hundred Mexican settlers, soldiers, and missionaries. Santa Fe was the first European settlement in the Southwest. -
Virginia's First Tobacco Crop
John Rolfe crossed tobacco strains from Trinidad and Guiana and planted the first tobacco crop in Virginia. The massive tobacco industry was born. -
House of Burgesses Established
The Virginia Company formed the House of Burgesses, which was a limited representative body composed of white landowners that first met in Jamestown. -
The Beginning of Southern Slavery
A Dutch slave ship sold twenty Africans to the settlers in Virginia. This was the first time there were slaves in America, thus starting America's centuries-long struggle with slavery. -
Founding of Plymouth Colony
Pilgrims from England on the ship Mayflower started Plymouth Colony. -
Opechancanough Attacks Colonists
Opechancanough, the successor of Powhatan for the Powhatan Confederacy, launched a surprise attack and in a single day killed over 350 colonists, or one third of all the colonists in Virginia. -
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Great Migration
Approximately twenty thousand Puritans migrated to New England during these two decades. -
Navigation Act of 1651
The Navigation Act of 1651 was an act passed by King Charles II. This act required merchants in every colony to ship goods directly to England in English ships. Through this act, Parliament sought to bind the colonies more closely to England and prevent other European nations, especially the Dutch, from interfering with its American possessions. -
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King Philip's War
King Philip's War was a pan-Indian uprising against the encroachments of the New England colonies, where a large number of Indian slaves were captured. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion, led by Nathaniel Bacon, grew out of tensions between Native Americans and English settlers as well as tensions between wealthy English landowners and the poor settlers who continually pushed west into Indian territory.
