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Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia.
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Samuel Champlain battles an Iroquois party after his further exploration of the New World discovers Lake Champlain in early July and claims Vermont for the Kingdom of France.
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Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch, sails into New York harbor and up the river that would bear his name to Albany.
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Governing body of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands proclaims exclusive trade and furthur exploration between the 40th and 45th parallel, New York to Maryland, to New Netherlands Trading Company for three years.
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The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia. The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown.
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The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England.
Before disembarking from their ship, the Mayflower, 41 male passengers sign the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that forms the basis of the colony's government.The Mayflower -
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurs when Chief Opchanacanough and the Powhatan Confederacy tried to rid the colony of settlers. One third of the colony at the time, three hundred people, were killed.
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The first book is printed in North America, the Bay Psalm Book.
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Colonial population is estimated at 50,400.
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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 Salem witch hunts, spurred by preaching, results in the arrest of one hundred and fifty people and the death of nineteen. These trials were held in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties.
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Additional French settlements would be established in Mississippi and Louisiana.