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Norse voyagers established permanent colonies in Greenland, but there were few or no large settlements in North America.
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These religious wars in Europe and the Middle East sparked European curiousity and started a flame for exploration.
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Marco Polo's stories about the riches of Eastern Lands further sparked the exploratory flame, and led to many different European explorers trying to find a water route to China and India.
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Columbus, an Italian explorer funded by Spain, set out across the Atlantic in an attempt to find a water route to India. Instead he found North and South America, although he never learned that he hadn't reached India.
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Vasco Da Gama became the first European to reach India by sea in 1498, by sailing around Africa.
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Cortez Invaded Mexico from the east, fighting several battles with natives before capturing the capital of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan.
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While searching for the Northwest Passage, a nonexistent sea route through America, French explorer Jacques Cartier traveled up the St. Lawrence River, discovering an important waterway into the vast regions of Canada.
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In 1580, Sir Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the Earth, becoming the first Englishman to do so.
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In 1606, a joint-stock company, known as the Virginia Company of London, received a charter from King James I of England for a settlement in the New World. The company landed in Jamestown on May 24, 1607.
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In 1608, Captain John Smith took over the failing Jamestown colony, enforcing some mush needed discipline among the colonists.
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Quebec became the first colony established by the French in the New World, and it still exists today
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The Mayflower Compact is the first governing document in the New World, signed by the men onboard the ship.
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Farmers frustrated with lack of action from Virginia Governer WIlliam Berkeley against the natives took matters into their own hands and murderously attacked Indian tribes and chased Berkeley out of Jamestown.
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A group of dissenters, commonly known as Quakers, arose in England in the mid-1600s. Officially, they were known as the Religious Society of Friends. Quakers were especially offensive to the authorities, both religious and civil. They refused to support the Church of England with taxes. William Penn was attracted to the Quaker faith in 1660. In 1681, he managed to secure from King Charles II an immense grant of fertile land, in consideration of a monetary debt owed to his deceased father by
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War Between British and French in North America form 1756 to 1763, with Indians fighting on both sides. English won, but the huge war debt led to additional taxation of the colonies.
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Prohibited settlement west of Appalachia.
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Colonists in defiance of the tea act boarded a ship dressed as Natives and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor.
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Taxed the colonists by forcing them to pay for a stamp for almost any paper good.
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The first of many Spanish churches, or missions, founded in California.
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On March 5, 1770, a crowd of 60 townspeople attacked 10 redcoats and the redcoats opened fired on the civilians, killing/wounding 11 of them.
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Acts passed by Britian to retaliate for the Boston Tea Party and other incidents. Led to the First Continental Congress.
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An attempt by the colonies to avoid a full war with Britian. It was rejected.
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Declared the independence of the colonies from Britian.
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Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware river on Christmas day, catching the sleeping Hessians completely unawares.
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The Articles of Confederation, our nations first plan of government, is officially adopted.
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General Cornwallis, surrounded by American troops and French ships, surrenders. The Americans win the Revolution.
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The Treaty of Paris between the British and the Americans is signed, confirming America's Independence.
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Divided some of the land west of the Appalachians into states.
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Showed the world that the land west of the Appalachians would be settled, and would eventually become a part of America.
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The Constitution, which still is in effect today, replaced the old, weak Articles of Confederation.
