America in the 1600s-1700s

  • Trade

    French colonization developed through investment from trading companies. The traders established a Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia) and launched trading expeditions that stretched down the Atlantic Coast.
  • James 1

    James 1, approved the formation of the Virginia Company (named after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen).
  • Henry Hudson

    In 1609 the Dutch commissioned Henry Hudson to discover the Northwest Passage.
  • Santa Fe

    The first permanent European settlement was established in the Southwest.
  • Jamestown

    Two major events occurred this year. First, the Virginia Company established the House of Burgesses. Second, a Dutch slave ship sold twenty Africans to the Virginia colonists. Which caused slavery to be born.
  • Plymouth Colony

    The Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower and founded the Plymouth Colony.
  • Netherlands

    The Netherlands chartered the Dutch West India Company.
  • Land

    Colony leaders insisted that land be purchased, therefore Peter Minuit "bought" Manhattan from Munsee people.
  • Navigation Act

    The Navigation Act was aimed at the Dutch in order to cripple their freight trade.
  • Virginia

    Virginia passed a law stating that an enslaved woman's children inherit the "condition" of their mother.
  • English

    The English wrested control of New Amsterdam and renamed it New York.