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Jan 1, 1546
Powhatan
Born sometime in the 1540s or 1550s, Chief Powhatan became the leader of more than 30 tribes and controlled the area where English colonists formed the Jamestown settlement in 1607. He initially traded with the colonists before clashing with them. The marriage of his daughter, Pocahontas, to a colonist led to another period of peace that was still in effect when Powhatan died in Virginia in April 1618. -
Jan 4, 1580
John Smith
John began his travels by joining volunteers in France who were fighting for Dutch independence from Spain. Two years later, he set off for the Mediterranean Sea, working on a merchant ship. In 1600 he joined Austrian forces to fight the Turks in the "Long War." He was promoted to Captain while fighting in Hungary. He was wounded in battle, captured, and sold as a slave to a Turk. This Turk then sent Smith as a gift to a merchant traveling to the New World. -
John Winthrop
The Puritan leader and governor of Massachusetts John Winthrop was born in Edwardston, Suffolk, on the 12th of January (old style) 1588, the son of Adam Winthrop of Groton Manor, and Anne (Browne) Winthrop. In December 1602 he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, but he did not graduate. The years after his brief course at the university were devoted to the practice of law, in which he achieved considerable success. -
William Bradford
William Bradford was a founder and longtime governor of the Plymouth Colony settlement. Born in England, he migrated with the Separatist congregation to the Netherlands as a teenager. Bradford was among the passengers on the Mayflower’s trans-Atlantic journey, and he signed the Mayflower Compact upon arriving in Massachusetts in 1620. As Plymouth Colony governor for more than thirty years, Bradford helped draft its legal code and facilitated a community centered on private subsistenc -
Anne Hutchinson
A New England religious leader and midwife, Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) was born in England, and later followed Puritan leader John Cotton to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634. -
Roger Williams
Roger went to the New World and preached first at Salem, then at Plymouth, then back to Salem, always at odds with the structured Puritans. When he was about to be deported back to England, Roger fled southwest out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was befriended by local Indians and eventually settled at the headwaters of what is now Narragansett Bay, after he learned that his first settlement on the east bank of the Seekonk River was within the boundaries of the Plymouth Colony. -
Sir William Berkeley
William was governor of Virginia longer than any other man, from 1642 until 1652 and from 1660 until his death in 1677. He advocated economic diversification and promoted trade between the colonists and Indians. He allowed the two houses of the General Assembly to develop into a responsible and mature parliamentary body that legislated in the interests of the great planter families who dominated Virginia politics throughout much of the colonial period. Berkeley generally discouraged the per -
Massachusetts Bay Company
The Massachusetts Bay Company was a joint stock trading company chartered by the English crown in 1629 to colonize a vast area in New England -
George and Cecilius Calvert
They founded the Baltimore by order of the king -
Pequot Wars
At the time of the Pequot War, Pequot strength was concentrated along the Pequot (now Thames) and Mystic Rivers in what is now southeastern Connecticut. Mystic, or Missituk, was the site of the major battle of the War. Under the leadership of Captain John Mason from Connecticut and Captain John Underhill from Massachusetts Bay Colony, English Puritan troops, with the help of Mohegan and Narragansett allies, burned the village and killed the estimated 400-700 Pequots inside. -
Metacom
Wampanoag Indian Cheif. Known as "King Phillip", he was one of the most influential Native Americans in the early days of the colonies. His most famous action was starting what is known as "King Phillip's War" in 1675. -
William Penn
William Penn founded the Province of Pennsylvania, the British North American colony that became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The democratic principles that he set forth served as an inspiration for the United States Constitution. Ahead of his time, Penn also published a plan for a United States of Europe, "European Dyet, Parliament or Estates." -
Cotton Mather
Mather's interest in witchcraft and actions of the Salem trials won him an audience with the most powerful figures involved in the trial proceedings, several of the judges and the local ministers in Salem. -
Bacon’s Rebellion
This was the first major uprising from the commoners against authority in North America. -
Glorious Revolution
The bloodless overthrow of King William III and Queen Mary II, this was a huge milestone in the end of monarchist power in England. -
James Oglethrope
James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, was a forward-thinking visionary who demonstrated great skill as a social reformer and military leader. -
Jonathan Edwards
Preacher of the famous "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards lead the Great Awakening in the colonies. -
John and Charles Wesley
The Wesleys' mission to America began in 1735, when John was approached by General James Oglethorpe to serve as a minister for a new parish in Savannah, Georgia. Assuming he would preach to Indians and convert them, John set sail to the haven for persecuted religious sects and penniless debtors in Georgia. Charles went along to serve as secretary of Indian Affairs, with duties as secretary and chaplain at the nearby settlement of Frederica. -
Trial of John Peter Zenger
Zenger was arrested for libel. Remaining in prison for nearly 10 months, he was finally brought to trial in August of the following year. -
Stono Rebellion
20 black slaves met in secret near the Stono River in South Carolina to plan their escape to freedom. Minutes later, they burst into Hutcheson's store at Stono's bridge, killed the two storekeepers, and stole the guns and powder inside.
The group of slaves grew in number as they headed south. Stono's Rebellion was the largest slave uprising in the Colonies prior to the American Revolution,
