Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America
1519
Ferdinand Magellan is the first to go around the world Alonzo de Pineda explores gulf Coast of America
1524
Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay
1528
Panfilo de Narvaez conquers Cuba and explores Florida Alvar Cabeza de Vaca explores Texas, Arizona and New Mexico
1534
Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River
1539
Hernando de Soto explores south-eastern North America
1540
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores south-western North America Discovery of the Grand Canyon by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas
1541
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explores Kansas
1542
Cabrillo explores and discovers the Californian coast Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, California
1559
Tristan de Luna explores North America
1563
Francisco de Ibarra explores New Mexico
1576
Sir Martin Frobisher explores Baffin Bay and the Hudson Strait
1577
Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the world - December 13 1577 to September 26 1580
Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe (both in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh) explore the coast of North Carolina
Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island
March 25: Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America
June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Walter Raleigh
Juan de Archuleta explores Colorado
Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown
Henry Hudson explores North eastern North America including the Hudson River
The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia
The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England. The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England
English seize New Amsterdam (city and colony) from the Dutch and rename it New York
The Glorious Revolution in England leads to a constitutional monarchy and passing of the Bill of Rights
French and Indian War: Final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham (1759) and, by the Treaty of Paris.
February 10: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada east of the Mississippi River added to the British empire. Pontiac's Rebellion against the British
October 7: The Proclamation of 1763 issued by King George III after the end of the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War to organize the new North American empire and stabilize relations with Native Americans. ins.
No British settlements allowed west of the Appalachian mountains. Settlers already in these areas required to return east
February: James Otis urges a united response to the recent acts imposed by England. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to James Otis
July: James Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved." August: Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods
March 22: The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. March 24: The Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops and supply them with food. July: The Sons of Liberty is formed - a secret organization opposed to the Stamp Act
December: Over 200 Boston merchants refuse to pay the Stamp Tax
1766 March 18. Stamp Act repealed January: New York assembly refuses to fully enforce the Quartering Act. August: Violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and members of the Sons of Liberty.
July: Merchants in Boston and New York boycott British goods September: English warships sail into Boston Harbor leaving two regiments of English troops to keep order.
March: "The Boston Massacre" - Four workers shot by British troops in Boston
December 16: The Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.
March: The Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans)
The American Revolution, the American War of Independence, led by George Washington was fought between Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.
July 6: Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms stating that Americans are "resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves."
June 15: George Washington appointed general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.
April 19 Shots fired at Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed. "Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
February 9: English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion
May 2: The American revolution gains support from King Louis XVI of France 1776 July 4. Thomas Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of Independence
November 15: Articles of Confederation - Congress is made sole authority of the new national government.
February 6: France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution soon becomes a world war.
September 14: Benjamin Franklin appointed American representative in France.
September 27: John Adams is appointed to negotiate peace with England.
September 23: Plans discovered indicating Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Benedict Arnold joins the British
October 17: American victory at Yorktown terms discussed for the British surrender. October 19: The British army surrenders at Yorktown - a devastating effect on the British
February 27: English Parliament votes against further war in America.
November 10: The final battle of the Revolutionary War when Americans retaliate by attacking a Shawnee village in Ohio
November 30: Preliminary peace treaty signed in Paris recognising American independence and the British withdrawal from America.
February 4: England officially declares an end to hostilities in America September 3: The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain
January 14: The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress and the American Revolutionary War officially ends
First President of the US is George Washington 1789-1797
The first thirteen states were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island
Judiciary Act of 1789
Bill of Rights ratified
Fugitive Slave Act passed
Whiskey Rebellion
Second President of the US is John Adams 1797-1801
Logan Act
Library of Congress founded
Third President of the US is Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809
Louisiana Purchase Treaty
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory
Barbary Wars
Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves
U.S. slave trade with Africa ends
Fourth President of the US is James Madison 1809-1817
Battle of Tippecanoe
War of 1812 begins
Treaty of Fort Jackson ends Creek War
Fifth President of the US is James Monroe 1817-1825
Jackson Purchase in Kentucky 1818 Five more states were admitted to the US - Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi
Adams-Onis Treaty, including acquisition of Florida Illinois admission to the US
Sixth President of the US is John Quincy Adams 1825-1829
Seventh President of the US is Andrew Jackson 1829-1837
Indian Removal Act Oregon Trail opens
Nat Turner's revolt
Black Hawk War Seminole War begins Department of Indian Affairs established
Texas War for Independence begins
Battle of the Alamo Panic of 1837 Michigan admission to the US
1838-1839: The Trail of Tears
Tenth President of the US is John Tyler 1841-1845
Ninth President of the US is William Henry Harrison 1841
Eleventh President of the US is James Knox Polk 1845-1849
Mexican-American War begins and ends in 1848
Treaty of Cahuenga ends Mexican-American War Iowa admission to the US
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War
Gold discovered in California Wisconsin admission to the US
Twelfth President of the US is Zachary Taylor 1849-1850
Thirteenth President of the US is Millard Fillmore 1850-1853
California admission to the US
Fourteenth President of the US is Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 Gadsden Purchase
Sack of Lawrence, Kansas Pottawatomie Massacre
Fifteenth President of the US is James Buchanan 1857-1861
Minnesota admission to the US
Oregon admission to the US Harper's Ferry Raid
Pony Express begins
Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) established under President Jefferson Davis
Sixteenth President of the US is Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865
Kansas admission to the US
American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter.
Battle of Gettysburg West Virginia admission to the US
Sand Creek Massacre
Abraham Lincoln assassinated
Seventeenth President of the US is Andrew Johnson 1865-1869
United States Civil War ends
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Ku Klux Klan founded
Nebraska admission to the US
Alaska Purchase from Russia
Eighteenth President of the US is Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877
Great Chicago Fire
Treaty of Washington with Great Britain regarding the Dominion of Canada
Yellowstone National Park established
Red River Wars
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Battle of the Little Bighorn
Nineteenth Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881
Colorado admission to the US
Nez Perce War
Twentieth President of the US is James Abram Garfield 1881
Chinese Exclusion Act and European Restriction Act
Twenty-Second President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1885-1889
Washington monument completed
Wounded Knee Massacre
Yosemite National Park created
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho admission to the US
Wyoming admission to the US
Twenty - Fourth President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1893-1897
Utah admission to the US
Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike
Twenty - Fifth President of the US is William McKinley 1897-1901
Spanish-American War
Boxer Rebellion in China
Twenty - Sixth President of the US is Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909
Ford Motor Company formed
1903 - First World Series
Panama Canal Zone acquired
Oklahoma admission to the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established
Twenty - Seventh President of the US is William Howard Taft 1909-1913
Titanic sinks
Arizona, Alaska and New Mexico admission to the US
Twenty - Eighth President of the US is Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921
WWI started 28 July 1914 - 11 November 1918
The Birth of a Nation movie directed by D.W. Griffith opens
US enters World War I
U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark
Treaty of Versailles
First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Twenty- Ninth President of the US is Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921-1923
Thirtieth President of the US is Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929
Indian Reorganization Act
The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson is the first "talkie" to be released
Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight
Thirty- First President of the US is Herbert Clark Hoover 1929-1933
Immigration Act
Great Depression begins
Empire State Building opens
Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean
Thirty - Second President of the US is Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
Japan and Germany withdraw from League of Nations
Dust Bowl begins
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
John Dillinger killed
Indian Reorganization Act
Social Security Act
London Conference on disarmament
Hindenburg disaster
Germany invades Poland; World War II begins
Attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. enters World War II
D-Day Battle of the Bulge
Thirty - Third President of the US is Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
U.S. takes Okinawa
U.S. joins the United Nations
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Germany and Japan surrender, ending World War II
The Cold War began between the United States and the Soviet Union
Atomic Energy Act
Nuremberg trials
Berlin Blockade
NATO formed
Germany divided into East and West
Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power and start Communist witch hunts (1950-1954)
Korean War begins
Thirty - Fourth President of the US is Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
Armistice in Korea
SEATO alliance
Warsaw Pact
US installs Diem as leader of South Vietnam
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Russians launch Sputnik
NASA formed
Cuban Revolution
Hawaii, the last state was admitted giving the American flag 50 stars
Civil Rights Act of 1960
Thirty - Fifth President of the US is John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
Peace Corps
Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon
OPEC formed
Cuban Missile Crisis
President J Kennedy assassinated
Thirty - Sixth President of the US is Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969
March on Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Detroit race riot
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Thirty - Seventh President of the US is Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974
Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
Kent State shootings
Watergate burglary
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with USSR
Vietnam War ends with US pulling out in 1973
Watergate Scandal breaks in 1973
Skylab first space station launched
Richard Nixon resigns Presidency over Watergate
Thirty - Eighth President of the US is Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977
Thirty - Ninth President of the US is Jimmy Carter 1977-1981
Three Mile Island nuclear accident
1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins
Fortieth President of the US is Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley
Iran-Contra scandal breaks
Space Shuttle Challenger accident
Space Shuttle Challenger accident
Forty - First President of the US is George Herbert Walker Bush 1989-1993
Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit
Iraq invades Kuwait leading to 1991 Gulf War
Gulf War
Hurricane Andrew causes devastation in Florida and Louisiana
Los Angeles riots
Forty - Second President of the US is William Jefferson Clinton 1993-2001
World Trade Center bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate
Forty - Third President of the US is George Walker Bush
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon
Invasion of Afghanistan Operation "Enduring Freedom"
Occupation of Iraq, 2003-2004
Hurricane Katrina
Forty - Fourth President of the US is Barack Obama
