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Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus lands in the Americas
Columbus lands in the modern-day Caribbean on October 12th, 1492 on the Nina and Pinta, -
Jan 1, 1498
Northern Voyages
In 1498 John Cabot, a famous Italian explorer, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and explored the region around Newfoundland. He ended up disapearing after being mutunied. -
Jan 1, 1510
Balboa's Travels
Vasco Nunez de Balboa explored the Caribbean coast called Panama. He was the first European to lay his eyes on the Pacific Ocean. -
Jan 1, 1513
Florida
Juan Ponce de Leon was the first European to set foot on what is now the United States of America. -
Jan 1, 1519
Circumnavigate
Ferdinand Magellan set out to find an Atlantic-Pacific passage. He found it and he then ended up being the first explorer to circumnavigate the world. However, he died in the Philipines and 18 members of his crew survived. -
Jan 1, 1519
Cortez
Hernando Cortez sailed from Cuba to Mexico in search of gold. He ended up taking over the Aztec empire to get gold. He was drove out of the Aztecs territory and then he came back and took them over. -
Jan 1, 1539
Southeastern America
In 1539, de Soto explored the southeastern area of America. He was later killed by Native Americans. -
The Spanish Armada
In 1588, King Philip II assembled a fleet of 130 warships known as the Spanish Armada to force Queen Elizabeth from the throne. They met a fleet of English ships off the coast of France. The smaller, faster English ships defeated the Armada. This weakened Spain's control of the sea. -
Juan de Onate founds Sante Fe
In 1598, Juan de Onate wanted to go on an expedition to find gold, convert Native Americans to Christianity, and create a permanent colony. This lead him to New Mexico. He never found gold but he did established Spains first permanent settlement in New Mexico called Sante Fe. -
St. Lawrence Settlement
Samuel de Champlain established a settlement along the St. Lawrence River. -
John Smith takes charge of Jamestown
In the beginning, Jamestown was not very successful. Many residents were dying and there were very few inhabidents. Then in 1608, John Smith was sent from London to lead the colony. He made tougher rules including his most famous, "He who works not, eats not." Jamestown was very succesful when he was in charge. -
House of Burgesses
In 1619 the House of Burgesses was established. The House of Burgesses was Virginia's first lawmaking body. Virginia had a representitive government. A representitive government is the form of government in which voters elect people to make laws for them. -
The first Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth. The Pilgrims and Native Americans set aside a day to give thanks for their good fortune. -
Act of Toleration
In 1649 Lord Baltimore helped pass the Act of Toleration which helped Catholics, -
Carolina
King Charles ll granted a charter to establish a colony which was called Carolina. -
Bacon's rebellion
Since all of the farmland inland in America was taken by wealthy farmers, Nathenial Bacon went on a rebellion to get land. He attacked and killed many Native Americans. When the government referred to him and his men as rebels, he attacked and burned down Jamestown. His revolt collapsed when he got sick and died. He could not stop the English settlers from moving inland. -
William Penn founds Pennsylvania
In the 1660s, William Penn wanted to find a place for Quakers to live peacefully and without persecution. He also wanted a charter where there would be religious freedom. Now since he was a personal friend of the king he got that charter. If he did not know the king he probably would not have gotten that charter. He also set a rule that people could not settle on land unless the Native Americans sold it to them. -
James Oglethorpe founds Georgia
In 1728 James Oglethorpe's friend died of small pox while in jail for debt. Then in 1733, he established a colony for debtors to live. He wanted there to be no slavery but eventually in the 1750s slavery was legal in Georgia. -
The Spanish establish missions along the west coast
In 1769, a missionary named Junipero Serra played an important role in the mission building, He actually founded San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, Many of his missions are huge citys today. Overall spain built almost 20 missions between 1769 and 1800.
