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1492
Columbian Exchange
Refers to the flow of goods between the Americas, Europe, and Africa that followed Columbus's widely advertised "discovery" of the New World. People, animals, plants, and disease passed from continent to continent affecting virtually all aspects of the environment in all three. -
1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the New World
An Italian explorer sailed under Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain in search for a western ocean route to Asia. He first landed on a Bahamian island, believing he had reached East Asia. Soon after, Columbus and his men landed on Hispaniola where he established a small colony. In 1493, Columbus was revered when he returned to Spain with gold, spices, and a few Indians. Even though Columbus didn’t discover the Americas, his exploration sparked a new age of exploration in Europe. -
1512
Encominda System
Encominda was a labor system in Spain and its empire. It rewarded conquerors with the labor of particular groups of subject people. The system was a way of controlling the Natives. -
1525
Rise of the Atlantic Slave Trade
The Transatlantic slave trade shipped approximately 12 million Africans from West Africa to New World to work on plantations. West Africans captured and sold fellow Africans to Europeans. The Portuguese were the first to complete a transatlantic shipment of slaves. -
1542
New Laws
The New Laws were sets of laws for the Indies created by King Charles V of Spain in regard to Spanish colonization of the Americas. The laws were pro-Indian and called for the better treatment and preservation of Indians. They were created in response to the encomienda system, which likened colonial society to feudalism, which was the society in the Old World. -
1555
Tobacco arrives in Europe
With tobacco, English settlers finally found a New World commodity that worked well in the mercantile system. Spanish explorers already had great success with gold and silver finds and the French created a vibrant market for furs in Europe. -
1565
St. Augustine
The first permanent colony in Florida by the Spanish. oldest European settlement in modern-day U.S. A Spanish fortress that was erected in 1565; the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the future United States -
Roanoke Island
Established in 1587. Called the Lost Colony. It was financed by Sir Walter Raleigh, and its leader in the New World was John White. All the settlers disappeared, and historians still don't know what became of them. -
London Company sponsors a colonizing expedition
A joint-stock company chartered in 1606 and was responsible for founding the first permanent English settlement in America; Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 -
Jamestown
The first permanent English colony in North America was Jamestown, Virginia founded in 1607.It was a business venture of the Virginia Company of London who planned to send people to America in the hopes of finding gold and other valuable resources. Jamestown suffered from lack of leadership and the failure to find gold, which nearly resulted in starvation for many colonists. Desperation during the “starving time” led some colonists to cannibalism -
Mayflower Compact:
The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony. -
Pequot Wars
Was an armed conflict in 1634-1638 between an alliance of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, with Native American allies (the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes), against the Pequot tribe. -
House of Burgesses
The Virginia House of Burgesses formed the first legislative body in colonial America. Later other colonies would adopt houses of burgesses. -
Navigation Acts begins
Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they were forbidden from trading with other countries. -
King Phillips War
A series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion. -
Bacon’s Rebellion
Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness. -
Pope’s Rebellion
This uprising was caused because of the Spanish Roman Catholic's mission in New Mexico began to oppress the natives by attempting to deprive them of their religious customs. The rebels raided through the Providence destroying churches, killing priests, and slaughtering Spanish settlers along the way. After this attack the Spanish needed almost half a century to regain New Mexico again. -
Salem Witch Trials
A series of witchcraft trials launched after a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts, claimed to have been bewitched by some of the older women in the colony. Twenty individuals were put to death before the trials were put to an end by the Governor of Massachusetts. -
Great Awakening
Was a period of heightened religious activity, primarily in the United Kingdom and its North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. -
French and Indian War
Britain and France fought for control of the Ohio Valley and Canada. The Algonquin’s, who feared British expansion into the Ohio Valley, allied with the French. The Mohawks also fought for the French while the rest of the Iroquois Nation allied with the British. The colonies fought under British commanders. Britain eventually won, and gained control of all of the remaining French possessions in Canada, as well as India.