Colonial and Early National Time Period By emwhales 1492 Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon lands on the Florida Peninsula 1515 Vasco Nunez de Balboa reaches the Pacific Ocean 1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explores the Southwest 1565 Pedro Menendez founded the first permanent settlement in the United States: Saint Augustine, Florida 1586 The English Colony at Roanoke Island disappeared; it was known as the Lost Colony 1590 Iroquois Confederacy established to stop warfare among the five nations 1607 First permanent English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia 1608 Captain John Smith writes a True Relation of Virginia 1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth, Massachusetts 1636 Harvard College is founded in Massachusetts 1639 First printing press arrives in America 1640 The first book was printed in the colonies: The Bay Psalm Book 1647 Massachusetts establishes free public schools 1650 Anne Bradstreet's collection of poems was published: The Tenth Muse 1675 King Philip starts raiding New England 1692 The Salem Witchcraft Trials resulted in the execution of 20 people 1735 John Peter Zenger acquitted of libel, this furthered freedom of press 1741 The Great Awakening began to sweep the colonies 1741 Jonathan Edwards first delivers his sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
