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Aug 3, 1492
Columbus encountered the New World for the first time
Christopher Columbus left mainland Spain on August 3, 1492. He quickly made port in the Canary Islands for a final restocking and left there on September 6. -
Sep 10, 1500
French began fur trade with Indians
The fur trade began in the 1500’s as an exchange between Indians and Europeans. The Indians traded furs for such goods as tools and weapons. Beaver fur, which was used in Europe to make felt hats, became the most valuable of these furs. -
Jun 9, 1534
Jacque Cartier sailed the St. Lawrence
on June 9, Cartier sailed into the waters of the St. Lawrence River in eastern Canada. Although he couldn't travel up the river all the way to Asia, Cartier had in fact discovered an important waterway into the vast areas of Canada. -
Sep 10, 1538
Hernando de Soto's expedition of the Southeast
Hernando de soto's and his men traveled nearly 4,000 miles throughout the area that would become the southeastern United States in search of riches, fighting off Native American attacks along the way. -
Sep 10, 1540
Coronado's expedition from Mexico to Kansas
Coronado moved his army east to the pueblos around Albuquerque. They spent the winter there.Coronado heard stories of an another wealthy trade center in 1541. In 1542 Coronado ordered a return of the army to Mexico. -
Sep 8, 1565
Spanish establish St. Augustine, Florida
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed on the shore of what is now called Matanzas Bay and began the founding of the Presidio of San Agustin. -
Attempted Roanoke Colony
John White led 118 colonists to Roanoke. John White, had an idea to get people to go to Roanoke Island. It was to attract settlers who would bring their families with them and invest in the colony. In the spring of 1587, they set sail. When he returned in 1591, all he found was Roanoke deserted and "CROATOAN" carved on a tree. -
Juan de Onate founded Santa Fe
On April 30, 1598, Juan de onate claimed all of the territory across the river crossing to the north for the Spanish Empire. -
Samuel de Champlain founded
Champlain had reached the St. Lawrence, in June,. 1608, and while a barque was being constructed, he explored the Saguenay and also the St. Lawrence, and where at the site of a future city, then called Quebec—an Algonkin word, meaning a narrowing—he was impressed with its peculiar attractions, and decided to commence a settlement there at once. -
Jamestown, Virginia founded
104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. -
John Rolfe introduced tobacco to Virginia
Rolfe experimented with tobacco, which until that point had been controlled on European markets by the Spanish. Ralph Hamor, Secretary of Virginia, said Rolfe used tobacco seeds he obtained from somewhere in the Caribbean, possibly from Trinidad. Rolfe gave some tobacco from his crop to friends “to make triall of,” and they agreed the new leaf “smoked pleasant, sweete and strong.” -
First African slaves arrived in Virginia
Out of a violent storm appears a Dutch ship. The ship's cargo hold is empty except for twenty or so Africans whom the captain and his crew have recently robbed from a Spanish ship. The captain exchanges the Africans for food, then sets sail. -
Plymouth, Massachusetts founded
during the reign of King James I, around 100 English men and women–many of them members of the English Separatist Church–set sail for the New World aboard the Mayflower, a three-masted merchant ship. The ship landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts, two months later, and in late December anchored at Plymouth Rock, where they would form the first permanent settlement of Europeans in New England. -
South Carolina Colony founded
eight English nobles with a Royal Charter from King Charles II founded South Carolina Colony. North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729. -
Beaver Wars
The French and Iroquois Wars (also called the Iroquois Wars or the Beaver Wars were an intermittent series of conflicts fought in the late 17th century in eastern North America, in which the Iroquois sought to expand their territory and take control of the role of middleman in the fur trade between the French and the more primitive tribes of the west. -
Marquette and Joliet sailed down the Mississippi
Marquette and Joliet left Michilimackinac on May 17, 1673, and headed their canoes south along Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin. They arrived at the Mississippi River on June 17, 1673. -
The Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo angrily fight against unfair authority of 1680 also known as Pope's Fighting against authority was a violent effort by a group of people of most of the native to Pueblo people against the Spanish people who first lived in a new place in the area of control of land of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico, present day New Mexico. -
Pennsylvania Colony founded
William Penn founded Pennsylvania with a land grant that was owed his deceased Father. His goal was to create a colony that allowed for freedom of religion due to his desire to protect himself and fellow Quakers from persecution. -
Georgia Colony founded
After years of planning and two months crossing the Atlantic, James Oglethorpe and 114 colonists climbed 40 feet up the bluff from the Savannah River on this day in 1733 and founded the colony of Georgia.