Colonial-Era Timeline

  • Period: Aug 3, 1492 to Sep 10, 1493

    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 11, 1500

    French began fur trade with indians

  • Period: Aug 13, 1534 to

    samuel de champlain

  • Jun 9, 1535

    acque cartier sailed the st lawrenc

  • Period: Sep 10, 1538 to Sep 10, 1541

    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.
  • Period: Sep 10, 1540 to Dec 10, 1542

    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

    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.
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    Attempted Roanoke Colony

    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.
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    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.
  • Jamestown Virginia founded

    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.
  • 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, massachusettes founded

    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.
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    marquette and joliet sailed down the mississppi

  • south carolina

    English nobles with a Royal Charter from King Charles II founded South Carolina Colony. North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729.
  • Period: to

    beaver wars

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    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

    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

    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.