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Aug 3, 1492
Christopher Columbus makes his first voyage and discovers America
Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492. -
The Roanoke Colony is founded
The establishment of the Roanoke Colony was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
The Roanoke Colony disappears
The Roanoke colony disappeared leaving behind only two clues: the words "Croatian" carved into a fort's gatepost and "Cro" etched into a tree. Theories about the disappearance have ranged from an annihilating disease to a violent rampage by local Native American tribes. -
The Jamestown Settlement is established
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about 2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. -
The First Thanksgiving
The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World. -
The Pequot War occurs in Massachusetts.
A large force of Pequot warriors attacked English settlers at Wethersfield on their way to their fields in the Great Meadow along the Connecticut River. The Pequot killed nine men and women and captured two girls who were brought to Pequot territory. The Pequot peoples are nearly wiped out. -
New Sweden is founded along the Delaware River.
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in America from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. -
The Dutch take control of New Sweden.
Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware was the first settlement, named after the reigning Swedish monarch. The settlers were Swedes, Finns, and a number of Dutch. New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch Republic in 1655 during the Second Northern War and incorporated into the Dutch colony of New Netherland. -
Queen Anne's War begins
In America, the war became known as Queen Anne's War and consisted mainly of French privateering in the Atlantic and French and Indian raids on the frontier between England and France. The most notable of these raids occurred at Deerfield, Massachusetts -
The Boston Massacre occurs
The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred in King Street in Boston. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic event. -
Bostonian colonists protest the Tea Act with the Boston Tea Party.
The Boston Tea Party was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists threw Tea into the Boston Harbor to protest against high takes. -
The Revolutionary War begins
With the assistance of France, the American colonies were able to defeat the British, achieve independence and form the United States of America. -
End of the revolutionary war
The Treaty of Paris, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States and its allies.