Colonial Times Timeline

Columbus Sets Sail

Aug 1, 1492

Columbus sets sail to Asia, with three ships the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria with 90 men. They traveled 170 miles per day.

Columbus Arrives

Oct 12, 1492

Columbus arrives in what he thinks is Asia, but really North America.

Columus set sail on his second expedition

Jan 1, 1493

Columbus discovered other islands, including Puerto Rico. He found that the men he had left behind on Hispaniola had been killed by Indians. Not discouraged, Columbus built another settlement nearby and enslaved the local Indians to dig for gold. within a few months, twelve of his ships returned to Spain, with gold, trinkets, and a number of captives.

Columbus's third expedition

Jan 1, 1498

Columbus set out on a third expedition, he landed on theh northern coast of South America and decided it was the Asian mainland.

Balboa Explores Panama

Jan 1, 1510

In 1510, Basco Nunez de Balboa, a Spanish colonist, explored the Caribean coast of what is now Panama. Hacking his way across the jungle, he became the first European to set eyes on the Pacific Ocean.

Leon discovered Flordia

Jan 1, 1513

Juan Ponce de Leon sailed north from Puerto Rico to investigat reports of a large island. he found beautiful flowers there, so he named the place La Flordia. Ponce de Leon became the first Spaniard to set foot in what is now the United States

Leon sailed to Flordia

Jan 1, 1513

Juan Ponce de Leon sailed north from Puerto Rico to investigate reports of a large island. He found beautiful flowers there, so he named the place La Florida. Ponce de Leon became the first Spaniard to set foot in what is now the United States.

Spanish brought African to the Caribbean

Jan 1, 1517

In 1517, Spain brought about 4,000 Africans to the Caribbean islands and forced them to work there. By the middle of the 1500s, the Spaniards were shipping about 2,000 enslaved Africans each year to Hispaniola alone.

Cortes Sailed to Mexico

Jan 1, 1519

The conquistador, Hernando Cortes sailed from Cuba to Mexico with more than 500 soldiers. The first Native Americans he met presented him with gifts of gold.

Magellan Finds Passage

Sep 1, 1519

the discovery that another ocean lay west of the Americas did not end the search for a water route to Asia. In September 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan set out to find an Atlantic -Pacific passage. Finally, near the southern tip of present-day Argentina, Magellan found a narrow passage. After 38 days of battling winds, tides, and currents, his ships exited what is today called the Strait of Magellan.

Cortes Takes Over Tenochtitlan

Nov 8, 1519

Cortes marched into the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan. As the Spaniards moved closer to Tenochtitlan many Natice Americans joined them. Conquered by the Aztecs, they hated the Aztec's brutal rule. The Aztec leader Moctezuma met with Cortes and tried to get him to leave. Cortes took Moctezuma hostage and claimed all of Mexico for Spain. However, the Aztecs soon rebelled and forced the Spaniards to flee. A year later, Cortes returned, recaptured Tenochtitlan and then destroyed it.

First Men to Circumnavigate

Sep 1, 1522

After Magellan and many other men died in battle with the filipinos. The survivers fled in two ships back to Spain. When they finally reached Spain, in September 1522. Three years after they had begun, the 18 men aboard became first to circumnabigate, or trabel around, the entire Earth.

Exploration along Florida's west coast

Jan 1, 1528

Exploration along Flordia's west coast began in, 1528 when about 400 Spaniards landed near the present-day city of St. Petersburg. Finding none of the gold they had hoped for, they marched into northern Florida.

European states had split with the Roman Catholic Church

Jan 1, 1530

By 1530, the rulers of Sweden, Denmark, and several Wuropean states had split with the Roman Catholic Church and set up Protestant churches in their countries.

Pizarro Landed on Peru

Jan 1, 1531

Francisco Pizarro used the same method as Cortes used to subdue the Aztecs. Pizarro landed on the coast of Peru in 1531 to search for the Incas who were said to have much gold

Pizarro KIlls Atahualpa

Sep 1, 1532

In September 1532, he led about 170 soldiers through the jungle into the heart of the Inca Empire. Pizarro then took the Inca ruler Atahualpa prisoner. Although the Inca people paid a huge ransom to free their ruler, Pizarro executed him anyway.

King Henery VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church

Jan 1, 1533

Henery was married to Catherine of Aragon. When she could not produce a son for the throne, Henery wanted to divorce her and remarry. Because Catholic law does not permit divorce, he asked the pope to annul, or cancel, his marriage. This had occurred before Popes had annulled royal marriages. The pope's refusal to grant the annulment caused Henery to break wtih the Roman Catholic Church. He sent up a Protestant church and named it the Church of England.

Spanish defeated the Incas

Nov 1, 1533

The Spanish had defeated the leaderless Incas and captured their capital city of Cuzco.

Spaniards came back from Flordia

Jan 1, 1536

Eight years after landing in Florida, the four surivivors of the 400-man expedition returned to Spanish lands.

Estevanico led an expedition to find the Cities filled with gold

Jan 1, 1539

In Mexico City, the men related stories they had heard from Natives about 7 cities fill with gold far to the north. Officals asked the survivors to head an expedition to find these cities. However, only Estevanico was willing to go. He led a group into what is now western New Mexico. When Estevanico was killed by Indians, the others returned to Mexico City.

Hernando de Soto died before finding the city made of gold

Jan 1, 1542

Hernando de Soto was searching for riches in today's southeastern United States. De Soto traveled as far north as the Carolinas and as far west as Oklahoma. He died in what is now Louisiana, in 1542, having found the Mississippi River but no cities of gold.

King Henery VIII dies

Jan 1, 1547

King Henery VIII dies. he was succeeded by his son Edward, who ruled for a short time before he died, too. The throne then passed to Mary I, who made plans to restore the Roman Catholic Church in England.

Mary dies

Jan 1, 1588

Mary dies in 1558 and Elizabeth I, a Protestant, took the throne.

The Spanish Armada

Jan 1, 1588

Phillip assembled a fleet of 130 warships known as the Spanish Armada. Phillip hoped to force Elizabeth from the throne. A fleet of English ships met the Spanish off the coast of France. The smaller and Faster English ships sank Many fo the Spanish ships. Barely half of the Spanish Armada returned to Spain.