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Verrazzano, sailing for France, discovers the New York Harbor.
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Frenchman Jacques Cartier navigates the Saint Lawrence River and names an island along the River Montreal.
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Jamestown is founded on the coast of Virginia by 100 English settlers.
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French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founded the colony of Quebec.
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Henry Hudson, exploring for the Netherlands, claims land that will become New Netherland.
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An epidemic of smallpox, brought by Europeans, kills many Native Americans on the New England coast.
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Pilgrims from England found an English Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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The Duke of York drives out the Dutch in New Netherland, claiming the colony for England and renaming it New York.
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King Philip's War begins in Colonial Villages of Massachusetts, between colonists and Native Americans.
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Sieur de la Salle explores the lower Mississippi Valley River, and claims the valley for France and names it Louisiana in Honor of the French King, Louis XIV.
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War between the British and French, known as the French and Indian War, fought over disputed land claims in the Ohio Valley.
