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Period: Jan 1, 1492 to
Exploration and Colonization
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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Lands in America
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Jan 1, 1494
Treaty Dividing New World
The Treaty of Tordesillas divides the New World between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal. -
Oct 31, 1517
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation is started by Martin Luther King in Europe, perhaps bringing thousands to the warm to the idea of coming to a new place. -
Lost Colony Founded
Roanoke, the lost colony, was started in 1585. Nobody knows when it ended however because the colony was lost. When people came back to the present-day North Carolina area, the colony was barren. -
Spanish Armada Defeat
Because the Spanish Armada was defeated, others were able to start colonizing. -
Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer's Nights Dream". -
First Charters
The London Company and the Plymouth Company are granted charters. These were the first colonial charters of the new world. -
Jamestown is Founded
On this day ENgland's first successful colony called Jamestown was founded. -
Smith Captured
Captain John Smith is captured by the Powhatans at Werowocomoco. -
Henry Hudson explores the Hudson River
Tis was the first exploration f the Hudson River, which would become a major way the colonists would transfer goods and materials over the next few decades. -
Tobacco
Colonists’ plant and harvest native tobacco in Virginia. This is accredited with saving Virgnia and the first colonial colony. -
Starving Time
During that winter of 1609-1610, nearly 440 settlers of Jamestown die because of what is known as Starving Time.This devestates the colony. -
Bible
King James version of Bible published. -
Indian-American Unity
Tobacco farmer John Rolfe marries Pocahontas, daughter of Cheif Powhatan. -
Headright System Start
The headright system was introduced as a means for solving the problem with the shortage of labor for tobacco cultivation. This system stated that every new arrival paying their way could get 50 acres of land. This encouraged wealthier people to move to the colonies, and it allowed the established planters to receive labor and land immediately. This allowed wealthy planters to pay for people's journey to America in return for several years of what was called indentured servitude. -
First African Americans in Jamestown
This event, thugh small in significance at the time turns out to be a huge deal. These first African-Americans started slavery and altered the South forever. -
House of Burgesses
The first organized group of elected officials within North America. The House of Burgesses was established by the Virginia Company in an effort to encourage craftsmen to settle in America. They adopted English Common Law and used English Parliament as a model for government. -
Mayflower Departs from England
The intended destination was an area near the Hudson River, in "North Virginia". However the ship was forced far off-course by inclement weather and drifted well north of the intended Virginia settlement. -
Mayflower Compact
The people who came over on the Mayflower were mainly Separatists who had separated from the King's Church, the Church of England. In England, those who did not belong to the King's Church were often put in jail. Before even stepping off the boat, the Separatists created the Mayflower Compact, which guaranteed that all citizens within Plymouth would be able to practice Christianity freely according to their own determination and not the will of the English Church. -
First Formal Native American/English Contact
Samoset (ca. 1590 – 1653) was the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims. On March 16, 1621, the settlers were more than surprised when Samoset strolled straight through town. -
English Pilgrims Negotiate Exclusive Trading Pact with Massasoit
As promised by Massasoit, numerous Native Americans arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace. On July 2, a party of Pilgrims, led by Edward Winslow signed the trading pact. -
First Thanksgiving
The autumn celebration in late 1621 that has become known as "The First Thanksgiving," thought the pilgrims did not call it as such. THere are many misconceptions about this day that we now use as tradition. -
First event called 'Thanksgiving"
Governor Bradford was the first to rule this holiday as the first OFFICIAL thanksgiving, there had been one in the past but this was the first to be called as such. -
Start of New York
Dutch colonists, sponsored by the Dutch West India Company arrive in New York. The Virginia Company charter is revoked in London and Virginia is declared a Royal colony -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
An English settlement on the east coast of North America, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston and led by John Winthrop. The colony was founded by the Massachusetts Bay Company, was strongly Puritan, and was governed by a dominant group of men. -
The Winthrop Fleet Departs
The group departed Yarmouth, Isle of Wight on April 8. Seven hundred men, women, and children were distributed among the ships of the fleet. The voyage itself was rather uneventful, but the party would later be known to make the Puritan "City Upon a Hill' -
Winthrop Party Arrives in Massachussetts
The Puritan group finally arrives in their destination and begins making their version of the perfect city/society. They hoped to be a perfect example of colonial society. -
Founding of Maryland
Expansion occurred in 1634 when Charles I gave G. Calvert land on the Chesapeake as personal property. Calvert named the land Maryland and decided to use the colony as a safe place for Roman Catholics. Other than religion Jamestown and Maryland were identical – they both relied on the tobacco crop and had plantations spread out down the river and therefore didn’t need towns to exchange goods. -
First School
The first public school in America is established, Boston Latin School. -
Rhode Island
In 1631, Roger Williams went to Boston as a respected Puritan minister, who believed that the individual's conscience was beyond the control of any civil or church authority. Upon his arrival he was instantly met with disapproval and in 1636 he was banished from Boston. He then established Rhode Island which was known for its religious toleration and peace with the Native Americans. -
Harvard Established
Harvard College in Massachusetts is founded. -
Pequots Attack Fort Saybrook
The enormous Pequot War begons when the group attacks the colonists at Fort Saybrook in the fall and winter of the year 1636. It wond end for a very long time. This was the first major conflict between the two groups. -
Pequot War
An armed conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists from Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth, and Saybrook. The war began due to the conflict between the settlers and Indians over the fur trade. Hundreds were killed and hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies. The end of the war eliminated the Pequot Indian tribe eliminated as a threat to the settlers. -
The Mystic Massacre
Part of the Pequot Indian War, this event started with a raid the indians attempted to make on Hartford. It was meant to be an ambush because the INdians believed the leader of the opposing side was gone, however he was not and the tables were turned against the Indians. -
Narragansetts Allied with Pilgrims Trick Pequots into Capture by Massachusetts Troops
The slaughter at Mystic broke the Pequot, and deprived them of their allies. Forced to abandon their villages, the Pequot fled -- mostly in small bands-- to seek refuge with other southern tribes. They had thought they had made good allied but had not and when they went to fight with the group the other tribes turned on them. -
Remaining Pequots Attacked
In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts under Uncas. They caught up with the refugees at Sasqua, a Mattabesic village near present-day Fairfield and annihilate the remainder of the tribe. -
Treaty of Hartford
After a long period of time the Pequot War ended with the creation of the treaty of Hartford. The Pequots had been destroyed and the remainder made peace with the Conneticut Pilgrims. -
First Printing Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts is where the first Colonial printing press is located. This was the first newspaper in the colonies. -
Act of Toleration in Maryland
This law mandated the toleration of Protestant Christians with in the Maryland colony. It was the second law requiring religious toleration to be passed in colonies and it created the first legal limitations on hate speech in the world (the first law was passed in the colony of Rhode Island). The act allowed freedom of worship for all Trinitarian Christians in Maryland, but sentenced death to anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus. -
First Navigation Acts
The Navigation Act of 1660 allows the colonies to trade with only English-built ships and crews that are at least three-quarters English. Certain enumerated goods, including indigo, sugar, cotton and tobacco, are allowed to be shipped only to England or other English colonies. -
Charter of Carolina
King Charles II owed an enormous debt to his friends who helped restore the monarchy, so he rewarded eight of them with a grant of land that included what is now North and South Carolina. In the colony, the Lords Proprietors possessed broad feudal powers to profit from the colony and bore the considerable responsibility of managing and protecting it in the interests of England. -
Founding of New Jersey
New Jersey was first claimed by the Dutch, as a part of the colony of New Netherland which consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of land ownership was not recognized by the Dutch, the Dutch West India Company policy required their colonists to purchase land which they settled. This entire region became a territory of England in 1664, when an English fleet got it. -
New York
New York was originally a Dutch colony, but in 1664 Charles II gave the land to his brother James. To get rid of the Dutch, James organized a fleet, and the Dutch surrendered without resistance. In 1674 the Dutch permanently ceded the land as a result of their loss at battle. New York was a very diverse colony and had a high percentage of slaves. -
Colonial Officials find out Attack plans of Natives
John Sassamon Tells Plymouth Colony Officials of King Philip's Arranging Attacks on Colonial Settlements. Pre-knowledge beginning the war of King Phillip. -
King Phillip's War
Following the deaths of the original colonists who had made treaties with the Native Americans, the colonists in Plymouth treated the Natives poorly. They captured one of the Native American leaders at gunpoint and began taking more Native American land. In retailiation, the Wampanoag leader Metacom began a destructive war known as “King Philip’s War”. -
Mary Rowlandson is Captured
Perhaps the first prisoner of the Native Americans, Mary Rowlandson is captured by Wampanog Indians with a raid on Lancaster Village. This was occuring during King Phillip's war. -
Native Americans Attack Settlements of Middleborough and Dartmouth
The war quickly spread, and soon involved the Podunk and Nipmuck tribes. During the summer of 1675 the Native Americans attacked at Middleborough and Dartmouth (July 8), Mendon (July 14), Brookfield (August 2), and Lancaster (August 9). In early September they attacked Deerfield, Hadley, and Northfield. -
Bacon's Rebellion
group of yeoman farmers living on the frontier claimed that Governor Berkeley of the Virginia Colony was not protecting them adequately from Indian attacks. Against the Governor's orders, they began attacking nearby Native American villages. Daniel Bacon emerged as the leader of these frontiersmen, and succeeded in gaining the election of a new legislature to the House of Burgesses that was more friendly towards yeomen farmers. -
Founding of Pennsylvania
On February 28, 1681, Charles II granted a charter to William Penn to repay a debt he owed to William's dad (one of the largest land grants to an individual in history). Penn made his new colony a safe haven for Quakers who believed in pacifism, social equality, integrity, and simplicity. -
Louisiana Made
French explorer LaSalle reaches the mouth of the Mississippi and claims the surrounding territory, which he names Louisiana -
Dominion of New England
When the absolutist ruler James II ascended the throne in 1685, he began proceedings to revoke the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island and then merge them with Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. This new province became known as the Dominion of New England. -
Church of Taxation without Representation
Andros orders Boston's Old South Meeting House to be converted into an Anglican Church. The towns of Ipswich and Topsfield, Massachusetts, shunning taxation without representation, protest against Andros' assessments. -
Glorious Revolution
The English people didn’t want James II to be their king because he was catholic and had recently had a child (setting up a Catholic heir), so they executed a peaceful revolution and handed the throne over to William of Orange and Mary Stuart. This gave significantly more power to parliament and resulted in the disintegration of the Dominion of New England. -
King WIlliams War Starts
The beginning of King William's War as hostilities in Europe between the French and English spill over to the colonies. In February, Schenectady, New York is burned by the French with the aid of their Native American allies. THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION IN AMERICA -
Royal Colony of Massachussetts
The newly appointed Governor of New England, Henry Sloughter, arrives in New York from England and institutes a royally-sanctioned representative government. Massachusetts receives a new royal charter that includes government by a royal governor and a governor's council. -
Salem Witch Trials Begin
There is no clear cause of the Salem Witch trials; many historians theorize that the restrictive society of the Puritans led the "afflicted" girls to make their accusations purely for entertainment. What is known is that in 1629 several girls began accusing various women in the town of Salem of cursing them -- most famously the slave Tituba -
Salem Witch Trials End
In the following year over twenty people were executed. The frenzy ended when people of higher class were accused causing some well respected ministers to question the guilt of many who were accused. By 1693, all who were accused were pardoned and released from jail. -
Slave Trade Beginnings
The Royal African Trade Company loses its monopoly on the slave trade, spurring colonists in New England to begin trading slaves. -
More Navigation Acts
The Navigation Act of 1696 is passed, requiring all colonial trade to be done exclusively in English-built ships -
Wool Act
The Wool Act is passed, designed to protect England's wool industry by limiting wool production in Ireland and forbidding the export of wool from the colonies. -
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was an era in western philosophy in which reason was emphasized above faith. It advocated breaking away from tradition to support more rational ideas; many Enlightenment scholars did not subscribe to traditional religious beliefs and did not support traditional monarchical governments. The Enlightenment incited the First Great Awakening. -
Yale Founded
Yale College is founded in Connecticut by 'New Lights.' -
Queen Anne's War
Charles II, king of Spain, dies. The War of the Spanish Succession begins, as England declares war on France to stop the union of France and Spain. In the colonies, the war is called Queen Anne's War; English colonists will battle the French, their Native American allies, and the Spanish for the next eleven years. -
Angelican Church
The Anglican Church is established as the official church of Maryland. -
Delaware's Beginnings
Delaware, originally called New Sweden by the Swedish settlers, breaks away from Pennsylvania to form a separate government. -
First Black Codes
The Virginia Black Code of 1705 assigns slaves the status of real estate in Virginia. — A law against runaway slaves in New York punishes with the death penalty for any slave caught over forty miles north of Albany. -
Post in Colonies
Post Office Act passes in the English parliament. Begins a postal system in the colonies. -
Immigrants
Scots-Irish immigration increases, with most settling in western Pennsylvania. Many Germans, known as Pennsylvania Dutch, also begin to settle in Pennsylvania -
New Orleans
The United States would later own this port that the French established on this day, and it would be key in the event of the Louisiana purchase. -
Population of Colonists Reaches High
Population of the American colonists number 475,000. -
Newspaper
Benjamin Franklin begins publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette -
Poor Richard's Almanac
Benjamin Franklin begins publishing Poor RIchard's Almanac in this year and ends in 1752. -
Washington Born
George Washington, the Virginia planter and Revolutionary Hero is born. -
Molasses Act
The Molasses Act, passed by the English Parliament, imposes heavy duties on molasses, rum and sugar imported from non-British islands in the Caribbean to protect the English planters there from French and Dutch competition.
