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Period: Jan 1, 1400 to
Exploration: Age of Exploration
Spanning from the approximately 15th century to the 18th century, this marked a time in European history where overseas exploration emerged as an important part of European culture and globalization. -
Period: Jan 1, 1400 to Jan 1, 1500
Settlement: Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was a large-scale transfer of culture, animals, plants, ideas and people between the Americas and the Afro-Eurasian parts of the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. This exchange greatly affected almost every society in the world, an extremely example being the introduction of destructive diseases that practically depopulated the Native Americans present in the Americas at the time. Other examples include the introduction of many staple crops, such as corn and potatoes. -
Period: Mar 9, 1454 to Feb 22, 1512
Exploration: Amergio Vespucci
(Timespan is the birth and death dates of Vespucci)
Amergio Vespucci was the first to explain that the "New World" discovered by Christopher Columbus was indeed an unknown continent, and not the eastern region of Asia as Columbus thought. Vespucci partook in several voyages to South America from 1499 to 1502, and in 1508 was given the position of chief of navigation for Spain. It is thought that he made four voyages to America in his lifetime. -
Aug 3, 1492
Exploration: Christopher Columbus's Voyages to the New World
Columbus's first voyage began in August of 1492 (other voyages were conducted in 1493, 1498, and 1502) and was meant to end with Columbus discovering a shorter route to Asia for trading purposes. Of course, this was unsuccessful, and he ended up landing in what we now know as the Bahamas. Though it is considered one of the most important voyages in history, it was somewhat of a failure at the time. But this began a string of explorations and new developments in both the New and Old Worlds. -
Jan 1, 1497
Exploration: John Cabot
(Date is year of Cabot's voyage to American mainland)
John Cabot was an explorer credited with having conducted the first European exploration (1497) of the mainland of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century. His explorations were the basis for Britain's early claims on North American land. -
Period: Jan 1, 1565 to
Exploration: Henry Hudson
(Timespan is the approximate years of Hudson's birth and death)
Henry Hudson was an English explorer who discovered Hudson Bay and Hudson River while attempting to find a northwest passage to what is now China in 1609. He explored this waterway up as far as what later became Albany, New York. This provided new information on North American water routes and opened the doors to American exploration even wider. -
Period: Jan 1, 1580 to
Settlement: John Smith
(Timespan is John Smith's birth and death dates)
John Smith is known as a leader of the first settlements at the Virginia Colony, and explored many of the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay. He is responsible for the settlement and survival of Jamestown, Britain's first permanent colony in the Americas. He kept this place alive, and was a model figure for how the organization of a colony should be. -
Settlement: Lost Colony Found Abandoned
The Roanoke or "Lost" Colony was founded on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina. The colonists living in this colony mysteriously disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590. Roanoke Island has a significant place in history as the first attempt at an English settlement in the New World, and holds the world's attention even after all this time. -
Settlement: Slavery in Early America
Slavery in the early colonies of North America began in 1619 when the first African slaves were brought into Jamestown, Virginia, brought to aid in the production of cash crops such as tobacco. The introduction of slavery in America, though it was a dark addition to our history, helped build the economic foundations of the new country, and had a significant importance to the stability of the colonies, especially in the South. -
Progress: House of Burgesses
(Date is date of first meeting)
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America, established by the Virginia Company. The House soon became a symbol of representative government. -
Settlement: New England Colonies - Landing of the Mayflower
After sighting land on November 9th, 1620, the pilgrims aboard the infamous Mayflower anchored in what is now Cape Cod on November 11th. From here began the establishment of Plymouth Colony, which was the British colony to last more than a year in New England, and the second colony in all of British Colonial America following Jamestown, Virginia. The Puritans back in Britain then began sending smaller groups in the mid 1620s to establish colonies, buildings and food supply centers. -
Conflict: Roger Williams
(Date is approximate time of Williams' settlement at Providence)
Roger Williams was an English theologian and Puritan, who later became a Reformed Baptist. He was advocate for religious freedom, and was expelled from the Massachusetts colony due to the fact that he was spreading ideas on this. In the spring of 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. He was also one of the first abolitionists in North America. -
Conflict: Anne Hutchinson
(Date is the date of Hutchinson first being brought to trial)
Hutchinson's strong belief that religion should be conducted the way that someone chooses clashed with the Puritan beliefs that ran rampant in her time. Her popularity with these beliefs created a division that threatened the standing of the Puritans, and gave a woman a voice in a time where it was uncommon. She was later tried and convicted, then banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony along with many of her supporters. -
Progress: Fundamental Orders
The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony on January 15th, 1639. The orders wanted the government to access the ocean for trading. It was a Constitution of sorts for the colonial government and was similar to the government that Massachusetts had set up. -
Period: to
Conflict: Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion, led by Nathaniel Bacon and other Virginia colonists, was an armed rebellion against the policies of Governor William Berkeley. It was the first rebellion in the American colonies which involved frontiersmen. The alliance of black and white indentured servants during the rebellion shocked the ruling class, and is believed to have hastened the hardening of racial lines related with slavery. -
Period: to
Conflict: The Salem Witch Trials
Held in Salem, Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693, the Salem Witch Trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions against people accused of witchcraft. These trials resulted in the executions of twenty people. It was a prime example of mass hysteria, and can be viewed as a precursor to a pattern that would be repeated for centuries. -
Period: to
Progress: Enlightenment
The American Enlightenment was a period of intellectual shift in the Thirteen Colonies between 1714 and 1818, which led to the American Revolution and the creation of the American Republic. The Enlightenment applied scientific reasoning to politics, religion, science, and religious tolerance. It also restored the arts as professions worthy of study. -
Period: to
Progress: The Great Awakening
The Great Awakening was an evangelical movement that swept the American colonies, resulting in powerful revelations from believers of their need for salvation. It pulled away from ritual and made listeners rethink their idea of religion. It challenged established authority and created a divide between traditional Protestants. It had an impact on reshaping certain denominations and also increased the number of African slaves and free African Americans exposed to Christianity. -
Period: to
Conflict: The French and Indian War
Taking place between 1754 and 1763, the French and Indian War was a conflict between British and French powers. Both powers believed that had rights to the Ohio River Valley area, and both wanted it for fur trade, future settlement, and strategic reasons. Both European countries also used Native American claims to the land. The conflict ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris and France lost all of its North American lands east of the Mississippi River. -
Progress: Albany Plan
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan suggested at the Albany Conference on July 10th, 1754 by Benjamin Franklin, then a senior leader and delegate from Pennsylvania. The plan suggested to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, and represented one of the early attempts to form a union of the colonies under one government. And in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, the Albany Plan inspired some aspects of the Articles of Confederation.