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First English settlement in the New World. Capt. John Smith is among the 103 settlers.
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Pilgrims travel on the "Mayflower" to the New World searching for religious freedom. Plymouth Rock was identified as the first solid land the Pilgrims set foot on.
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The Puritans establish the settlement in Plymouth. The adult male Puritans sign the Mayflower Compact, which established a government and legal structure.
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The Indian Massacre of 1622 -- one third of the Jamestown colony, approximately three hundred settlers, were killed by the Pohwatans.
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Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Man-a-hat-a Indians for 60 Dutch guilders, an equivalent of $24 USD. He became the Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland until 1633.
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Providence, Rhode Island, is established as a colony by Roger Williams.
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Harvard College is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Roger Williams published "A Key into Language of Americas," describing the Native American languages. This is the first study of an Amerindian language in English.
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Jewish settlement in the American colonies -- an arrival of 23 settlers from Brazil in New Amsterdam.
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British troops sieze New Netherlands from the Dutch peacefully. The Duke of York, James II, is granted the city of New Amsterdam, which is renamed New York.
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Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion of planters against Governor Berkeley in the Virginia colony. The rebellion caused the burning of Jamestown.
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Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle, explores the lower Mississippi River Valley, Louisiana, after the region is claimed by France.
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William Penn signs a treaty with the Delaware Indians and pays for land that become the colony of Pennsylvania.
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"Publick Occurrence, Both Foreign and Domestick, the first newspaper was printed by Richard Pierce and edited by Benjamin Harris. The first issue of the newspaper was also its last issue.
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From February 1692 until May 1693 the Salem Witch Trials resulted in the arrest of 150 people and the death of nineteen.
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Fort Maurepas (Old Biloxi) was under the direction of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iverville. His teenage brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne Bienville, was made second in command.
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The town of Deerfield was attacked by Native Americans. Forty-nine were killed and one hundred were taken captive.
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The Boston News-Letter was published in Boston, MA by John Campbell, the postmaster.
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The Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of Spanish Succession (along with Queen Anne's War), giving Nova Scotia to tthe British.
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Play Booth Theater, the first theater in the colonies opened for business by William Levingston in Williamsburg, VA.
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French Governor of the Louisiana colony, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville with the French Mississippi Company founded the City of New Orleans.
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The English pirate, Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, was killed off the coast of Ocracoke Island in North Carolina.
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French Royal engineer, Adrien de Pauger laid out the plans for the French Quarter in New Orleans.
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Benjamin Franklin bought an interest in the Pennsylvania Gazetter, founded in 1728 by Samuel Keimer.
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Benjamin Franklin published twenty-six annual edtions of Poor Richard's Almanack.
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Freedom of the Press became recognized in New York after the trial of John Peter Zenger. Due to the eloquence of Alexander Hamilton's arguments, Zenger was acquitted.
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The Plymouth colony record keeper, Thomas Faunce, identified the exact rock that was the 1620 landing rock.
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Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod after proving that lightning was electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm.
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Initial action of the French and Indian War began when French Forces occupied Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh.
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French and Indian War (Seven Years War) ends with the Treaty of Paris that cedes Canada and the American midwest to Britain.
