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Leif Ericson explores the eastcoast of North America
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The Magna Carta document isadopted in England
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October 12 – ChristopherColumbus makes his first voyageto the New World
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John Cabot of England exploresthe Atlantic coast of Canada
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Ponce de Leon of Spain lands inFlorida
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Martin Luther launches theProtestant Reformation in Europe
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Ferdinand Magellan and his creware the first people to sail aroundthe world
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Hernando Cortes conquers theAztec empire
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Giovanni da Varrazano exploresthe Carolina area, Hudson River,Narragansett Bay, and NovaScotia
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Hernando de Soto of Spaindiscovers the Mississippi River
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St. Augustine, the first permanentcolony in Florida by the Spanish
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Roanoke Island settled by SirWalter Raleigh
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Roanoke colony vanishes,leaving only “Croaton” carved ona tree
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The London Company sponsors acolonizing expedition to Virginia
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Jamestown is founded in Virginiaby the colonists of the LondonCompany
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January – Jamestown founded
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Tobacco planted in Virginia
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Henry Hudson explores NorthAmerica from Hudson River toAlbany
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A smallpox epidemic amongNew England Native Americans
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Tobacco becomes an export staple for Virginia
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Slavery begins in ColonialAmerica
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Virginia House of Burgessesconvenes in Jamestown
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November 9 -- Mayflower landsat Cape Cod, Massachusetts
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November 11 -- MayflowerCompact is signed
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March -- John Winthrop andPuritans move to MassachusettsBay
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September – Boston isestablished
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Maryland established
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Harvard College founded
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June -- Roger Williams founded Providence and Rhode Island
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Anne Hutchinson is banished from Massachusetts
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The Half-way covenant enacted
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Carolina established
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Navigation Act of 1663
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The Dutch New Netherland colony becomes English New York
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Maryland passes a law making lifelong servitude for black slaves mandatory
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British Navigation Act
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Dutch military forces retake New York from the British
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The Treaty of Westminster
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King William’s War begins
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Bacon’s rebellion
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Pennsylvania founded by William Penn, a Quaker
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French explorer La Salle explores the lower Mississippi Valley region
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Edict of Nantes revoked
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King James II takes over Britain
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April -- New England Governor Andros jailed by rebellious colonists in Boston
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July -- the English government orders Andros to be returned to England to stand trial
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May – Salem witch trial
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April – Navigation Act
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September – Treaty of Ryswick ends King William’s War