Important Dates

Columbus sailed the ocean blue

Oct 15, 1492

In this year, Columbus set foot on land thinking that it was the West Indies. He had actually miscalculated and found an island in the Caribbean.

First enslaved Africans land in the Americas

Oct 15, 1511

Africans were bought and sold to be used as labor, especially in the Americas because they were farmers and had a better immunity to diseases than the natives.

Cortes conquers Aztec empire

Oct 15, 1521

Cortes was able to conquer the Aztec, even though he was outnumbered, because of three things: 1) The Europeans had superior weaponry, 2) Cortes was able to get the help of other various people, and 3) European diseases killed many of the Aztec population.

Pizarro conquers Incan empire

Oct 15, 1533

Pizarro was able to capture the Incan king, Atahualpa. As a result, Atahualpa made a deal of filling up two rooms with gold and one with silver in return of his release. Once the rooms were filled, Pizarro killed him and conquered his people.

English found Jamestown

Oct 15, 1607

Jamestwon was Englands first American colony. It first did not thrive because the peeple were too busy looking for gold that they didn't plant any crops and people died of starvation.

English found Plymouth

Oct 15, 1620

Plymouth colony was found by a group of colonists called Pilgrims that wanted religious freedom from England. They felt religiously persecuted for their beliefs and wanted to be seperate.

French and Indian War ends

Oct 15, 1763

The French and Indian War was a war between the British and French. The British wanted more land in the Americas and battled France. In the end, the British won and gained France's land.