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Seeking a westward route from Europe to Asia, Columbus reaches the Caribbean. Columbus voyage marks the start of the regular contact between Europe amd the Americans
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Spanish Warrior Hernando Cortez begins conquest of the aztec empire
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Spain bluilds a fort at St. Agustine. Today St. Agustine, Florida is the oldest city in the Unites States
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English colonists arrive in Jamestown, Virginia. Jamestown is the first sucessful English settlement in North America
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Seeking Freedom to practice their religion, Pilgrims found the colony of Plymouth on Massachusetts
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Purtians from England set up the Massachusetts Bay Colony
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French colonist Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explore the Mississippi.
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Metacom leads fight against settlers in New England
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William Penn found the colony of Pennsylvania
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Plantations in the southern Colonies begin to rely heavily on slave labor
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A religious movement, know as the Great Awakening, sweeps through the colonies
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The colony becomes a refuge for people jailed for debt.
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The first migration of settlers across the Appalachian Mountians sets off conflicts with the Indians of the Ohio River Valley
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The Albany Congress proposes the unite the British colonies. However, the proposal is rejected by all the colonies
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British forces climb to the plains of Abraham and capture Quebec, the Capital of New France
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Parliment passes the Stamp act, sparking protest in the American colonies
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British troops fire on demonstrator in the Boston Massacre, killing 5. Paul Revere's print of the attack provokes anti-British outrage in all the colonies
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Fighting breaks out at Lexington and Concord between British soliders and colonial minutemen
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In the first major battle of the American Revolution, the colonist face the British at Bunker Hill
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The Continetal Congress approves the Article of Confederation. The Articles create a loose association of states.
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The American victory at the Battle of Saratoga is the turning point of the war. After this victory, the French decide to jion the Americans in the fight against the British
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The Article of Confederation takes affect
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The British surrender to the Americans at Yorktown
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Great Britian recoginizes American Independence in the Treaty Of Paris
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Congress passes the Land Ordinanace of 1785. It sets up a system for surveying and settle the Northwest Territory between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
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The Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia. The new Constitution creates a stronger central govermant
