North Carolina Timeline

By Avanalyn Miller
  • Nov 4, 1300

    The Story Continues

    Around 1300, people in Europe read of Marco Polo's travels to Cathay and other exciting Asian lands.
  • Feb 25, 1400

    Europeans Branch Out

    In the early 1400's, people in Europe began to look to the seas and beyond. Some longed for adventure.
  • Mar 28, 1400

    The search for new routes

    By the late Middle ages, Europeans had developed a taste for spices in their diets. Most Islands in Asia. Some Europeans began to look for ways to bypass Venice's hold on the spice trade.
  • Jun 17, 1492

    The Search For New Routes

    In 1492 Columbus led his first expedition westward. He landed in the Bahamas, islands that he believed to be hear Asia.
  • Oct 16, 1497

    The Northwest Passage

    In 1497 King Henry VII sent Cabot on a voyage to the west. The english thought that there might be a water route through the Americas that would lead North and West to Asia.
  • Mar 29, 1498

    The Search For New Routes

    On another voyage in 1498, Columbus reached South Carolina.
  • Aug 15, 1500

    Spanish Exploration

    Spain was taking control of much of South and Central America and many Caribbean islands, including Cuba and Hispaniola.
  • Dec 16, 1500

    Why it matters today

    In the 1500's serveral European nations competed for land and colonies in the new world.
  • Nov 2, 1508

    Spanish Exploration

    Juan Ponce de Leon explored and settled the island of Puerto Rico.
  • Sep 4, 1513

    Spanish Exploration

    In early 1513, Ponce de Leon set out with ships and crew. His expedition landed on the east coast of Florida, a name Ponce de Leon derived from the Spanish word for flowers.
  • Apr 12, 1520

    Spaniards come to North Carolina

    Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon had seen some of the Atlantic coastline of this region on an expedition in 1520
  • May 19, 1520

    The story continues

    Spain was the most powerful nation in the world. Spanish explorers had claimed huge tracts of land in the New World.
  • May 15, 1524

    Verrazano's Expedition

    In 1524 King Francis I of France sent Italian navigator Giovanni Da Verazano westward. Verrazona first reached land at North Carolina's Outer Banks.
  • Jul 8, 1524

    The Young Sailor

    Giovanni da verrazano wrote a report of his voyage and explorations to King Francis I of France.
  • Jul 25, 1526

    Rio Jordan Colony

    In July 1526, Ayllon led a group of over 500 men, women, and children to a river he called jordan ( for the Jordan River in ancient Palestine).
  • Jan 18, 1539

    De Soto's expedition

    Hernando de Soto sailed with a military expedition from Havana,Cuba, to the west coast of Flordia.
  • Feb 6, 1560

    The Spanish set sights southward

    With possession of Florida fairly secure and greater wealth to the south, Spaniards focused their attention southward after the 1560s
  • May 15, 1560

    The spanish set sights southward

    The atlantic coastal region that is today part of the southeastern United States had seen a fflurry of spanish activity in the 1560s.
  • Apr 1, 1562

    France and Spain Fight for Land

    France sent a colony under the command of Jean Ribault to North America.
  • Oct 3, 1562

    Port Royal

    Ribault's Huguenots attempted to settle near present day Port Royal, South Carolina, in April 1562
  • Sep 19, 1565

    St Augustine

    In 1565 Spain sent troops under Pedro Menendez de Aviles to Florida.
  • Jan 4, 1566

    More Spanish Expeditions

    Juan Pardo and Hernando Boyano led a small group of men to the South Carolina coast.
  • Jan 31, 1566

    More Spanish Expeditions

    In 1566 an expedition set out for Chesapeake Bay from the west indies to set up a Catholic mission