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Sep 5, 1440
John Gutenburg
John Gutenburg was known to be the inventor of the printing press. With that, it created a rapid growth in knowledge of the new discoveries and affairs of the New World. This made the Europeans want to come and see it for themselves. -
Sep 5, 1492
Reconquista
The reconquista was a religious war and it was important because it put the Iberan back under Catholic control and represented the only really successful Holy War completed in the Renaissance. -
Jun 7, 1494
Treaty of Torsedillas
This event allowed Spain and Portugal to secure and authorize the claims they had on territories outside of their mother land by settling down territory conflicts among European nation states. This treaty was propsed by Pope Alexander VI and was accepted by both nations. -
Sep 5, 1498
John Cabbot/ Sebastian Cabbot
He allowed England to establish its colonies. He is an important figure who started England's influence in the Americas. John Cabot had complated the first ever known transatlantic trip in an English vessel. Sebastion's voyages had decreased because of religious affairs. -
Sep 5, 1512
Ecomienda System
This system led to furure exploitation of natives and slaves. The Ecomienda System shows a start of imperialist nation states and gathering cheap labor resources. This system was used to reward conquistadors. -
Sep 5, 1517
Protestant Reformation: King Henry VIII & Elizabeth I
The Protestant Refomation was in partial favor with England's rivarly with Spain. The New World then introduced to English Protestanism and nationalism. -
Roanoke
Roanoke Island has a significant place in American history as the first attempt at an English settlement in the New World. Sir Richard Grenville led a mission for a successful Roanoke colony. Shortly after he abandoned his colonist come autumn. The Spanish Armanda blocked communication between England and America, thus showing the competition between these two nations. -
Richard Haklyut
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer who thought that colonies would provide a market for England exports and they also would serve as a source of raw materials. He also strongly believed a colony would make their trade increase and it will build up their gold supply. -
Jamestown
Jamestown introduced slavery into English speaking North America; it became the first of England’s colonies to adopt a representative government; and it was the site of the first clashes between whites and Indians over territorial expansion. Jamestown began the tenuous, often violent, mingling of different peoples that came to embody the American experience. -
Quebec
Quebec was founded by a French explorer named Samuel de Champlain. This showed a new increasing interest in the New world by the French. -
Plymouth
The Virginia Company of Plymouth, a group of English merchant investors, had failed to establish permanent colonies in the northern reaches of what was then known as Virginia. The stockholders' spirits were further dampened when they noticed that their chief rival, the Virginia Company of London, had established a settlement at Jamestown, where a lucrative tobacco economy began to develop in the late 1600s. They secured a land grant from Sandys in 1620, and embarked in the ship Mayflower. -
New Hamshire
At an earlier year, in 1622 Captain Mason, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, and others, had obtained from the Council of Plymouth, a grant of land partly in Maine and partly in New Hampshire, which they called Laconia. In spring of 1623, they sent two small parties of emigrants to settle it. Some of these commenced to stay at Little Harbor, on the west side of the Piscataqua River. The principal employment of the new settlers was fishing and trade. -
New York
In 1664, James, the Duke of York, received control of New Netherland. The name of the colony was changed to New York in honor of the Duke. A reason for founding was mainly for trade and profit. New York was often referred to as a breadbasket colony because it grew so many crops, especially wheat. The wheat was ground into flour in flour mills then shipped to England. -
Massachusetts Bay
Massachussets Bay Colony is one of the original English settlements in present-day Massachusetts, settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England under Governor John Winthrop. In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Company had obtained from King Charles I a charter empowering the company to trade and colonize in New England between the Charles and Merrimack rivers. Omitted from the charter was the usual clause requiring the company to hold its business meetings in England. -
Maryland
Maryland was a proprietorship which means that the proprietor had executive authority. Tobacco was very profitable for the colony. Religious freedom for different forms of Christianity was widespread, especially after the passage of the Act of Toleration in 1649 which allowed for toleration to all Christians. Maryland eventually became known as a 'haven for Catholics'. -
Connecticut
Individuals from the Massachusetts colony moved to what would become Connecticut because they were looking for more freedom and financial opportunities. The Pequot 'war' was fought between the settlers in Connecticut and the Pequot Indians. By the end of the war, the Pequot Indians were decimated. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were created in 1639. Many believe that this written Constitution would become the basis for the later United States Const -
Rhode Island
Roger Williams was banished to England by the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his beliefs in separation of church and state and freedom of religion. He fled and lived with the Narragansett Indians and formed Providence in 1636. This colony was the first to guarantee all its citizens freedom of worship.
The colony was founded on separation of church and state. -
Slave Trade
Labor was an important essiantial for growth and profit of the New World. Many Native American slaves were found dead or had escaped. This caused Europeans to find a new slave labor in Africa. As many as 10.7 million Africans were brought to the New World. -
The Carolinas
In 1663, King Charles II, granted to eight of his favorites a charter and certain privileges, to repay them for their loyalty in restoring him to the throne of his father. This grant was of the territory extending from the present southern line of Virginia to the St. Johns, in Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Settlers migrated oft were seeking religious freedom. -
Pennsylvania
William Penn founded Pennsylvania with a land grant that was owed his deceased Father. His goal was to create a colony that allowed for freedom of religion due to his desire to protect himself and fellow Quakers from persecution. The colony was well-advertised and by 1700 was the third biggest and richest colony in the New World. Penn allowed for a representative assembly elected by landowners. Freedom of worship and religion was granted to all citizens. -
Georgia
In 1732, James Oglethorpe was given a charter from King George II to create a new colony which he would name Georgia. It had two main purposes: to serve as a place where debtors in prison could go to start new and it served as a barrier against Spanish expansion from Florida. Georgia began with the intention to have little landholding and no slavery. However, when it became a royal colony in 1752, plantations and slavey became a major part of the Georgian economy.
