-
- Marco Polo returns to Europe
-
Spain becomes united
-
Diaz rounds southern tip of Africa
-
Columbus lands in the Bahamas
-
Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal
-
Da Gama reaches India. Cabot explores northeastern coast of North America for England
-
Iroquois Confederacy founded, according to Iroquois legend.
-
Balboa claims all lands touched by the Pacific Ocean for Spain
-
Ponce de Leon explores Florida.
-
Martin Luther begins Protestant Reformation
-
Cortes conquers Mexico for Spain
-
Magellan's vessel completes circumnavigation of the world
-
Verrazano explores eastern seaboard of North America for France.
-
Pizarro crushes Incas.
-
Cartier journeys up the St. Lawrence River.
-
John Calvin of Geneva publishes Institutes of the Christian Religion
-
De Soto explores the Southeast and discovers the Mississippi River
-
Cabrillo explores present-day Southwest.
-
Cabrillo explores California coast for Spain
-
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
-
Spanish build fortress at St. Augustine
-
English crush Irish uprising
-
Drake circumnavigates the globe
-
Raleigh founds Roanoke colony
-
England defeats Spanish Armada
-
Spanish under Onate conquer pueblo peoples of Rio Grande valley
-
james I becomes king of England
-
Spain and England sign peace treaty
-
Virginia colony founded at Jamestown
-
Spanish found New Mexico
-
Rolfe perfects tobacco culture in Virginia
-
First Anglo-Powhatan War ends
-
First Africans arrive in Jamestown. Virginia House of Burgesses established.
-
First Africans arrive in Virginia
-
Pilgrims sail on the Mayflower to Plymouth Bay
-
Virginia becomes a royal colony
-
Dutch found New Netherland
-
Charles I dismisses Parliament and persecutes Puritans
-
Puritans found Massachusetts Bay Colony
-
Maryland colony founded
-
Roger Williams convicted of heresy and founds Rhode Island colony
-
Connecticut and New Haven colonies founded
-
Harvard College founded
-
Pequot War
-
Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts colony
-
Connecticut's Fundamental Orders drafted
-
Large-scale slave-labor system established in English West Indies
-
English Civil War
-
New England Confederation formed
-
Second Anglo-Powhatan War
-
Act of Toleration in Maryland. Charles I beheaded; Cromwell rules England
-
New Netherland conquers New Sweden
-
Charles II restored to English throne
-
Barbados slave code adopted
-
Half-Way Covenant for Congregational Church membership established
-
England seizes New Netherland from Dutch, East and West Jersey colonies founded
-
Carolina colony created
-
Virginia assembly disfranchises landless freeman
-
King Philip's War
-
Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia
-
French exploration down Mississippi River under La Salle
-
Mass expansion of slavery in colonies
-
William Penn founds Pennsylvania colony
-
Royal authority creates Dominion of New England
-
Glorious Revolution overthrows Stuarts and Dominion of New England
-
Leisler's Rebellion in New York
-
Salem witch trials in Massachusetts
-
College of William and Mary founded
-
Royal African Company slave trade monopoly ended
-
Tuscarora War in North Carolina
-
North Carolina formally separates from South Carolina
-
New York City slave revolt
-
Yamasee War in South Carolina
-
Georgia colony founded
-
South Carolina slave revolt
-
Serra founds first California mission, at San Diego.