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In 1607, a group of English people called the Virginia Company traveled to America and founded the first permanent English settlement in North America.
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English privateers attack a Portuguese ship on course to Mexico and bring about twenty African slaves to Virginia. Slavery in the colonies grew to be a huge issue, and eventually was one of the leading factors to the beginning of the American Civil War.
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The General Assembly, later known as the House of Burgesses, is established as the first democratically-elected legislative body in North America. This assembly was modeled after the English Parliament, with the purpose to give the colonists a separate government from the royal authority of the English monarchy.
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A group of puritans known as the Pilgrims leave England to escape religious persecution on the Mayflower, and arrive in Massachusetts in 1620, founding Plymouth Colony.
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A group of Dutch settlers establish New York City, originally called New Amsterdam, after they were sent by the Dutch West India Company.
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A three year armed conflict in New England between the Native Americans and English settlers breaks out due to the colonists desire for expansion. Though the war resulted in a colonial victory, it took decades for the colonists to recover from the death and destruction. The war brought disastrous results to the natives.
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Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion against Governor William Berkley because he wouldn't allow Bacon to amass a militia to attack Native Americans, who he falsely accused of stealing his corn. Bacon creates a militia of his own and wreaks havoc on many tribes and eventually burns down the city of Jamestown. The rebellion ended after Bacon's death and the intervention of the crown.
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A series of investigations and prosecutions against women accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Nineteen women were hanged and many others were imprisoned.
