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1603
Traders established Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1603 -
1607
English become the first settlers in Jamestown supported by the London Company -
1610
The Spanish settle in the first western colony, Santa Fe -
1619
The first African slaves arrive to Jamestown. -
1620
Plymouth Colony is established as the Mayflower arrives to Massachusetts. -
1664
New Amsterdam becomes New York. Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, to an English naval squadron under Colonel Richard Nicolls. Stuyvesant had hoped to resist the English, but he was an unpopular ruler, and his Dutch subjects refused to rally around him. Following its capture, New Amsterdam’s name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who organized the mission. -
1690
On December 10, 1690, a failed attack on Quebec and subsequent near-mutiny force the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue the first paper currency in the history of the Western Hemisphere.