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100,000 BCE
Out of Africa
All modern humans from this theory, around 100,000 BCE -
10,000 BCE
The Stone Age
There were three periods of the Stone Age, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and the Neolithic. The first societies were clans. They were hunter-gatherers, and means to make fire were developed. The Stone Age lasted from 10,000 BCE to 3,500 BCE. -
8000 BCE
The Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution was a long period of change. Hunter-gatherers settled down in villages, and began farming and domesticating animals. -
3500 BCE
The Bronze Age
The Bronze and Iron Age lasted from 3,500 BCE to 479 BCE. Empires began to emerge. The earliest empire was the Sumerian Empire. The next empire was the Babylonian Empire.Next came the Shang Dynasty in China. Next came the Phoenicians. Followed by the Persian Empire. Next was the Egyptian Kingdom, the Greek Dark Age, and the Archaic Period. The final important empire was The Roman Empire. -
2000 BCE
The Mayan Empire
Initially established 2,000 BCE, but reached their highest state of development around 250 to 900 CE, and continued until the arrival of the Spanish. The Mayans population numbered millions. They developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered civilization with numerous city-states. -
1325 BCE
The Aztec Empire
About 200 years before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. Migrating Aztecs encountered the descendants of the Toltec people, and befriended them. Aztecs traded and mingled with other tribes and civilizations. -
1300 BCE
The Inca Empire
The Inca were skilled politicians and managed t govern a realm that consisted of 12 million people! This was all ruled from the Inca Capital at Machu Pichu. The empire continued until about 1520. -
455
The Dark Ages
During the Dark Ages, the western Roman Empire was on a decline for 150 years. The Vandal Invasion was the final fall of Rome. One of the worst plagues in history was the Black Plague, taking place during the dark ages from 1346 to 1353. Vikings had power during this time. The Renaissance was given a boost by the De Medici Family. In 1492, Christopher Columbus traveled to what is now America. -
1492
The New World
About 12,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, the water levels of the oceans was lower, exposing land that today is under the Bering and Chukchi Seas. The Clovis People were the first ancient tribe to appear on what is now North America. It is believed that they had crossed the Land Bridge from Asia to the Americas, also called Beringia. There is evidence that Columbus encountered the Tainos people during this time. -
1500
The Columbian Exchange
Before this time, we refer to the World as Pre-Columbian. During the 1500's, Spain, Portugal, France and England sent explorers to the New World. They brought plants, animals, and even illnesses to the New World. -
1565
The First Colonies
St Augustine, Florida is a thriving city today and the first and oldest permanent settlement in the New World. In 1565 the Spaniards and the Catholic Church were honoring St Augustine.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke, Virginia. Sir Walter Raleigh establishes this colony around the 1580's, but the Lost Color os Roanoke remains a mystery to this day.
Jamestown, Virginia. America's first permanent English Colony was founded 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts. -
The First African Slaves
The first documented Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619. These first Africans were treated as indentured servants. -
Slavery
The first slaves were brought to America in 1619 to work in the tobacco fields in Jamestown. The cotton-gin was invented, leading to bigger cotton farms and more slaves. -
Plymouth Colony
Pilgrims establish their own colony. The Mayflower ship consisting of Pilgrims searching for religious freedom, landed in Massachusetts, where the Mayflower Compact is written and signed on board the ship before they went ashore. The Mayflower Compact was the first document of Democracy in the New World. -
French and Indian War
A battle for colonial domination in North America, the Caribbean, and in India. -
The Tea Act
An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The original purpose was to reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company. This was supposed to convince the colonists to buy more Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid. In 1773, The Boston Tea Party was an event in which The Sons of Liberty climbed aboard the ships and dumped the tea overboard. -
Battle at Lexington and Concord
Kicked off the American Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775. -
Battle of Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. Washington gained an important victory in 1777. -
Declaration of Independence
April 1777, the document was signed declaring that the New World would not be governed by England anymore. -
The American Government
Articles of Confederation - 1781- similar to the constitution but have far less power.
US Constitution - 1787 - 10 amendments
Democracy
3 Main institutions - representatives, senators, judicial branch. -
The 19th Century
George Washington was the first president of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase from France to obtain several states took place in 1803. Following this, Louis and Clark made their expedition in 1804 to explore and expand Westward. -
The War of 1812
Immediate causes of the war were a series of economic sanctions by the British and French against the US as part of the Napoleonic Wars. -
The Civil War
The Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation the United States would be. Northern victory in the war preserved the US as one nation and ended the institution of slavery that divided the country from its beginning. -
Dakota Uprising
The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux in 1851 said that the Dakota would cede their MN and Dakota lands to the US Government and would be paid for by the US Government. The government scammed a large portion of the money for their personal needs, leaving the Dakota impoverished and starving.On August 17, 1862, a group of Dakota men decided that it was time to go to war to reclaim their ancestral land. After the Battle of Wood lake, 38 Dakota men are hanged for killing or assaulting civilians. -
Reconstruction
Under the administration of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passes restrictive "black codes" to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. Reconstruction was supported by the north due to outrage by these codes. During radical reconstruction, former slaves were given full rights as voters and gained a voice in government for the first time in American history. -
Custer's Last Stand/Battle of Little Big Horn
Custer ignores orders to attack an Indian Encampment, but this was the highest point of the Indian's resistance. Custer and all of his men were killed. The Indians had received their greatest victory. Outraged at the results of this battle, the nation demanded and received harsh retribution. The Black Hills boundary lines were placed outside of the reservation lines and opened to white settlement. -
Wounded Knee
After Custer's Last Stand, the Indians were suffering in poverty and disease. They were ignored by the US government after the battle. The Ghost Dance, a spiritual movement in reservations, becomes popular. Reservation police murder a Ghost Dancer, making tensions rise. On December 15, 1890, the famous sioux chief, Sitting Bull, is mistaken for a Ghost Dancer and murdered. A fight breaks out, the first shot was unknown as to who fired it, is followed by a brutal massacre, killing 150-300 Indians