Timeline of pre–United States history
This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from before the lead up to the American Revolution (c. 1760).
Antiquity
- Eurasians cross the Trans-Siberian land bridge into North America.
- Vikings first discovered America by sailing the Atlantic.
1400–1499
- 1492 - Christopher Columbus financed by Spain lands on the island of Hispaniola, discovering the New World for 12th century Europe.
- 1497 - John Cabot lands in Newfoundland, beginning the British colonial presence in Continental North America.
1500–1599
- 1513 - Vasco Núñez de Balboa crosses isthmus of Panama, sees Pacific Ocean.
- 1513 - Juan Ponce de León defeats Tlaxcala, a small state neighboring the Aztec Empire.
- 1520s - Spanish begin conquest of Maya civilization.
- 1521 - Hernán Cortés destroys the Aztec empire.
- 1524 - Giovanni da Verrazzano, working for France, explores coastline from present-day Maine to North Carolina.
- 1542 - Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River, strengthening Spanish claims to the interior of North America.
- 1565 - Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine, Florida the first Spanish settlement in the New World, and is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States.
- 1570s - Iroquois Confederacy founded.
- 1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh founds Roanoke Colony, the first English settlement in the New World.
- 1590 - Roanoke Colony found deserted.
1600–1699
1600s
- 1607 - Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, founded in the Colony of Virginia.
1610s
- 1614 - Dutch claim New Netherland.
- 1619 - Slavery introduced to the Colony of Virginia.
1620s
- 1620 - Mayflower Compact signed.
- 1625 - Foundation of New York City as New Amsterdam.
- 1628 - Massachusetts Bay Colony founded.
1630s
- 1630 - Winthrop Fleet to Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1630 - Manor of Rensselaerswyck founded.
- 1634 - Province of Maryland founded.
- 1634 - Theologian Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1635 - Connecticut Colony founded by Thomas Hooker.
- 1636 - Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations founded by Roger Williams.
- 1636 - Harvard College founded.
- 1637 - New Haven Colony founded.
- 1637 - Pequot War ends in New England.
- 1638 - Delaware Colony founded.
- 1638 - New Sweden established.
- 1639 - Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony signed.
- 1639 - Fundamental Orders of Connecticut adopted.
1640s
- 1640 - French and Iroquois Wars escalate to full warfare.
- 1643 - New England Confederation created
- 1643-1645 - Kieft's War in New Netherland
- 1644-1646 - Third Anglo–Powhatan War
- 1649 - Maryland Toleration Act
- 1649 - Execution of King Charles I and establishment of Commonwealth in England.
1650s
- 1655-1660 - Peach Tree War
- 1659-1663 - Esopus Wars
1660s
- 1660 - British republic collapses, Charles II becomes King
- 1662 - Halfway Covenant adopted
- 1663 - King Charles II grants charter for a new colony, Province of Carolina
- 1664 - New Amsterdam captured by the English at the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War
- 1667 - New Netherland ceded to England under Treaty of Breda
- 1669-1670 - John Lederer of Virginia explores the Appalachian Mountains
1670s
- 1670 - Charles Town (Charleston) founded in present-day South Carolina
- 1671 - The Batts-Fallam expedition sponsored by Abraham Wood reaches the New River (West Virginia)
- 1672 - Blue Laws enacted in Connecticut
- 1672-1673 - Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette explore the Illinois Country
- 1674 - New Netherland permanently relinquished to English with Treaty of Westminster
- 1675 - King Philip's War (1675–76) in New England
- 1676 - Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia
- 1677 - Province of Maine absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony
- 1679 - War between the Westo and colonial South Carolina results in the destruction of the Westo.
1680s
- 1680 - Pueblo Revolt in Spanish New Mexico
- 1682 - Province of Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
- 1682 - René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle travels down the Mississippi River to its mouth
- 1685 - King Charles II dies and James II succeeds to throne, reducing colonial autonomy
- 1686 - Dominion of New England decreed
- 1687 - Yamasee Indians from Spanish Florida move to South Carolina, becoming an important ally of the English
- 1688 - Glorious Revolution deposes James II and replaces him with William and Mary
- 1689 - Dominion of New England ceases to exist as Governor is deposed.
- 1689 - King William's War (1689–1697), part of the wider War of the Grand Alliance, begins
1690s
- 1690 - Schenectady Massacre
- 1692 - Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts
- 1697 - King William's War ends in North America with the Treaty of Ryswick
1700–1759
- See Timeline of the American Revolution for events starting from 1760.
1700s
- 1701 - The Collegiate school at Saybrook is founded in Connecticut; it will later be renamed as Yale College
- 1702 - William III dies, is succeeded by Queen Anne
- 1702 - Queen Anne's War (War of the Spanish Succession) begins
- 1702 - East Jersey and West Jersey become crown colonies
1710s
- 1713 - The Treaty of Utrecht is signed, bringing an end to Queen Anne's War.
- 1715 - Yamasee War in South Carolina colony
- 1718 - Blackbeard is killed in battle by lieutenant Robert Maynard in the waters off the Province of North Carolina
1720s
- 1725 - Father Rale's War (1722-1725)
- 1727 - George I dies, is succeeded by George II
- 1729 - Province of Carolina proprietors sell out to Crown
1730s
- 1732 - The Province of Georgia is founded by General James Oglethorpe.
- 1735 - John Peter Zenger is found innocent of libel by the New York City trial on August 4th.
- 1739-1740 - George Whitefield begins his travels throughout the colonies. His message of everyday Christians having a personal connection with God resonates and begins the First Great Awakening.
1740s
- 1744 - King George's War (1744-1748)
- 1749 - Province of Georgia overturns its ban on slavery
- 1749 - Father Le Loutre's War (1749-1755)
1750s
- 1752 - Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment
- 1754 - French and Indian War begins, part of the Seven Years' War
- 1754 - Albany Congress, in which a "Union of Colonies" is proposed
- 1758 - Treaty of Easton
See also
- Timeline of the colonization of North America
- Colonial history of the United States
- Timeline of United States history
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