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This is a chronology and timeline of the European colonization of the Americas, with founding dates of selected European settlements. [1][2][3] Pre–Columbus. 986: Norsemen settle Greenland and Bjarni Herjólfsson sights coast of North America, but doesn't land (see also Norse colonization of the Americas).
The Ottoman Empire closes the overland Silk Road trade routes between Europe and the East, initiating the European Age of Discovery. Christopher Columbus makes four voyages to the New World; opens the way for European colonization of the Americas.
- Joshua J. Mark
- Content Director
- Columbus, Portugal, & The Spanish Conquest
- France & The Netherlands
- Early English Colonies
- Conclusion
Trade between Europe and Asia had been ongoing since 130 BCE when the Han Dynasty of China (202 BCE - 220 CE) opened the routes known in the modern day as the Silk Road. Although there were contentions over these routes through the years, and different monarchies or tribes took control of them in whole or in part, they remained open, and goods trav...
The colony of New France was founded in modern-day Canada by the French explorer Jacques Cartier (l. 1491-1557) in 1534. France would also claim land holdings in the regions of modern-day South America, the Caribbean, the state of Louisiana, and elsewhere. Cartier's mission, like Columbus', was to navigate a maritime passage to Asia and return to F...
England, impressed by the wealth Spain was able to acquire from the New World, considered establishing their own colonies there but, first, found it easier to have privateers (state-sponsored pirates) stop Spanish vessels returning from the Americas and seize their cargo, among them Sir Francis Drake(l. c. 1540-1596), known to the Spanish as “the D...
The Jamestown colony barely survived the first few years, losing 80% of its population in only a few months, primarily because those who made up the expedition were either upper-class aristocrats who refused to work for their food or lower-class laborers who had no skill in farming. The colony was saved first by Captain John Smith (l. 1580-1631), a...
Aug 7, 2019 · Traditionally, the age of exploration in America begins in 1492 with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. Those expeditions began with a desire to find another way to the East, where the Europeans had created a lucrative trade route in spices and other goods.
Oct 29, 2009 · It began with the Vikings’ brief stint in Newfoundland circa 1000 A.D. and continued through England’s colonization of the Atlantic coast in the 17th century, which laid the foundation for the...
King Charles I try to rule as absolute Monarch, leading people to leave for the American Colonies. 1629: Massachusetts Bay Colony Royal charter was issued by Parliament. 1635: The first public school in America is established, Boston Latin School. 1636: Harvard College in Massachusetts is founded. 1638
Here is a look at a timeline of the history of the United States. Timeline of the History of the United States Colonial Period (~1600s – 1763) 1580s-1600s. 1585: The first English colony in North America is founded and called the Roanoke Colony. 1590: The Roanoke Colony is found abandoned, mysteriously disappearing. Historians still cannot ...
