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