Colonial America Timeline

In the early 1500's, English settlers discovered Roanoke, an island off the coast of North Carolina. These settlers soon left due to the lack of food. In 1587, a second colony arrived lead by John White. When he returned from a trip to get more supplies in 1590, the settlement of his people had mysteriously disappeared. The only evidence left on the island was the word "Croatoan" carved in a tree. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/nc/es_nc_roanoke_1.html

Jamestown was established in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London along the coast of Virginia. Although 150 settlers first arrived there, only 38 made it through the tough winter due to the lack of work, bad weather, and fellow Native Americans mistreating them. The colony established John Smith as it's leader who created many helpful tactics to grow the colony. Tobacco had became a huge profitable export thanks to John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas. Notes

Before the Europeans arrived in Connecticut, the land was established by Native American tribes. In 1614, the first European to arrive was Dutch explorer Adrian Block, but it wasn't until 1636 when a group of Puritans, led by Thomas Hooker, founded the colony of Connecticut. Connecticut was the first written constitution in North America and the state's citizenship was based on ownership, not religion. https://www.ducksters.com/geography/us_states/connecticut_history.php

The first legislature was created in 1612. This legislature made up of elected representatives who were established at Jamestown in North America. The House of Burgesses was created in 1619 modeled after the English Parliament. These members were elected representatives who were voted by only property owners. The House of Burgesses' members would meet to decide the local laws and determine local taxation once a year with each of their royal governors. http://www.ushistory.org/us/2f.asp

The Great Migration occurred during the 17th century when the Puritan emigrants migrated to the English colonies. Back home in England, the Puritans were persecuted for their religious beliefs so they sought after a better life in the English colonies. There were approximately between 13,000 and 21,000 emigrants. These Puritans traveled to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on a boat. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-great-puritan-migration/

The Plymouth Colony was settled by Pilgrims. The pilgrims set sail aboard the Mayflower for a location near the Hudson River. It set anchor at Cape Cod and the pilgrims found an abandoned Wampanoag community on a hill. The Mayflower compact was made to establish a foundation for the colony's government to own the land. This was the first self government plan in the colonies where men's votes would make the decisions. The pilgrims met some helpful Wampanoag people like Squanto. Notes

Being established as one of the middle colonies, New York was settled by the Dutch in 1624. Upon arrival, the Dutch called the area New Netherlands and New York City was called New Amsterdam. The Dutch settlers kept their land even when British gained control. Until 1664, British had attacked New Netherlands enough to make the Dutch surrender. The colony was renamed for the Duke of York, the brother of King Charles II, who received a charter for the territory. Notes

The Massachusetts Bay Colony had begun from a charter granted by King Charles II to the Puritans, lead by Governor John Winthrop. The laws of the colony were solely based upon the Puritan Church. This colony grew in size when English settlers joined the Puritans, but the Puritans still were in control. The Massachusetts Bay colony became the largest, most influential New England Colony, beating Plymouth Colony. When the king regained control in 1680's, the colony became a royal colony. Notes

Maryland, a southern colony, had been settled by Lord Baltimore in 1632. Baltimore established this colony for persecuted Catholics to settle in. In order to achieve this colony, he convinced King Charles I to grant him 100 million acres. Maryland had become a proprietary colony, a colony owned by a ruler not a king or queen. Not too soon after, Lord Baltimore died and gave the land to his son. Notes

In 1635, the colony of Rhode Island had began by Roger Williams and his supporters who had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for disagreeing with the Puritans' religious beliefs. Although Roger was the first to arrive, four other groups arrived between 1636 and 1642 settling in the colony. Upon arrival, Roger named the settlement "Providence", claiming providence had brought him there. https://www.infoplease.com/us/states/rhode-island

As Maryland started up as a colony pushing for more religious freedom, the ruler had noticed majority of the people living in Maryland had been Puritan or Protestant. Protecting the Catholics, the colony's legislature passed an act known as the Toleration Act of 1649 that granted religious freedom to all Christians. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/maryland-toleration-act-11630122.html

Carolina had been settled by supporters of King Charles II who eventually granted 8 supporters the entire land. Carolina had been a southern colony with easy access to trade in the West Indies. Because of these major trade routes, people settled to grow cash crops such as rice, indigo, and tobacco. With crops comes labor so Carolina had a 2:1 ratio of African slaves to European settlers in 1720. In 1729, Carolina became a royal colony and split into a Northern and Southern colony. Notes

Bacon's Rebellion was a rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. Nathaniel had gathered Virginia settlers in 1676 to overtake reprisal action for alleged thefts by Native Americans. Some reasons behind this were high taxes, Governor giving special privileges to favorites, and low prices for tobacco. This rebellion took place in Jamestown.
https://www.landofthebrave.info/bacons-rebellion.htm

Pennsylvania was settled by William Penn when he had been granted a charter by King Charles II. Penn had made this colony a place without a landowning aristocracy where every male settler received the right to vote and 50 acres of land. He established this colony as a "Holy Experiment". Near the 1660's, Penn had converted to a Quaker which resulted in much of the population being Quakers, who were often ridiculed for their simplicity of speech and clothing. Notes

The French and Indian War had begun in 1689 due to the tensions between France and Britain over control of North America. This war mainly happened on North America's soil. The Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers had been fought upon by both countries due to the great commerce it presented. This war lasted seven years, thus connecting it's common name "The Seven Years War". British had won and gained control over North America in 1697. https://www.historynet.com/french-and-indian-war

Salem Witch Trials began in the spring of 1692 when young girls living in Salem Village of Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by a devil and accused some local women of witchcraft. Once the case was brought to court, 150 people were imprisoned for witchcraft and died in prison while 19 men and women were guilty and hung. By the fall, the public opinion turned against these accusations and the Court owed indemnities. https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials

The Salutary Neglect was an undocumented policy British had made to keep the colonies under their control. It was a policy of lenient or lax enforcement of parliamentary laws regarding the American colonies. British wanted these colonies to be under control so they could also focus on the European colonies. Edward Burke coined the term "Salutary Neglect". This policy ended when the Seven Years' War ended. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/what-was-the-british-policy-of-salutary-neglect/

The Enlightenment was a time period where new ideas and great changes occurred. More in depth, it was also known as the intellectual movement where famous philosophers and thinkers changed basic ideas of government, liberty, science and just nature in general. These individuals would take ideas from the Scientific Revolution and transform them into a way which it can be applied to society. https://www.historycrunch.com/age-of-enlightenment-overview.html#/

The Albany Plan was a 1754 proposal aimed at building a union of the colonies under a single government. This plan was argued to coordinate a defense against the alliance of French and Indian forces against the American colonies. Eleven out of the thirteen colonies sent colonial representatives to the conference held in Albany, New York, mainly led by Benjamin Franklin. The plan was declined by the British due to the lack of control of the colonies. https://www.constitution.org/bcp/albany.htm

The Proclamation of 1763 was declared by King Charles II to settle the disputes between Native Americans and colonists. The proclamation stated that all lands west of all rivers that flowed into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest were off-limits to the colonists. This kept the the two groups from fighting and kept the people closer to the eastern seaboard for trading. purposes.https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/1763-proclamation-of