| 1492 |
|
Genoese Christoher Columbus "discovers" West Indies for Spain |
| 1497 |
|
John Cabot lands in Canada - later claimed for England |
| 1498 |
|
Columbus briefly lands on South American mainland |
| 1500 |
|
Pedro Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal |
| 1512 |
|
Spaniard Vasco Núñez de Balboa first to see Pacific Ocean (from Panama) |
| 1513 |
|
Juan Ponce de Leon claims Florida for Spain |
| 1519 |
|
Portuguese/Spaniard Ferdinand Magellan rounds South American mainland |
| 1521 |
|
Mexico conquered for Spain by Hernando Cortes |
| 1535 |
|
Peru conquered for Spain by Francisco Pizarro |
| 1538 |
|
Colombia conquered for Spain by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada |
| 1540 |
|
Spaniard Franciso de Coronado explores North America |
| 1607 |
|
First permanent British settlement founded in Virginia, North America |
| 1608 |
|
Permanent French colony founded in Quebec by Samuel de Champlain |
| 1620 |
|
Puritan Pilgrim Father establish colony in New England |
| 1652 |
|
Dutch establish colony (present day New York) in North America |
| 1664 |
|
New York taken from Dutch by British |
| 1670 |
|
Britain establishes Hudson Bay Company in Canada |
| 1682 |
|
French claim large territories in Louisiana |
| 1692 |
|
Witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts |
| 1713 |
|
Spain grants monopoly of American slave trade to Britain |
| 1732 |
|
Georgia, last of original American colonies, settled by British |
| 1759 |
|
General James Wolfe takes French Quebec for Britain |
| 1763 |
|
Treaty of Paris confirms British dominance in Canada |
