1492 |
Columbus, on the first of his four voyages, visits the Caribbean, returning to Europe with Indian captives. |
1519 |
Hernando Cortés wages war on the Aztecs, claiming victory in 1521, and disease begins to decimate the native population. |
1513 |
Juan Ponce de Leon lands on Florida's east coast on April 2, giving it the name La Florida. |
1526 |
Spanish settle a colony, San Miguel de Guadalupe, at Sapelo Bay, Georgia. |
1528 |
Expedition with Cabeza de Vaca lands on Florida's west coast and sets out to explore the interior in search of a passage to Tampico. |
1536 |
Cabeza de Vaca and Esteban are among four Spaniards to survive eight years in the interior of America. They arrive in Mexico City with stories of their survival and of large Indian communities in the interior. |
1539 |
Hernando de Soto, with 600 men, lands on Florida's west coast and sets out to explore the interior. |
1539 |
Esteban is killed at Zuni and Fray Marcos returns to Mexico. |
1540 |
Coronado's conquest of New Mexico and the Seven Cities of Cibola begins. |
1562 |
Englishman John Hawkins begins slave trade between Africa and the Caribbean. |
1564 |
French establish Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River. |
1565 |
Spanish found San Augustin (now St. Augustine, Florida) and soon capture Fort Caroline. |
1581 |
Slaves brought to San Augustin, Florida. |
1598 |
Settlement begins in New Mexico under Juan de Onate as El Camino Real is established between El Paso del Norte and Santa Cruz, New Mexico. |
1607 |
Captain John Smith founds the Jamestown colony in present-day Virginia and many of the original settlers die during the winter. The next English colony would not be established until 1620, when the Pilgrims land at Plymouth, Massachusetts. |
1627 |
Spanish establish Castillo de San Marcos at San Augustin, Florida. |
1680 |
Pueblo Indians revolt against Spanish in New Mexico. |
1729 |
Spanish govern Texas from Presidio Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Los Adaes (in Louisiana) through 1773. |
1769 |
Settlement of Mission San Diego de Alcala, near San Diego, is the first in a series of twenty Spanish missions reaching far into present-day California. |
1776 |
Spanish establish Mission San Francisco de Asis, San Francisco, California.
The Declaration of Independence is signed, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, proclaiming freedom for the Thirteen Colonies. |
1810 |
Mexico declares independence from Spain, bringing the lands from Texas to California under the government of Mexico by 1821. |
1819 |
Spain cedes Florida to the U.S. on February 22. |
1823 |
The Monroe Doctrine, enacted December 2, opposes European intervention in the Americas. |