Era Summary Characters Timeline Reading Assignments
English Settlement in the New World began in earnest near the beginning of the 17th century, over 100 years after Spanish explorers first discovered the continent. By that time, the the Spanish empire had become over-extended and English sailors had proven their ability to resist Spanish domination.
An important factor that drove colonial development in the 17th century was the growing religious and political strife in England. The "Royalist" faction supported a strong monarchy and favored the traditional Anglican Church. The "Parliament" faction favored freedom of worship and more rights for democratic assemblies. As power in England shifted between these poles, disgruntled Englishmen sought refuge in the colonies. In general, Royalists tended to migrate to Virginia and Puritans tended to migrate to New England, but many colonists came to the New World for personal as well as political reasons. The colonial population grew to about 300,000 by the end of the 17th century, and to over 2 million by the time of the Revolutionary War. The most important early settlements were in Virginia and Massachusetts, and for almost one hundred years, most English colonial development was along the 600 miles of coastline between these two cities.
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While the relationship of the colonists with the surrounding Indians was never good, Chief Powhatan stayed at peace with the Virginia colonists. Shortly after his death, however, the next Powhatan rose against the colonists and massacred hundreds of white settlers. The ensuing Powhatan Wars nearly obliterated the local tribes. A generation later, however, Indian trouble rose again, and was at the root of Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion. It occurred when a group of rural farmers, led by Nathaniel Bacon, sought a commission to fight Indians that threatened their remote farms, and were able to get no help from Governor William Berkeley.
The population of Virginia and nearby regions swelled greatly during the English Civil Wars, when it became a refuge for Royalists. Many landed, aristocratic families sought to rebuild their fortunes there, and imported slaves from Africa in order to establish large plantations. Several generations later, Virginia was one of the most prosperous and populated colonies.
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Perhaps the most idealistic founder of a colony was James Oglethorpe, who founded Georgia as a refuge for debtors. He prohibited both slavery and rum in his colony and envisioned a society of sober, self-sufficient farmers. But shortly after his death, the new governors reversed these prohibitions, and Georgia became a slave-owning state.
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Although the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts Colony sought religious freedom for themselves, they were intolerant of those whose ideas of worship differed from their own. For that reason, religious dissenters, such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, left Massachusetts to found nearby colonies in Connecticut and Rhode Island. In this way, the idea of religious pluralism—the idea that people were free to form independent communities of faith, rather than submit to a single religious authority, took firm hold in the colonies, at a time when most European nations had an established church.
The relationship between the British colonists and the New England Indians was complicated by intertribal rivalries. Indians tribes, such as the Wampanoag, who originally befriended the Pilgrims, did so partly because they were too weak to stand against their Indian enemies, and nearly two generations later, when they did decide to oppose the colonists, it was because they preferred to fight the white settlers than to retreat into the terrain of their mortal enemies, the Iroquois. King Philip's War was a devastating war, costing the lives of over 500 colonists, but utterly destroying the native Indian population of New England.
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French colonies in America were not as numerous, or as populated as English settlements, partly because France refused to permit religious dissidents to develop colonies. Colonization was directed by the central government rather than private companies, and many of the early settlers were Catholic missionaries, intent on converting the native population. The French relied much more on their Indian allies for both trading and military support, and many French settlers married Indian women. For this reason the Indian allies of the French were numerous and loyal, and a major threat to the English colonies.
Character/Date | Short Biography |
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Mid Atlantic colonies | |
1580–1631 |
Adventurer, leader and early settler at Jamestown. Befriended Pocahontas. |
1595–1617 |
Daughter of an Indian Chieftain who helped the early settlers in the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. |
d. 1618 |
Chief of the Powhatan confederacy and father of Pocahontas. Kept an uneasy peace with Jamestown settlers. |
1647–1676 |
Colonial farmer who opposed Governor Berkeley's Indian policies and led a major rebellion in Virginia. |
1605–1677 |
Royalist governor of Virginia who served many years both before and after the English Civil War. |
1676–1740 |
Governor of Virginia famous for leading an expedition to open settlement of the Blue Ridge mountains. |
1699–1751 |
Founded Maryland, with the goal of providing a haven of religous tolerance in the new world. |
1660–1718 |
Quaker, and founder of the colony of Pennsylvania. |
1696–1785 |
Founder of Georgia as buffer state between English and Spanish Colonies . Opposed Slavery. |
New England Colonies | |
1560–1644 |
One of the Pilgrim Fathers who sailed on the Mayflower. Elder in Congressional Church. |
1584–1656 |
Military advisor to the Plymouth colony. Arrived on the Mayflower. |
1588–1649 |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. |
1589–1657 |
Governor of the Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims. Wrote the Mayflower Compact. |
1639–1718 |
Leader of Plymouth colony forces during King Philip's War. Adopted Indian tactics and recruited Indians for his raids. |
1591–1643 |
Female preacher who was exiled from the Plymouth colony, and later with Roger Williams, founded Rhode Island. |
1603–1684 |
Religious dissident. Founded Rhode Island and asserted freedom of religion. |
1604–1690 |
Missionary who worked with the American Indians, and translated the bible into native Indian languages. |
1607–1638 |
Founder of Harvard University, the first institution of higher education in the colonies. |
1611–1660 |
Quaker woman who publicly preached in Puritan New England and was hanged after repeated warnings to stop. |
1613–1662 |
Early governor of the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Later was beheaded during the English Civil Wars. |
1651–1695 |
Colonial governor of Massachusetts during the Salem which trials, who served in several naval expeditions against the French of Canada. |
1657–1736 |
Pioneer woman who was captured by Indians, but made a dramatic escape, killing several of her captors. |
1663–1728 |
Puritan minister in colonial New England who was a prolific writer and pamphleteer. |
1580–1622 |
New England Indian who helped the pilgrims their first year in Plymouth Colony. |
1581–1661 |
Indian chief who befriended the pilgrims and lived in peace with them for forty years in Massachusetts. |
1590–1653 |
First American Indian encountered by the Pilgrims at the Plymouth colony. |
1639–1676 |
Leader of the Wampanoags who led the first serious uprising against the white settlers in New England. |
French/Dutch colonies | |
1622–1698 |
Governor of New France from 1672 to 1698. Expanded fur trade, and fought with British. |
1712–1759 |
Military leader of New France during the Seven Year War; died at Battle of Quebec. |
1678–1747 |
Fended off a tribe of Indians attacking her for when she was only fourteen. |
1635–1660 |
Led a group of volunteers form Montreal to ambush a force of Iroquois. The entire force was killed to a man. |
1612–1672 |
Last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam. Responsible for many improvements during his administration. |
Pirates | |
1645–1701 |
Experience sailor who eventually became involved in piracy, and is said to have hid his treasure on Long Island. |
1680–1718 |
Notorious pirate of the Spanish Main who haunted the Coast of North Carolina and the West Indies. |
1688–1718 |
Respectable colonial merchant who decided to become a pirate. |
AD Year | Event |
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Southeast Colonies | |
1584 | First English expedition to Roanoake, Virginia is organized by Walter Raleigh. |
1607 | British colony at Jamestown is establishd by the Virginia Company of London. |
1608 | Pocahontas, daughter of chief Powhatan, saves the life of John Smith. |
1617 | Pocahontas marries John Rolfe and travels to England. |
1619 | "House of Burgesses", the first elected assembly in America is established in Virgina. |
1619 | First Africans slaves brought to the English colony at Jamestown. |
1622 | Indian massacre led by the Powhatan Confederacy kills 350 Jamestown colonists. |
1624 | Charles I makes Virginia a Crown colony but does not interfere in its operation. |
1642 | Royalist William Berkeley appointed governor of Virginia. |
1644 | Second Indian massacre of settlers leads to Powhatan Wars against Virginia tribes. |
1649 | Execution of Charles I sends a flood of Cavaliers to Virginia colonies. |
After first declaring for Charles II, Virginia colony submits to Cromwell's Commonwealth government. | |
Britain passes Navigation acts that outlaw colonial trade with foreign countries. | |
1663 | Charter for Carolina Province given to eight English noblemen who allow settlers from all over Europe. |
1676 | Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion because of the governor's failure to protect settlers from Indians. |
Tuscarora and Yamasee Wars decimate native tribes in the Carolina colony. | |
1716 | Expedition to western Virginia led by governor Spotswood opens up Shenandoah Valley to settlers. |
1718 | Notorious pirate Blackbeard is killed after blockading Charleston harbor. |
1729 | Carolina colony is split into North and South regions. |
1732 | James Oglethorpe founds Georgia as a penal colony for debtors and petty criminals. |
1750 | Oglethorpe's ban on slavery in Georgia colony is lifted. |
Northeast Colonies | |
1620 | First Pilgrims sail on the Mayflower, and settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts. |
William Bradford serves as governor of Plymouth colony, celebrates first Thankgsgiving. | |
1625 | Dutch settlers found city of New Amsterdam on what is now Manhattan Island |
1630 | John Winthrop arrives in Massachusetts; founds city of Boston on Charles River. |
1634 | First settlers sent by Catholic George Calvert to establish a Maryland colony. |
1636 | Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan leader, founded a Connecticut colony in the region of Hartford. |
1636 | Roger Williams a religious dissident from Boston, founds a colony in Rhode Island. |
1636 | Harvard University is founded as a seminary by cleryman John Harvard. |
1637 | Anne Hutchinson and her followers are exiled from Boston and settle in Rhode Island. |
Pequot War in Connecticut decimates the Pequot tribe. | |
1638 | New Haven colony in Connecticut is established by Puritan settlers without a charter. |
1638 | Colonists from Sweden begin to settle in the region of Delaware. |
1664 | Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam falls under the control of the British and becomes New York. |
King Philip's War is the most deadly conflict between Massachusetts settlers and New England tribes. | |
1681 | William Penn sends three shiploads of settlers to his colony in Pennsylvania |
1687 | Connecticut colonists hide their "Charter" in an Oak Tree, rather than surrender to a Royalist governor. |
1692 | The territory of Maine becomes part of Massachusetts colony. |
Salem Witch Trials result in the deaths of over twenty Puritan colonists. | |
Captain Kidd is chartered by the colony of New York to fight pirates, but resorts to piratery himself. | |
1723 | Benjamin Franklin arrives in Philadelphia to work as a typesetter |
Border Wars with France | |
King Williams War (a.k.a Williamite War in Ireland) | |
Queen Anne's War (a.k.a. War of the Spanish Succession) | |
1720 | Mississippi Bubble—Financial crisis in France caused by land speculation in Mississippi territory. |
King George's War (a.k.a. War of the Austrian Succession) | |
French Indian Wars (a.k.a Seven Year's War) |
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