| 1200s - 1400s | Genoa and Venice develop plantation slavery in Eastern Europe and Middle East |
|---|---|
| 1400s | Portugal becomes involved in slavery in Africa and Atlantic islands |
| 1501 | First slaves carried from Africa to the Americas. |
| Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch all become involved with Indian slavery and the African slave trade during the sixteenth-century | |
1517 |
Martin Luther posts Ninety-Five Theses on Wittenburg Church, inaugurating the Protestant Reformation. |
| 1565 | St. Augustine (Florida) colonized by Spanish |
| 1603 | James I becomes King of England. |
| 1607 | Virginia Company founds Jamestown. |
| 1608 | |
| John Smith, True Relation | |
| 1609 | Henry Hudson sails into Hudson River valley. |
| Virginia receives sea-to-sea charter. | |
| Santa Fe (New Mexico) colony established by Spanish | |
| 1613–1614 | John Rolfe grows tobacco, marries Pocahontas. |
| 1616-1619 | Epidemic devastates native Algonquian populations of New England |
| 1619 | Jamestown makes transition from outpost to settlement when: |
| Virginia House of Burgesses meets for first time. | |
| Women are transported to Virginia to make wives for former tenants. | |
| First documented arrival of Africans in Virginia. | |
| 1620 | Pilgrims land at Plymouth in the Mayflower |
| 1623 | Richard Frethorne, Letter to his Parents |
| 1624 | New Amsterdam (New York City) established by Dutch |
| 1629 | Massachusetts Bay Colony established by English |
John Winthrop, “Reasons to be considered for justifying....” |
|
| 1630 | John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” |
| 1634 | Maryland established by English |
| Virginia establishes county system, now a colony rather settlement, land English rather than Indian | |
| 1636-38 | Unrest in New England: Roger Williams exiled, founds Rhode Island; other Puritan leaders to Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut; Pequot War; Antinomian Controversy & Ann Hutchison |
| 1638 | New Sweden (Wilmington, Delaware) established by Swedish |
| 1640s | The sugar revolution and the rise of racial slavery in Barbados. |
| English Civil War | |
| 1642 | William Bradford, Journal |
| 1643 | Virginia laws of servitude and slavery |
| 1650s | England is a "Common Wealth" |
| 300 slaves in Virginia | |
| 1660–1688 | Restoration era / Chartering of "Restoration Colonies" of Carolina, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. |
| 1660 | Charles II becomes King of England. |
| 1660s | Royal African Company established. |
| 1672 | Thomas Shephard, letter to his son at college |
| 1675 | Metacom’s (King Philip’s) War begins in New England. Lords of Trade created. |
| 1676 | Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia |
| 1680s | Racial slavery replaces indentured servitude as basic labor structure in the Chesapeake (tobacco) |
| 1684 | Increase Mather, An Arrow Against Profane and Promiscuous Dancing |
| 1685 | James the II becomes King of England |
| 1688 | Glorious Revolution in England |
| 1690s | Racial slavery replaces indentured servitude as basic labor structure in the Carolinas (rice) |
| 1692 | Salem Witch Trials |
| 1700 | 13,000 slaves in Virginia |
| 1703 | Nicholas Noyes, “Reasons against Wearing of Periwiggs” (ca. 1703) |
| 1705 | Virginia adopts comprehensive slave code. |
| Robert Beverley, The History and Present State of Virginia | |
| 1709-1712 | William Byrd Diary, selections |