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Apr 22, 1491
North America was undiscovered by the Europeans
Description: No whites were yet in America.
Significance: American civilizations were not yet destroyed. -
Apr 22, 1492
European discovery of the New World
Description: Chrisopher Columbus discovered the New World when trying to find the Indies.
Significance: Began the end of most Native societies and European exploitation of America. -
Apr 22, 1492
The Columbian Exchange
Description: Columbian Exchange began. It was a flow of goods between Europe and America.
Significance: Set the scene fpr the Triangular Trade and began the outspread of disease. -
Apr 22, 1493
Columbus Reports first voyage
Description: His reports of his findings of plenty in the New World and was reprinted in several languages.
Significance: It piqued European interests in the New World. -
Apr 22, 1512
Encomienda system established
Des: Spanish conquistadors received groups of natives. They were meant to Christianize them by they enslaved them.
Sig: Resulted in racial mixing and native death and african slaves. -
Apr 22, 1517
Rise of the Atlantic Slave Trade
DAES: Europeans brought African slaves over on slave ships to the Caribean and Central America.
Sig: Helped end native labor and brought over the first slaves as well as setting the scene for the larger scale it operated on later. -
Apr 22, 1550
Tobacco Arrives in Europe
Des: The Europeans discovered the tobacco from teh New World and were hooked.
Sig: English settlers found a successful crop to grow when the arrived in the New World. (provided a motive) -
Jamestown, VA founded
Des: First english colonists settled in this colony in America.
Sig: Was the first of many English settlements that eventually became the United States. -
Africans in the New World
Des: The first Africans arrived in English colonies via Dutch ships.
Sig; This began the long history of African slavery in the American English colonies. -
The pilgrims landed
Des: The pilgrims landed in New England and created the Plymouth colony.
Sig: They created a significant colony that formed mold for future colonies. -
Dutch colonization
Des; The Dutch colonized New Amsterdam (present-Day New York, NewJersey, Connecticut, and Delaware.)
Sig: Created a multi religious, multiethnic space. -
Pueblo Revolt
Des: The natives in present-day Mexico revolted against their spanish oppressors.
Sig: This forced the Spainards out of the area and made them be more tolerant towards natives in the future. -
New Orleans formed
Des: France created a map of the Americas.
Sig: This was the first map that included Texas. -
The Middle Passage
Des: The path used to bring slaves over
Sig: Four-fifths of the African slaves in America came from the Middle Passage. -
The French and Indian War
Des: THis was a war fought in the Americas between the French and English.
Sig: This was the end of salutary negelct and marked the beginning of the era that later came to be known as the American Revolution. -
Proclamtion of 1763
Des: A law made by Britian and imposed on American colonists statinh yhey could not settle past the Appalachian mountains.
Sig: This began the discontent with Britian for american colonists which eventually culminated in the Revoltionary War. -
The Sugar Act passed
Des: Britian imposed a tax on luxury items such as foreign wine, sugar, coffee, and indigo dye.
Sig: This continued the tensoin between colonists and Britian. -
The Stamp Act
Des: The Stamp Act was a British imposed tax that made the colonists pay for paper goods such as cards or newspapers and the proof that they paid was the stamp affixed to the good.
Sig: This continued the tensions growing between the colonists and their motherland and moved them closer to war. -
Colonists lash out against the Stamp Act
Des: The colonsits lash out against the stamp act as it affected not only the upper class as the sugar act did but also the lower and middle classes as everyone needed paper. People attacked tax collectors and boycotted British goods.
Sig: This was the first act against the mother country from the colonists and it was aimed directly at britian which forced them into action. -
British troops arrive in Boston
DES: These troops arrived directly as a result of the revolts against the Stamp and Sugar Acts.
Sig: This ended up resulting in the futher agitation of colonists, future acts, and the progression of the American revolution. -
The Boston Massacre
Des: This was an event that was spurred by the rioting of some american colonists and the agitation of the troops. Accounts vary greatly but it ended in death.
Sig: This gave a lot of people previously on the fence about the revolution a good reason to jump on board. -
Thomas Jefferson elected
Des: Jefferson was voted into office by the house of representatives after being his predecessor's vp.
sig: This was the nation's third president and showed the world that yet again this was a real nation and there can be peaceful transitions between presidents. -
Haitian Revolution ends with freedom from France
Des: This slave revolt ended in the former sslave's freedom from their oppresor.
Sig: Becuase this was the largest slave revolt in the Western Hemisphere, it caused a lot of disturbance in the US. The Americans feared a revolt on thier own hands. -
The louisiana purchase
Des: The Spainards had secretly ceded the stretch of land to the west of the mississippi river to france who immediately cut americans out of their ports and american negotiators bought the land despite Thomas Jefferson's political views prior to being elected.
Sig: This expanded the united states by a significant amount. It increased the US in power and size and limited the amount of power france had on the North American continent. -
The Barbary Pirate Wars
Des: These were (maritime) wars with various North African Kingdoms that resulted in the seizure of an american ship and ship raids.
Sig: This was the first time america flexed it's muscles and showed the world that it could hold it's own. -
Foreign Trade embargo
Des: In an attempt to halp the american colony n embargo on foreign trade was passed.
Sig: It ended up hurting thr american economy more than anyone else and resulted in widespread unemployment and smuggling. -
Congress ends the slave trade
Des: After publicity on the cruel treatment of slaves, amercian congress decided to end the slave trade.
Sig: This meant no more slave ships coming over from africa. -
American Expansion began
Des: Texas was admitted into the Union as a state..
Sig: This was used as a justification for the Mexican-American War. -
Mexican-American War began
Des: After president polk sent a united states reoresentative to mexico in order to buy texas and parts of alifornia, mexican reps refused to meet with the american reps. Polk moved us troops into the disputed areas and fighting began.
Sig: This was a war specifically over america expanding and subsequently getting more powerful which was happening. -
The treaty of guadalupe hidalgo
des: This treaty ended th Mexican-American War.
Sig The US acquired: California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. -
Lilcoln elected
des: Abraham Lincoln is elected as the 16th american president,
Sig: He is president as the country erupts into the civil war. -
Succesion began
Des: South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
Sig: This resulted in more states leaving the union, eventually forming the CSA. -
Purchase of Alaska
Des: America purchased Alaska from Russia.
SSig: While at the time it was called Seaward's Folly... it later was found to have abundant natural resources. -
Transcontinental railroad completed
Des: The two sides of the transcontinential railroad finally met to form the entirety of the project.
Sig: This was a project that used a lot of immigrant help especially from asia and europe. Once it was finished it allowed people and goods to move east to west or vice versa easily. -
Standard oil formed
Des: Rockefeller's oil company formed, creating an american powerhous.
sig: Since this company owned 90 percent of the american oil at the time it was a very profitable company. It created jobs for both natives and immigrants and propelled at least some of the upperclass into more wealth which projected a certain image of power to the rest of the world. -
Women in Wyoming vote
Des: The first women in america to gain the right to vote were the women in the Whyoming territory.
sig: This was an amazing feat for the time as women in most parts of the world had very few rights, socially or politically. -
Immigration Increases
Des: The rate at which ppeople immigrated to the US (primarily thought Ellis Island in New York by way of western europe) surged during this time.
Sig: This created the melting pot america is today and created stronger ties between america and other countries. -
Spanish-American War
Des: The Cubans were fighting for independence from Spain and the public opinion was in favor of the cubans. When a us ship was blown up by a spanish mine, it further inflamed the public against spain and congress declared war.
Sig: This was a war in which america was defending itself and projected power to forign nations. -
Phillipine-American War
Des:When the philipines declared independence and created the first republic in Asia was created and pressure to annex the Phillipines was strong on President McKinley. Soon fighting between the two erupted and a war raged on.
Sig:This was meant to be a short conflict however over 70,000 people fought in the Phillipines. This conditioned many american soldiers to the harsh ways of Guerilla warfare. -
Annexation of countries by america
Des:Spain cede several countries to america. These countries included Guam, the Phillipines, and Puerto Rico.
Sig: The fighitng in the phillipines officially stopped however conflict still continued, and it spread the United State's power across the globe. -
Open Door policy
Des: As european powers began to trade with China, the Americans demanded that they also be eligible for trade with china out of fear of exclusion and subsequently, a disadvantage.
Sig: This opened up trade in China for the Americans and they were able to expand their economic reach. -
Start of construction on the Panama Canal
Des: Americans took over this project after the French. This canal took ten years and a lot of funds to build.
Sig: This created a lot of jobs for americans however a lot of the workers on this project died either by yellow fever or other common causes. -
Roosevelt Corollary
Des: President Theodore Roosevelt announced the Roosevelt Corollary.
Sig: This extended the Monroe Doctrine and gave america the right to police the caribbean. -
Pear Harbor Bombing
Des: The Japanese (already involved in WWII) bombed the Pearl Harbor Navy base in Hawaii.
Sig: This caused Congress to declare War the very next day. -
Declaration of War
Des: Congress declared war on Japan after the Pearl Harbor Attacks.
Sig: This changed Americas isolationism and brought them into the second world war, -
Containment
Des: A US representative stationed in Moscow sent his "long telegram" to Washington and stated that a policy of containment in regards to the soviet union and communism would be the best route.
Sig: This influenced a lot of american actions throughout the cold war and went hand in hand with the domino theory. This created the means for which america entered the Korean and Vietnam wars. -
The Iron curtain
Des: On this day, Winston Churchill made his speech declaring that an "Iron Curtain" had descended upon Europe.
Sig: This illuminated exactly how isolated the two types of philosphy (communism and democracy) were and exactly how at odds they were. This helped contribute to the Cold War. -
The Truman Doctrine
Des: The president (Truman) announced his plan to keep communism at bay.
Sig: This was a policy change to support containment. -
Marshall Plan
Des: This was a plan for Americ to fund ten million to the economically unstable countries in europe in order to prevent communism from spreading,
Sig: This was a major monetary plan that supported containment. -
Berlin airlift bbegan
Des: Since the USSR cut Berlin off fromt he rest of the world, the us and britian airdropped food into east berlin. -
SDI
Des: Also known as Star Wars, the Strategic Defense Initiative was a prgram that created satellite weapns to shoot down incoming missles.
Sig: This helped propel the US in the space race. -
Invasion of Grenada
Des: US Marines invaded Grenada in order to rescue 800 American students .
Sig: This was partially motivated becuase the people holding the students hostage were communists. -
Challenger disaster
Des: The challenger Space shuttle blew up after lift off killing all 7 crew members.
Sig: This was not only a tragedy but also a setback in the space race. -
Fall of the berlin wall
Des: The physical wall dividing the earstern and western halves of Berlin came down.
Sig: symbolized the end of the cold war. -
Persian Gulf War
Des: The Iraqis invaded Kuwait. President Bush ste a dealine for them to leave. They did not. American bombings began.
Sig: This ushedred in a new era. One of the US being involved heavily in the Middle East's affairs. -
World Wide Web goes public.
"WWW" became a thing for everyone.
Sig: This was an american innovation and it now connects the world. -
Societ Union Collapses
Des: Gorbachev resigned and the USSR fell.
Sig: This allowed a new form of government to come into power,
