| 1524 | | 17 Jan:
Giovanni da Verrazanno sets sail from Madeira, Portugal to explore North America - from North Carolina north to Newfoundland.MM&P AJ |
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| 1602 | |
| | 28 May:
Bartholomew Gosnold establishes a settlement at Cuttyhunk Island.HoMV GoogleBooks |
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| 1603 | |
| 1604 | | 26 Jun:
The French settle on Saint Croix Island in what is now Maine.tCE NPS |
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| 1607 | | 19 Aug:
Popham Colony is established in New England. It survives for only a year.CSM MFS |
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| 1614 | | 11 Oct:
Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General of the Dutch Republic for exclusive trading rights in the Nieuw-Nederland colony.SCW ND-Coins |
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| 1620 | |
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| 1621 | |
| 1623/4 | |
| 1626 | |
| 1630 | |
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| 1630/1 | |
| 1631 | |
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| 1632 | |
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| 1635 | | 23 Apr:
Boston Latin School, the oldest school in America, is founded.BLS tBLS |
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| | 25 Aug:
The Great Colonial Hurricane plows through New England destroying anything in its path.NEHS HS |
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| 1636 | |
Roger Williams establishes Providence Plantation.PubBook |
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| 1637 | | 1 May:
General Court is convened in Hartford and war is declared against the Pequots.SCW ICT |
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| | 26 May:
Colonists attack and destroy the Pequot village at Misistuck (Mystic).ZEP ICT |
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| 1638 | |
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| 1638/39 | |
| 1642 | |
| 1643 | |
| 1647 | |
| 1648 | |
| | 18 Oct:
The "Shoomakers of Boston" along with the coopers, form the first labor organization in America.jstor IA |
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| 1652 | |
| 1656 | |
| 1658 | |
| 1660 | |
| 1663 | |
| 1665 | |
| 1675 | |
| 1676 | |
| 1684 | |
| 1687 | |
| 1689 | |
| | 17 May:
King William's War; England declares war on France which lasts until the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick.HoMA MB |
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| 1690 | |
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| 1691 | |
| 1692 | |
| | 29 Feb:
The first witchcraft accusations take place and arrest warrants are issued for Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.LoA WSU |
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| 1693 | |
| 1697 | | 20 Sep:
The Treaty of Ryswick settles the Nine Years War and ends hostilities in America, although that wouldn't happen for another two months.Jacobite theMet |
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| 1702 | |
| 1704 | |
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| 1713 | | 11 Apr:
The Treaty of Utrecht is signed ending the War of the Spanish Succession, also known as Queen Anne's War in North America.CHNC CBC |
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| 1715 | |
| 1716 | |
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| 1717 | | 27 Feb:
A series of four successive snowstorms create the Great Snow of 1717.NEHS NWS |
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| 1719 | | 11 Dec:
The first recorded sighting of the aurora borealis in North America occurs in New England.DE tOFA |
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| 1721 | | 26 Jun:
During a smallpox outbreak in Boston, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston begins inoculating patients beginning with his own son.MassMoments CW |
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| 1722 | |
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| 1744 | |
| 1752 | | 14 Sep:
The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar.CSL CalWiz |
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| 1755 | |
| 1758 | | 27 Jul:
British and colonial forces defeat French and Canadian forces at the Battle of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia.BB CTHist |
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| 1760 | | 20 Mar:
A "Great Fire" begins at a tavern in Boston and destroys about 350 homes, shops and warehouses by the time it is over.MassMoments BFHS |
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| 1763 | |
| 1764 | | 29 Oct:
The Connecticut Courant, today's Hartford Courant and the nation's oldest newspaper in continuous publication, prints its first issue.LoC Courant |
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| 1765 | | 22 Mar:
The Stamp Act is passed by the British Parliament - a tax imposed on American colonists on any printed paper.GLIoAH Avalon |
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| | 1 Nov:
The Stamp Act goes into effect - a tax on the Colonies to fund the British Military in America.CC SAH |
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| 1770 | | 5 Mar:
The Boston Massacre. British troops kill five colonists.LoC NPS |
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| 1772 | | 9 Jun:
The British customs schooner Gaspée runs aground in Narragansett Bay and is burned by the Rhode Island colonists.Gaspee.org WH |
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| 1773 | |
| 1774 | |
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| 1775 | |
| | 18 Apr:
Paul Revere rides out to warn the colonists that the British troops were on the march.PRH LoC |
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| | 19 Apr:
The first battles of the American Revolution. British troops fight American Minutemen at Lexington, killing eight. The British then move to Concord where they again engage the colonials. By the end of the battle, 93 colonists are dead. The British, having lost 273, retreat to Boston.LoC NPS |
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| 1776 | | 24 Jan:
After several months, the cannons captured at Fort Ticonderoga make it to Boston.APC AHC |
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| | 4 Jul:
The United States is founded when the Second Continental Congress declares its independence from Great Britain.USHistory USNA |
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| | 7 Sep:
David Bushnell's invention, American Turtle, the first combat submarine, is deployed against the H.M.S. Eagle in New York harbor.USSNautilus Archaeology |
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| | 16 Sep:
George Washington gets his first victory in the Battle of Harlem Heights.MtVernon RW |
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| | 22 Sep:
Nathan Hale is executed by the British for spying.tAW LoC |
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| 1777 | | 15 Jan:
New Connecticut declares its independence from Great Britain and the colony of New York. The name is changed to Vermont in June of that year.History.com UND |
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| | 26 Apr:
Major General William Tryon, royal governor of New York, and 2000 British troops attack and destroy Danbury, Connecticut.DM ABT |
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| 1779 | |
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| 1780 | | 4 May:
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences is founded.TiS AAoA&S |
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| | 19 May:
Smoke from forest fires cause The Dark Day of 1780.NEHS HI |
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| | 9 Oct:
An expedition sets off from Harvard College to observe a solar eclipse from Penobscot Bay in Maine which is still controlled by Britain.USNA JSTOR |
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| 1781 | |
| 1783 | |
| 1788 | |
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| 1790 | |
New England
