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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1558 |
- 17 Nov 1558—24 Mar 1603: Elizabeth I. Ruler of England 1558-1603. House of Tudor: Daughter of Henry VIII, by Anne Boleyn.HistoricUK E1
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2 | 1562 |
- 1 Mar 1562—1598: A massacre of Huguenots at Vassy, France begins the French Wars of Religion which lasts until 1598.GoogleBooks W&W
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3 | 1577 |
- 13 Dec 1577: Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England in the Golden Hind on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World and explore the Pacific Ocean, returning 3 years later as the first British explorer to circumnavigate the earth.History.com LOC
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4 | 1579 |
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5 | 1580 |
- 26 Sep 1580: Sir Francis Drake returns to England completing his circumnavigation of the World.LoC History.com
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6 | 1582 |
- 4 Oct 1582: The Gregorian calendar is introduced. The next day is October 15th.Britannica UFL
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7 | 1583 |
- 5 Aug 1583: The first English colony in North America is chartered at Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert but no settlement is made there until 1604.Fordham HF.uk
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8 | 1587 |
- 8 Feb 1587: Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded.Scotsman TheMet
- 22 Jul 1587: An English colony is established on Roanoke Island off what is now the North Carolina coast.HM NCHist
- 18 Aug 1587: Virginia Dare is the first English child born in the Americas.OB NCMoH
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9 | 1588 |
- 29 Jul 1588: The Spanish Armada is defeated.CBS-PC tNI
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10 | 1590 |
- 18 Aug 1590: Governor John White returns to Roanoke colony and finds it abandoned.NPS tLC
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11 | 1602 |
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12 | 1603 |
- 1603: Martin Pring surveys the Maine coast and names the Fox Islands.NH
- 15 Mar 1603: Samuel de Champlain sets sail from France aboard the Bonne-Renommée on his first voyage to North America. MM&P OHT
- 24 Mar 1603—27 Mar 1625: James I Ruler of England 1603-1625. House of Stuart: Son of Mary, Queen of Scots, granddaughter of James IV and Margaret. First to call himself King of Great Britain. This became official with the Act of Union, 1707.HistoricUK
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13 | 1604 |
- 26 Jun 1604: The French settle on Saint Croix Island in what is now Maine.tCE NPS
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14 | 1605/6 |
- 31 Jan 1605/6: Guy Fawkes is executed for plotting against Parliament and James I of England.PSU UKNA
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15 | 1605 |
- 5 Nov 1605: The Gunpowder Plot is foiled. Guy Fawkes is captured, tortured and executed.UKParliament

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16 | 1606 |
- 10 Apr 1606: A charter is granted to the Virginia Company for settlement in America.Avalon tGLIoAH
- 19 Dec 1606: Three vessels - Susan Constant, of 100 tons, Capt Christopher Newport; Godspeed, of forty tons, Capt Bartholomew Gosnold; and Discovery, twenty tons, Capt John Ratcliffe - with 105 emigrants sail from the Downs, England destined for Virginia in the New World.LR MM
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17 | 1607 |
- 1607: La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís, Santa Fe, New Mexico, is founded.HL PBS
- 13 May 1607: Three ships arrive with the first settlers of Virginia Colony.NPS LoA
- 14 May 1607: Jamestown is founded.LoC HJ
- 19 Aug 1607: Popham Colony is established in New England. It survives for only a year.CSM MFS
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18 | 1608 |
- 7 Jan 1608: A fire breaks out in Jamestown destroying nearly the entire settlement.Google Books EVa
- 3 Jul 1608: Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.CT OHT
- 2 Oct 1608: Hans Lippershey demonstrates, and applies for a patent for, the first refracting telescope, the forerunner of the modern optical telescope.W I R E D SciHi
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19 | 1609 |
- 25 Aug 1609: Galileo demonstrates the telescope.Astronomy SA
- 11 Sep 1609: Henry Hudson enters New York Bay in search of the Northwest Passage.IA NYSA
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