US History timeline & concept chart: 10th-16th centuries pre-colonial Native Americans to early North American colonization (Spanish, French, Dutch)

US History timeline & concept chart: early North American colonization

article under construction

Objective:

• US History timeline & concept chart: periods, events & themes
• US History
• AP United States History

Main page

• US History timeline & concept chart: periods, events & themes main page

Previous timelines:

• n/a

Next timelines:

• US History timeline & concept chart: American colonies 17th & mid-18th centuries
• US History timeline & concept chart: French-Indian War to the American Revolution
• US History timeline & concept chart: U.S. History Decade-by-decade timeline, 1890s-1900

See also:

• << to do

Unit BIG IDEAS

Native American economies

• hunting / gathering
• farming
• trade

Colonial economies & motives

• Spanish/ Portuguese
  • resources extraction
    • Native American slave labor
    • African slave labor
  • Evangelism / religion

• Dutch/French/English:
  • trade

Colonial settlement & growth patterns

• Spanish
  • mixed races / caste system
    • origin / racial composition
    • Peninsulares = Spanish born in Spain
    • Criolles = Spanish born in colonies
    • Mestizos = mixed Spanish/Native American
    • Native American
• English colonial population growth
  • English
    • farming settlements
    • frontier
• French settlement
  • mixed races

Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples overview

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
PERIOD / TIMELINE +12,500-8,000 BC Lithic period 8,000-1,000 BC Archaic period 1,000 BC -1492 AD: Post-archaic period 1492+ Post-Columbian	linguistic and cultural areas tribal alliances culture architecture Pueblo adobe houses Iroquois "longhouses" Mound builders land use hunting (extensive forests) trade (waterways) farming (localized) communal ownership	BIG IDEAS 12,500+ - 8,000 BC Lithic period post-glacial hunters and gathers mega-fauna (large mammal) hunting 8,000-1,000 BC Archaic period spread and cultural diversification across North America 1,000 BC -1492 AD: Post-archaic period 1000 BCE to 1000 AD Woodland period cultural & population growth trade & other exchange mound building includes Hopewell tradition various cultures that thrived along Ohio Valley rivers and were interconnected by trade 800-1600 AD Mississippian period and Mississippian Culture maize production extensive mound building see [List of archaeological periods (North America) (wikipedia)] Pre-contact: distribution of North American language families, including northern Mexico (wikipedia) Native America tribal alliances were language-based European entry to Americas changed those alliances DETAILS Native North American linguistic areas Northeast Algonquian Iroquoian Southeast and Gulf region Southeastern woodlands Midwest Plains Linguistic Ara Pueblo Western Northern California Northwest Coast Pacific Northwest Plateau source Linguistic areas of the Americas (wikipedia) Hopewell culture Mississippi culture Reciprocity Native American concept of sharing of land, resources, and labor was part of cultural misunderstanding between European and native populations over land and object ownership

Age of Exploration and Columbian Exchange

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1492 Columbus lands in Caribbean 1497 British explore North American coast 1523-1534 French expeditions to Canada 1524 Verrazano expedition on behalf of France 1540 Spanish expeditions into modern U.S. territory by Coronado (Southwest) & de Soto Southeast) 1541 Cartier expedition to the St. Lawrence River 1565 Spanish establish St. Augustine, Florida 1588 England defeats Spanish Armada 1608 French explorer Champlain founds Quebec 1609 Sante Fe founded by Spanish	political and economic background collapse of Byzantium, 1453 (Christian) to Ottomans (Muslim) Italian merchants cut off from previous trade networks Christian conquest of Spain (reconquista) European motives trade, religion, political competition primary motive = direct access to South and East Asian markets Evangelism (spread Christianity) British John Cabot expedition 1497 several explorations starting 1497, abandoned due to domestic British situations Cabot did not find minerals or route to China	BIG IDEAS European motives in trade and religion Columbian Exchange impacts French expansion into St. Lawrence waterway, Great Lakes region and Mississippi River Spanish missions in modern Texas DETAILS Christopher Columbus (Spanish expedition) Columbus was convinced he could reach China and India via a westward trajectory across the Atlantic Ocean Spain finally agreed to sponsor Columbus only after the Portuguese discovered a viable route to India circumnavigating Africa Portuguese had figured out the Atlantic route after developing the “volta da mar” = circular route following winds and currents to and from Portugal = led Portuguese boats further west, leading to their discoveries of the Canary Islands, the Azores, and, eventually, Brazil ex. Brazil became a Portuguese colony and today Portuguese is the national language while Columbus never admitted he had not found route to East Asia, the Spanish "discovery" of the Americas was ultimately understood by America Vespucci for whom the “Americas” is named = Florentine explorer who recognized that Columbus had not reached the islands east of India and China (the “the Indies”) and had instead discovered a new continent thus “West Indies” for Caribbean islands and the term “Indian” for the indigenous peoples of the Americas John Cabot (British expedition) after news of Columbus’ expeditions, the British organized an exploration headed by John Cabot = Venetian, Italy, navigator in 1497 became the first European to explore the North American coast it is possible that Columbus had, prior to his 1492 expedition, visited Iceland, Greenland or, possibly, Canada in 1477, as he is thought to have visited Bristol, England, which maintained trade with Iceland. Cabot sailed from Bristol, so he used the knowledge of Bristol mariners for his attempt to by-pass the Americas and find a western route to Asia Cabot’s explorations laid the basis for subsequent British and French competition for control of modern Canada, especially Newfoundland, Quebec and the Great Lakes regions. Giovanni de Verrazzano (French expedition) In 1523, the Florentine (Italy) navigator, Verrazzano, led an expedition on behalf of France to find a westward Atlantic route to India. Verrazzano explored the North American coast from the Carolines to modern-day New York. the “Verrazzano Bridge” in New York City is named in his honor. Map of North America in 1702 showing forts, towns and (in solid colors) areas occupied by European settlements Jacques Cartier (French expedition) In 1534, Jacques Cartier led the first French expedition to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River subsequent French expeditions further explored the St. Lawrence River waterways and established trade relations with Native Americans, especially the Iroquois Spanish expeditions Gulf and Western U.S. 1540 Spanish expeditions into modern U.S. territory by Coronado (Southwest) & de Soto (Southeast) Spanish colonize American Southwest but not the Southeast primary motive in settling in modern Texas is to block French expansion across Gulf region do not generally populate either region 1540-1600 French colonization slows French religious wars halt French colonization of the North America 1600 French interest in North America for fur trade 1605 Samuel de Champolain establishes French colon ig Acadia (now Nova Scotia) 1608 founds Quebec, capital of New France couriers de bois integrated with Native Americans explored upper Midwest 1663 New France declared official French colony by Louis XIV France incentives migration to New France, sending women to marry men already there, providing financial rewards for having children to contrast with British colonial push/pull factors late 1600s migration of French Huegenots (protestants) 1682 La Salle exploration of Mississippi River (called "big river" by Algonquians) establishes connection of New France to Gulf of Mexico French focus on Mississippi River trade, establishing trade posts in Louisiana

post-Columbian exchange changes

• trade, especially fur trade
• technological and economic exchange changed intra-tribal power dynamics, including:
• iron tools and weapons, guns, horses
  • colonial and European trade and currencies/ value systems
• tribal leverage of colonial contacts for competition & expansion

|| BIG IDEAS

Map of the New York tribes before European arrival:  Iroquoian tribes   Algonquian tribes

• Northeastern Native American tribal alliances
  • Iroquois tribes
    • located west and south of the St. Lawrence River
    • generally aligned with the British
  • Algonquin tribes

Pre-contact distribution of Algonquian languages

• • • generally aligned with the French
    • located east and north of the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes

DETAILS

• Iroquois League, established c. 1450 (prior to Columbus), lasted to 1660
  • confederacy of Iroquois speaking tribes: Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca
  • the most powerful of Indian alliances
  • Iroquois = French name given to the tribes
  • to the Iroquois, their name was "Haudenosaunee" for "People of the Longhouse"
  • the League was known to the English as Five Nations
    • later Six Nations after Tuscarora joined in 1722)
  • NOTE: “nation” or “clans” = better descriptor than “tribes” but collections of tribes who share certain commonalities, viz location, language, leadership, conquest, adoption
  • the League negotiated w/ English, maintained independence
  • opposed to the Algonquian, which were aligned w/ French, but some Iroquois settled in French held territory and aligned w/ them
    • was also opposed to the Iroquois-speaking Huron tribes
  • to control the Beaver trade, the Iroquois League sought:
    • to control the St. Lawrence River system & lower Great Lakes
    • to control the Ohio Valley
  • Iroquois succeeded in controlling Ohio valley by 1670
    • and pushed other tribes further west, such as the Lakotas and the Shawnee
  • Iroquois expansion also included western Maryland and Virginia
• Wabanaki Confederacy, 1680s
  • alliance of four main and ten other Algonquian tribes in Acadia
    • Acadia =New France province in modern Maine
  • organized to oppose New England encroachment on lands above settled boundary on the Kennebec River in modern Maine
  • 'Wabanaki means " "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner"

|- |}

Post-Columbian indigenous peoples overview

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
PERIOD / TIMELINE 1492+ Post-Columbian	linguistic and cultural areas tribal alliances culture architecture Pueblo adobe houses Iroquois "longhouses" Mound builders land use hunting (extensive forests) trade (waterways) farming (localized) communal ownership	BIG IDEAS European entry to Americas changed Indian alliances, cultures, economies & populations DETAILS Native North American linguistic areas Northeast Algonquian Iroquoian Southeast and Gulf region Southeastern woodlands Midwest Plains Linguistic Ara Pueblo Western Northern California Northwest Coast Pacific Northwest Plateau source Linguistic areas of the Americas (wikipedia) Hopewell culture Mississippi culture Reciprocity Native American concept of sharing of land, resources, and labor was part of cultural misunderstanding between European and native populations over land and object ownership

Post-Columbian Eastern Native American tribes overview

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1450-1660 Iroquois League 1680s Wabanaki Confederacy	Iroquois League or Confederacy preceded European presence in North America originally located south of the Great Lakes empowered by and expanded via European fur trade and weapons

Spanish colonization in North America

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1540 Spanish entry to “Pueblo” territories (southwest: NM, AZ) 1565 First North Amer. east coast colony (St. Augustine, FL) 1598 Spanish invasion of Pueblo lands 1680 Pueblo Revolt	Encomienda labor / land for conquistadors = abusive of Native Americans De Las Casas: Spanish priest wrote about cruelties v. Indians Sepulveda: Spanish humanist philosopher justified enslavement of Indians New Laws Spanish reforms for better treatment of Indians Pueblo Revolt Rebellion by Indians over maltreatment; led to New Laws reforms Asiento deal for slave trade between Spanish and & nations (“assent")	BIG IDEAS Spanish extraction & agriculture: need for labor Spanish goal to convert natives to Christianity Spanish "casta" system of ethnic and racial social/ political heirarchies Spanish abuses & reforms after native revolts & priestly criticism Development of slave trade DETAILS Casta system (caste) Peninsulares = Spanish born in Spain (highest status) Criolles = Spanish born in colonies (high status) Mestizos = mixed Spanish/Native American (moderate status) Indios Native American birth (low status but with certain legal protections) Mulatos = mixed Spanish and African ancestry; (low status) Zambos = mixed African and indigenous ancestry (low status) Encomienda, 1490s-1542 from Spanish encomendar “to entrust” land & labor grant to Spanish conquerors encomendero = holder of the land/labor grant were slave-labor mines or plantations for non-Christians Used across Spanish empire, in Morocco, Philippines, Americas Rewarded conquistadores w/ encomiendas, so incentive to conquer Designed to convert natives Abolished 1542, ended slave labor but made natives Spanish subjects Replaced by “repartimiento” system (“reparto” for “distribution” of workers) which regulated forced labor, technically no longer slavery, had some pay but not always, still forced, required native communities to contribute workers as a form of as tribute to Spanish king Bartolomé de las Casas Dominican priest/friar: In 1542: wrote about Spanish abuses in “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” Used accounts of Antonio de Montesinos who had denounced cruelty in 1511 sermon >> led to “Black Legend” = series of anti-Spanish/ anti-Catholic propaganda, used as political weapons to denounce Spain, full of exaggerations and lies Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, 1489-1574 Spanish humanist philosopher, proponent of Spanish conquest of Indians Was a court advisor to Spanish King Wrote “On Just Causes for War Against the Indians” (1544) Justified slavery of Indians based on Aristotelian (Aristotle) logic as inferior to Spaniards Saw natives as pre-civilization, no rights, no property, no laws Opposed Las Casas who wanted better treatment of Indians Source: https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/juan-gin%C3%A9s-de-sep%C3%BAlveda New Laws/Laws of 1542 Preceded by Laws of Burgos of 1512, which were supposed to protect Natives, but were ignored Issued by Spanish King Charles I (who was also Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) Reforms, following Pueblo Revolt Ended encomienda system Outlawed hereditary rule of encomiendas Revolt by encomederos leaders, killed Spanish Viceroy of Peru who enforced the New Laws Set more direct rule by Spanish king enforced prior policies and forced the issue of ending encomienda system Pueblo Revolt (1680) Pueblo was Spanish term for Indian settlements in modern NM and AZ Prior Spanish treatment of native Indians “Acoma Massacre,” retaliation for a small revolt; Spanish cut off a foot of all men over 25 Into 1600s, Spanish control, outlawed Indian religious practices, forced conversion to Christianity, required tribute via corn and textiles 1670s: drought, reduced agricultural output, attacks by Apaches, destabilization; Spanish clamped down, tried to contain discontent; persecuted Indian medicine men, including Papé, who was released after Pueblo objections 1680, Papé (also Popay) led revolt, killed 400 Spanish, pushed out Spanish Protest over resentment over Spanish policies, enforced Christianity, forced labor, cattle management, mining Papé led campaign to remove Spanish/Christian influence 1692 Spanish put down revolt (100s killed), but led to end of forced labor and religion Asiento, 1500s-1700s = “Asiento de Negros” Asiento = “contract” = agreement between Britain and Spain to set agreements for slave trade between Africa and Spanish colonies in Americas was source or revenue for Spanish crown Spain used the asiento to give or take back rights to slave trade to its colonies Spanish social heirarchy peninsulares = born in Spain, held highest positions criolles = born in New World of Spanish parents Mestizos = mixed Spanish and Native American parentage

French North American colonization

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1534 Jacques Cartier expedition explores to Newfoundland and St. Lawrence River 1541 Cap-Rouge: first French settlement at modern day Quebec City (fails) 1608 Samuel de Champlain explores Great Lakes and establishes Quebec 1701 Detroit settlement by Antoine de la Moth Cadillac 1718 New Orleans established 1763 Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years War / French- Indian War; France cedes all territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain	New France 1600s Beaver Wars	BIG IDEAS early French settlements along North American East coast fail later settlements endure, but populations remain low settlements include in modern Canada, Florida Coast and Gulf of Mexico (modern Alabama and Louisiana) lack of migration from France = low populations French North American primary objective = fur trade less competition with Native Americans over land and land use "couriers du bois" = French sent to explore, learn from and trade with native tribes frequent inter-marriages between French men and Native American women Beaver Wars French and Algonquin allies against Iroquois League Iroquois armed by the Dutch and English Iroquois largely successful in controlling Ohio valley by 1670 over control of fur trade DETAILS New France regions Acadia on the Atlantic coast Canada along the Saint Lawrence River and up to the Great Lakes Louisiana from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, along the Mississippi River as of 1689 there were only 14,000 French in New France however, they were politically unified disproportionate number of adult males with military backgrounds had strong relationships Native American allies and developed effective military techniques with them for French exploration of the Great Lakes region, see The French explorers (msu.edu) and National Park Service - Explorers and Settlers (Historical Background) (nps.gov) (includes exploration down the Mississippi River) Jesuit presence as in South America, the Jesuit (Catholic order, "Society of Jesus") presence was largely for evangelization of native peoples; however, while seeking their conversion, the Jesuits did not seek to Europeanize the Native Americans; instead they sought to integrate Christianity within indigenous culture and traditions; this also led the Jesuits to act on genuine concern for the welfare of the people they were trying to convert their approach is called the "middle ground" between colonial attempts to conquer and seek labor and land; they did not always have good relations with the tribes they met, but in modern Canada, there is a legacy of Catholic Native Americans that still exists.

Dutch North American colonization

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1602 Dutch East India Company formed to explore North American to find passage to Asia 1607/7 Henry Hudson makes claims for Netherlands 1610/11 he makes claims for England 1623 New Netherland founded, with settlements in modern Delaware and New Jersey 1626 Dutch East India Company purchases Manhattan Island from Lenape tribe; New Amsterdam established (modern NYC) 1664 British seize New Amsterdam and rename it New York	subsection 1 Major Events here subsection 2 Major Events here	BIG IDEAS Dutch explorations and settlements in North American were focused on 1) finding passageway to Asia; and 2) trade with Native Americans and the Caribbean DETAILS details here

Slavery origins in Americas

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
	transatlantic slave trade "triangular trade " Spanish, Dutch, and French slave trade	BIG IDEAS DETAILS West-African slave trade dates back to the ancient world and up to the Age of Discovery was dominated by Islamic trans-Sahara traders. North and West-African slavery existed in the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) since the Roman period Portuguese traders established the first slave trade to the Atlantic Islands, especially to the Canary Islands (Atlantic) and Cape Verde (Africa) and upon which they created the most profitable sugar production in the world for a time With their discovery and colonization of Brazil, Portuguese slave trade extended to the Americas in 1526. With growth of Spanish colonization and development of extraction economies, especially of sugar and its by-products, molasses and rum, Spanish, Dutch, French and English merchants engaged in the transatlantic African slave trade. Spanish enslavement of indigenous Americans were insufficient to provide sufficient labor, due primarily to the diseases introduced by the Spanish that devastated Native American populations, especially in the Caribbean Many (and not all) African coastal kingdoms sold slaves to the Europeans, who generally did not venture inland to secure the slaves, which the African coastal powers provided for them. Intra-African slave trade was ethnic-based and a higher percentage of slaves died along inland slave routes than on transatlantic shipments (80% mortality rate by some estimates) Middle Passage refers to the transatlantic shipment of slaves Middle Passage mortality rate is estimated at 12.5% or 2.2 million people estimated 15.3 million people were sent to the Americas as slaves estimated 33% of slaves sent to “seasoning camps” in the Caribbean died their, mostly of dysentry; estimated 5% of African slaves brought to Americas went to North American colonies Olaudah Equiano wrote a memoir of experiences as slave (published 1789) click EXPAND for more on Olaudah Equiano and his memoirs: he was from an inland village which was connected to slave trade, both as merchants and victims he was kidnapped in West Africa and sold to European slavers, shipped to America memoir offers account of his childhood in Africa, the horrors of the Middle Passage, shipment from Barbados to Virginia where he was sold to a British Naval officer in Virginia subsequent enslavement was in the Caribbean purchased his freedom from his final slave owner, Robert King, a Philadelphia Quaker who conducted trade in the Caribbean Equiano conducted business with King who taught him to read and business, and allowed him to buy his freedom in 1766, Equiano moved to England as a freedman, since in Georgia he was almost kidnapped on the docks where he was unloading a shipment and sent back to slavery became involved in various ventures including an Arctic expedition to find the "Northeast Passage" to India (via Norway and Russia, as opposed to the Northwest Passage which marked attempts to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific north of Canada) from the introduction of his memoir: To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain. My Lords and Gentlemen, Permit me, with the greatest deference and respect, to lay at your feet the following genuine Narrative; the chief design of which is to excite in your august assemblies a sense of compassion for the miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my unfortunate countrymen. for excerpt on the Middle Passage see Primary Source: Olaudah Equiano Describes the Middle Passage, 1789 (lumenlearning.com) for entire memoir see: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African (gutenberg.org)