U.S. Timeline - 1600s

1600 - 1610:

1602

Picture Credit: (P102)

Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard founded

Captain Bartholomew Gosnold (1571–1607) is the first Englishman to land on the New England coast, exploring and naming Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. James I (ruled 1603–1667).

1607

Picture Credit: (P114)

Jamestown founded (May 14)

The Jamestown settlement was the first permanent settlement in the Americas. The settlers landed. The settlement was started with 104 English men and boys. The first years was extremely difficult and by early 1610 most of the settlers, 80-90% according to William Strachey, had died due to starvation and disease. [115]

1611 - 1620:

1619

Picture Credit: (P201)

House of Burgesses founded

The House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected representatives from Virginia that met from 1643 to 1776. This democratically elected legislative body was the first of its kind in English North America. [202)

1620

Picture Credit: (P211)

The Plymouth Colony founded (December)

The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England.
Before disembarking from their ship, the Mayflower, 41 male passengers sign the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that forms the basis of the colony’s government.[212]

1621-1630

1626

Picture Credit: (P301)

Dutch colonists Purchase Manhattan Island

According to a letter by Pieter Janszoon Schagen, Peter Minuit and Dutch colonists acquired Manhattan on May 24, 1626, from unnamed native people, who are believed to have been Canarsee Indians of the Manhattoe, in exchange for traded goods worth 60 guilders, often said to be worth US$24 [302)

1661-1670

1664

Picture Credit: (P611)

English Capture New Amsterdam (New York) (Aug. 27)

On August 27, 1664, while England and the Dutch Republic were at peace, four English frigates sailed into New Amsterdam’s harbor and demanded New Netherland’s surrender, effecting the bloodless capture of New Amsterdam. On September 6, the local Dutch deciding not to offer resistance, Stuyvesant’s lawyer Johannes de Decker and five other delegates signed the official Articles of Surrender of New Netherland. [612)

1665

Picture Credit: (P621)

New Amsterdam renamed to New York City (June)

In June 1665, New Amsterdam was reincorporated under English law as New York City, named after the Duke of York (later King James II). He was the brother of the English King Charles II, who had been granted the lands [622]

1680-1689

1681

Picture Credit: (P631)

William Penn granted the charter for the Province of Pennsylvania

On March 4, 1681, King Charles signed the Charter of Pennsylvania, and it was officially proclaimed on April 2. The king named the colony after Penn’s father, Admiral Sir Penn and it was given to William Penn.

Pennsylvania was not a royal colony directly administered by King Charles II. Instead, the Province of Pennsylvania was a proprietary/feudal agreement between the King and Penn. At age 36, William Penn was proprietor of the largest piece of privately owned land in the world at that time, more than 28 million acres. [633]

1690-1699

1692

Picture Credit: (P641)

Salem witch trials begin in Colonial Massachusetts, 19 people executed.

Between February 1692 and May 1693 over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Thirty were found guilty and 19 executed.

[643]

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References

Picture Credits:

(P102) By Albert Bierstadt – wikipedia.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8098973
(P114) By Tony Fischer – Worship at Jamestowne, 1639 (and brief history), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31384631
(P201) By Frances Benjamin Johnston – Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15492413
(P211) By Henry Bacon – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Panoramic_Boston.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1860503
(P301) By Unknown author – English Wikipedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2451079
(P611) By Jean Leon Gerome Ferris – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID cph.3g12217.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11136740
(P621) By Johannes Vingboons – Geheugen van Nederland (Memory of The Netherlands), Selections from the Map Collections http://international.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?intldl/awkbbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(awkb012367)), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=238390
(P631) By Unknown author – http://bpun.unine.ch/IconoNeuch/Portraits/A-Z/P.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90387
(P641) By unattributed – William A. Crafts (1876) Pioneers in the settlement of America: from Florida in 1510 to California in 1849[1], Pioneers in the settlement of America: from Florida in 1510 to California in 1849. edition, Boston: Published by Samuel Walker and Company, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17689791

Text Credits:

(105) By Tony Fischer – Worship at Jamestowne, 1639 (and brief history), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31384631
(115) https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/a-short-history-of-jamestown.htm#:~:text=Jamestown%20escaped%20being%20attacked%2C%20due,or%20pack%20up%20and%20leave.
(202) https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/house-of-burgesses/
(212) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony
(302) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan#Native_American_settlement
(612) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam#:~:text=In%201664%2C%20the%20English%20took,in%20the%20Treaty%20of%20Breda.
(622) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam#:~:text=In%201664%2C%20the%20English%20took,in%20the%20Treaty%20of%20Breda.
(633) http://statemuseumpa.org/charter-pennsylvania-birth-certificate/#:~:text=The%20crown%20owed%20William’s%20late,Charter%20on%20March%204%2C%201681.
(643) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials