YEAR

THE �NEW WORLD,� AMERICA

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND

EUROPE, ASIA, INDIA, AFRICA

Fifteenth Century

1450

-- Modern printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg

1454/55

-- First Gutenberg bible printed

1492

-- Columbus �discovers� the �New World" Bahamas)

-- Spanish Jews given 3 months to accept Christianity or leave the country

1499

-- Amerigo Vespucci embarks on exploration of New World

Sixteenth Century

1507

-- Name �America� appears for first time (after explorer Amerigo Vespucci)

1509

-- Beginnings of slave trade into New World

-- Henry VIII crowned as King of England

-- Increased persecution of Jews in Germany & other European nations

1510

-- American East Coast discovered by Europeans, up to Charleston

1517

-- Martin Luther posts 95 theses�beginning Reformation in Germany

1519

-- Ferdinand Magellan leaves Europe to circumnavigate globe

1519

-- Cortes begins conquest of Aztecs, present-day New Mexico

1520

-- Chocolate brought from Mexico to Spain

1531

-- Henry VIII breaks with Catholic Church�formation of Anglican Church�named Supreme Head of the Church of England

1532

-- Reformation rises in France, under influence of John Calvin

1534

-- Final break between Church of England and Catholic Church�Act of Supremacy recognizes King of England as supreme head of English church

-- Explorer Jacques Cartier discovers coast of Labrador on first voyage to North America

1536

-- English religious reformer William Tyndale burned at stake

-- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

1540-1542

-- Coronado through present-day Texas

1541

-- John Knox leads Calvinist Reformation in Scotland

1547-1553

-- Henry VIII dies 1547; succeeded by Edward VI (Anglican)�vicious persecution of Catholics

1553

-- Mary Tudor crowned as Mary I��Bloody Mary�(Catholic)�vicious persecution of Protestants begins as she attempts to return England to Catholicism

1554

-- Catholicism reinstated as official religion of England

1558

-- Mary I dies; succeeded by sister Elizabeth I (Anglican)

1559

-- Acts of Uniformity & Supremacy restore Anglican Church as official religion of England

-- Conservative Book of Common Prayer enforced

1563

-- John Foxe, Book of Martyrs, first edition

-- Term �Puritan� first used in England (derogatory)

1565

-- First permanent European Colony in �New World,� Spanish at St. Augustine (modern Florida)

1567

-- Two million Indians die in South America of typhoid, brought by colonists

1582

-- First English colony in Newfoundland established

1584

-- Sir Walter Raleigh discovers & annexes Virginia (named after Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen)

1588

-- British navy defeats Spanish Armada, the world�s naval powerhouse�begin period of British imperial growth and strength

1590

-- Shakespeare starts publishing & performing plays

-- Presbyterian leaders arrested for attempts to reform church

1593

-- Execution of Separatist leaders Henry Barrow & John Greenwood

YEAR

THE �NEW WORLD,� AMERICA

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND

EUROPE, ASIA, INDIA, AFRICA

Seventeenth Century

1600

-- Population of England & Ireland: 5.5 million

-- Shakespeare, Hamlet

-- East India Company founded by English investors to colonize far East

1603

-- Elizabeth I dies without an heir; succeeded by cousin James I, of Scotland

-- �Millenary Petition,� seeking reforms in church, presented to king

-- Sir Francis Bacon knighted (pre-Enlightenment figure)

1604

-- Appointment of Richard Bancroft as Archbishop of Canterbury�strong opponent of Puritans/reformists

1605

-- Santa Fe established; Barbados, West Indies claimed as English colony

1606

-- Formation of Separatist congregation at Scrooby, England (the later �Pilgrims�)

1607

-- Jamestown Colony established (Virginia),  first permanent English settlement on American mainland

1608

-- Captain John Smith, A True Relation of Virginia (Pocahontas story)

-- 1608 �Separatist� Puritans (Pilgrims)flee to Holland (William Bradford) to avoid persecution from Church of England

1609

-- Johannes Kepler, laws of planetary motion/orbiting

1610

-- Henry Hudson discovers Hudson Bay (modern New York) for Dutch

1611

-- King James translation of Bible published

-- Shakespeare, The Tempest, a vision of the �New World�

1612

-- Last recorded burning of heretics in England

1616

-- Smallpox epidemic, brought by Europeans   wipes out 75-90% of native population along coast from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod

1618

-- King James I publishes Book of Sports�Puritans object to playing of popular sports

-- �Thirty Years� War� between Catholics & Protestants begins

1619

-- First African slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia

1620

-- 100 Pilgrims (�Separatist� Puritans) emigrate to Plymouth Plantation on the Mayflower (William Bradford governor 1621-1657)

-- Oliver Cromwell (future Puritan leader of England) publicly denounced by fellow Puritans for playing cricket

1623

-- First English settlement in New Hampshire

-- Dorchester Company formed to establish fishing colonies in New England

1624

-- Virginia becomes crown colony of England

1625

-- James I dies, Charles I (Anglican) becomes king & marries Catholic Henrietta Maria

-- Black Death in England (bubonic plague outbreak)

1626

-- William Bradford & other Pilgrims arrange to purchase control of Plymouth settlement from original London investors

-- First English settlement at Salem (Mass.) (Dorchester Co., moved from Cape Anne)

-- Dutch colony of New Amsterdam established (present-day New York)

-- Charles I prohibits teaching of predestination at Cambridge (1626) & Oxford (1628)�seen as an attack on Puritan beliefs

1628

-- Dorchester Company at Salem reorganized as New England Company; Puritan zealot John Endecott assumes control of Salem Colony
-- Plymouth authorities break up Thomas Morton�s settlement at Merrymount (cf. New English Canaan)

-- William Laud appointed bishop of London

1629

-- New England Company receives royal charter as Massachusetts Bay Company, with liberal charter for colonization & emigration

-- Charles I dissolves Parliament

1630

-- 1,000 �Non-Separatist� Puritans emigrate on Arbella and other ships; establish Massachusetts Bay Company at Boston (John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet) (16,000 follow by 1642)

-- Winthrop assumes power from Endecott as governor of Massachusetts

-- Charles I signs peace treaty with Catholic Spain(Peace of Madrid)�Puritans angered by growing warmth & friendship between Charles and Catholics

1632

-- Charles I issues charter for colony Maryland, to protect persecuted Catholics from England

1633

-- Dutch establish trading post at Ft. Good Hope (present-day Hartford, CT)

-- William Laud appointed Archbishop of Canterbury; violently opposed by Puritans

-- Galileo forced by Catholic Church to recant his scientific discoveries

1634

-- Anne & William Hutchinson arrive in Boston

1635

-- Roger Williams banished by Puritans of Bay colony; establishes Providence (Rhode Island)

-- Anne Hutchinson starts hosting meetings to discuss issues raised in Boston Sabbath meetings

-- Massachusetts settlers form additional colonies on Connecticut River

1636

-- Pequot War begins (1636-1637)
-- Harvard College founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts

1637

-- Thomas Morton, The New English Canaan

-- Puritans massacre hundreds of Pequot men, women, & children; Pequot War ends

-- Anne Hutchinson arrested & tried by Massachusetts magistrates

-- English emigration to America restricted by royal proclamation

1638

-- Anne Hutchinson banished from Boston

-- New Haven colony founded (Connecticut)

-- Additional colonies formed by Puritans banished from Massachusetts because of religious heresies

-- State-sanctioned torture abolished in England

1639

-- First printing press set up in America, at Harvard College

-- Roger Williams & Ezekial Holiman establish first Baptist church at Provincetown

1641

-- Bay Psalm Book published

-- Massachusetts assumes jurisdiction over more Settlements

-- Puritan-driven House of Commons approves destruction of images in churches

1642 -  

   1649

-- English Civil War (Royalist/Anglican/�Cavaliers� vs. Parliamentarians/Puritans/�Roundheads�)

-- Roughly 200,000 people die in war

1642

-- Montreal, Canada founded by French

-- All theatres closed by Puritans (closed until 1660)

1643

-- Confederation of New England formed by  Connecticut, New Haven, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay Colony to protect against perceived Indian threat/alliances

1644

-- British parliament grants charter to Roger Williams to form Rhode Island

1645

-- Oliver Cromwell (Puritan) made Lieutenant General

-- Archbishop William Laud executed by Puritans

-- Parliament passes ordinances to establish Presbyterianism

1644

-- New Globe Theatre demolished by Puritans

1646

-- First appearance of �Leveller� writings, broader-based government in England

1648

-- George Fox founds Society of Friends (Quakers)

-- Thirty Years� War ends; greater toleration for variety of Christian beliefs in Continental Europe

1649

-- Charles I beheaded by Puritans

1650

-- Anne Bradstreet, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (published in England)

-- Tea first drunk in England

-- World population est. 500 million

1651

-- Massachusetts authorities fine & banish three Baptists found in colony

1652

-- Maine added to Massachusetts Bay Colony

1653

-- Cromwell names himself Lord Protector of England, Scotland, Ireland

1656

-- First Quakers arrive in Massachusetts; subsequently arrested & banished

1657

-- Half-Way Covenant conceived

1658

-- Death penalty instated for Quakers who return to Massachusetts

-- Cromwell dies; briefly succeeded by son Richard

1659

-- Two Quakers hung in Boston, under terms of 1658 anti-Quaker law

-- King Charles II gathers support in Scotland

1660

-- Quaker Mary Dyer hung in Boston under terms of 1658 anti-Quaker law

-- Parliament invites Charles Stuart, son of executed Charles I, to assume throne�restoration of British monarchy

-- Charles II crowned King of England & Scotland

-- Execution of men convicted of 1649 regicide & migration of some of these Puritan leaders to New England

1661

-- Charles II forbids execution of Quakers in England & colonies

1662

-- First American �best-seller��Michael  Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom

-- John Winthrop, Jr. obtains royal charter for Connecticut, absorbing New Haven colony

-- Half-Way Covenant endorsed by Synod

-- Parliament re-establishes Anglicanism as state religion & issues new Prayer Book

-- Bombay, India given to England as part of queen�s dowry

1663

-- New France colony formed, Quebec capital

1664 -

   1666

-- English take New Netherlands from Dutch; rename New Amsterdam as New York

-- Colony of New Jersey formed

-- Isaac Newton develops law of gravitation

-- Calculus invented by Isaac Newton &  G. W. Leibnitz

1665

-- �Great Death� in England (bubonic plague outbreak)�15% of population dies in summer

1666

-- Great fire of London, Feb 2-9, 1666

1667

-- John Milton, Paradise Lost

1670

-- English establish colony in Charles Town, South Carolina

1673

-- Test Act�excludes Catholics from office in England

1675

-- King Philip�s War begins (1675-1678)

-- Wampanoags under Metacom (King Philip) vs. colonists

-- English Catholics excluded from both houses of Parliament

-- Paris center of European culture, with 500,000 residents

1676

-- Fire destroys much of Boston

1678

-- John Bunyan, Pilgrim�s Progress (1678)

1677

-- Massachusetts incorporates much of Maine into its jurisdiction

1680

-- New Hampshire colony separates from Massachusetts & made a royal colony

1681

-- Royal charter issued to William Penn for Pennsylvania colony

-- Massachusetts General Court grants  permission to Boston Baptists to worship in own meetinghouse

1682

-- Mary Rowlandson, Narrative of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

-- French claim Louisiana territory (Mississippi River valley)

1683

-- Peace treaty between William Penn and Native Americans in Pennsylvania colony

1684

-- Charter of Massachusetts Bay Colony annulled by English government after charges of misrule

1685

-- Charles II dies; son James II crowned (Catholic)

1686

-- Federation of New England or Dominion of New England formed by James II in order to remodel British colonies (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Plymouth, and Rhode Island)

-- Sir Edmund Andros appointed governor of the Dominion of New England

1687

-- Connecticut incorporated into Dominion of New England

-- Governor Andros antagonizes colonists with arbitrary rule, support of Church of England, and tax policies

-- Isaac Newton, Mathematical Principals of Natural Philosophy (laws of motion)

1688

-- New York & New Jersey incorporated into Dominion of New England

1689

-- "The First American Revolution": Rebellion in Boston topples Andros� Dominion government; Andros imprisoned

-- William of Orange & consort Mary (Protestants)agree to joint rule with Parliament

-- Parliament passes Toleration Act & Declaration of Rights, establishing freedom of worship for all kinds of Protestantism in England & colonies

1690

-- John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

-- Population of England 5 million

-- City of Calcutta founded by East India Company

1691

-- Massachusetts absorbs Plymouth Colony & is given new royal charter, but one that provides for a royal governor

1692

-- �Witchcraft outbreak� at Salem & subsequent trials�19 convicted witches hanged in Salem (+ 2 dogs)

1693

-- Cotton Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World

1699

-- Rise of new liberal faction in New England Puritanism�formation of Brattle Street Church in Boston (roots of Unitarian church)

YEAR

THE �NEW WORLD,� AMERICA

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND

EUROPE, ASIA, INDIA, AFRICA

Eighteenth Century

1700

-- 1700�Anglo population in English colonies 275,000

-- Orthodox Calvinist churches continue to come under attack

-- Liberals at Harvard force Increase Mather out of Harvard presidency

-- Population of England & Scotland 7.5 million

-- Population France 19 million

1701

-- City of Detroit founded by French colonists

-- Yale College founded, Connecticut colony

1702

-- Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana

-- William III dies; succeeded by Queen Anne

1703

-- Delaware colony separates from Pennsylvania colony

1704

-- First newspaper in American to survive begins (Boston News-Letter)

1706

-- Benjamin Franklin born, Boston (d. 1790)

1707

-- Union between England and Scotland under name Great Britain

1712

-- Slave revolts in New York

-- Last execution for witchcraft in England

-- Queen Anne dies; succeeded by King George I

1719

-- Ireland declared inseparable from England

-- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, one of earliest �novels�

1721

-- Smallpox epidemic in Boston

1726

-- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver�s Travelers

1727

-- Quakers begin pressing aggressively for abolition of slavery

-- George I dies; succeeded by King George II

1729

-- James & Benjamin Franklin publish The Pennsylvania Gazette

-- North & South Carolina become crown colonies

1732

-- Benjamin Franklin begins Poor Richard�s Almanack (published through 1757)

1734

-- Jonathan Edwards, �the last Puritan,� stimulates conservative religious revival, starting the �Great Awakening�

1740

-- British preacher George Whitefield further stimulates the Great Awakening

1741

-- Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

1743

-- New England churches sharply divided over effects of Great Awakening & revivals� many congregations split

1750

-- First theatre playhouse opens in New York

-- Jonathan Edwards dismissed by his congregation

-- Rough beginning of Industrial Revolution

1751

-- Benjamin Franklin, New Experiments and Observations on Electricity

-- British calendar altered by Act of Parliament, making January 1^st the beginning of New Year

1754

-- Quaker John Woolman, Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes

1755

-- Elizabeth Ashbridge, Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge

1756 �

   1760

-- French and Indian War (against British, fought in American colonies)

1760

-- George II dies; succeeded by King George III

1765

-- British Parliament passes Stamp Act for taxing American colonies; delegates from nine colonies draw up declaration of rights & liberties

-- Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, first Gothic novel

1773

-- Boston Tea Party

1775 �

    1783

-- American Revolution

1776

-- Declaration of Independence

-- Thomas Paine, Common Sense

1778

-- Act of Congress prohibits import of slaves into colonies

1785

-- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia

1787

-- First American-authored play published & performed, Royall Tyler, The Contrast

-- Constitution of United Stated ratified

-- First states enter Union: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

1788

-- States of Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York enter Union

1789

-- First American-authored novel published,  William Wells Brown, The Power of Sympathy

-- Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

-- George Washington inaugurated as first President

-- State of North Carolina enters Union

-- William Blake, Songs of Innocence

-- French Revolution begins�Paris mob storms the Bastille

1790

  - 1850

-- U.S. population rises from under 4 million to over 23 million

1790

-- State of Rhode Island enters Union

1791

-- Bill of Rights amended to Constitution

-- State of Vermont enters Union

1792

-- State of Kentucky enters Union

-- Denmark becomes first nation to abolish slave trade

1793

-- Marie Antoinette beheaded on the guillotine

1794

-- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

-- William Blake, Songs of Experience

-- Slavery abolished in French colonies

1796

-- State of Tennessee enters Union

1797

-- Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette

-- John Adams inaugurated president

1799

-- First edition of William Wordsworth�s The Prelude published

YEAR

THE �NEW WORLD,� AMERICA

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND

EUROPE, ASIA, INDIA, AFRICA

Nineteenth Century

1800

-- U. S. government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

-- Ireland officially unites with Great Britain, making the United Kingdom

1801

-- Thomas Jefferson inaugurated president

1803

-- Purchase of Louisiana Territory from France

-- State of Ohio enters Union

1807

-- William Wordsworth, �Ode on Intimations of Immortality�

-- England prohibits slave trade

1808

-- U.S. government prohibits importation of slaves from Africa�slave owners & traders start more aggressive domestic �breeding� programs

1809

-- James Madison inaugurated president

1812 �

   1814

-- War of 1812 (against Great Britain)

1812

-- State of Louisiana enters Union

1816

-- State of Indiana enters Union

1817

-- James Monroe inaugurated president

-- State of Mississippi enters Union

-- Construction of Erie Canal begins

-- Jane Austen dies

1818

-- State of Illinois enters Union

1819

-- State of Alabama enters Union

-- Population of U.S. 9.6 million

-- Maximum 12-hour working day for children established in England

1820

-- Washington Irving, Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman

-- �Missouri Compromise� allows Maine to enter Union as free state & Missouri as slave state

-- William Keats, �Ode to a Nightingale�

-- George III dies, succeeded by King George IV

1823

-- Mexico becomes independent republic

1825

-- John Quincy Adams inaugurated president

1826

-- James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

1827

-- Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, �Mishosha� and �The Forsaken Brother�

1829

-- Andrew Jackson inaugurated president

-- Slavery abolished in Mexico

-- Catholic Emancipation Act in UK allows Catholics to sit in Parliament and hold public office

1830

-- Indian Removal Act

-- George IV dies, succeeded by King William IV

1831

-- William Apess, Son of the Forest

-- North Carolina slave insurrection led by Nat Turner

-- Population of U.S. 12.8 million

-- Population of Great Britain 13.9 million

1832

-- New England Anti-Slavery Society founded in Boston

1833

-- William Apess, �An Indian�s Looking Glass for the White Man�

-- First successful American �penny paper,� the New York Sun

-- Abolition of slavery in Great Britain and British empire

1834

-- Poor Law Amendment Act decrees no able-bodied man in Great Britain shall receive assistance unless he enters a workhouse�influence on Dickens

-- Spanish Inquisition, begun during 13^th century, finally suppressed

1835

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, �Young Goodman Brown�

-- Texas declares independence from  Mexico

1836

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature

-- Texas wins independence from Mexico & becomes republic, General Sam Houston president

-- State of Arkansas enters Union

1837

-- Martin Van Buren inaugurated president

-- State of Michigan enters Union

-- U.S. enters economic depression following a financial panic

-- William IV dies, succeeded by Queen Victoria (who rules through 1901)

1838

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Divinity School Address

-- �Trail of Tears��forced removal of Georgia and North Carolina Native Americans to Indian Territory (Oklahoma)

1840

-- During next decade, CT, MA, and PA pass laws limiting work hours of children in textile mills

-- 2,816 miles of railway in use in America

-- 1,331 miles of railway in use in England

1841

-- William Henry Harrison inaugurated president (dies one month later)

-- John Tyler inaugurated president

-- Slave revolt on U.S.S. �Creole�

-- P.T. Barnum opens museum of freaks, curios, etc. in NYC

-- First university degrees granted to women in America

-- Population U.S. 17 million

-- Hypnosis discovered by Scottish surgeon James Braid

-- Population Great Britain 18.5 million

1843

-- Congress grants S. F. B. Morse license to build first telegraph line, from Washington to Baltimore

-- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

1844

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, Second Series

-- Wood-pulp paper invented by Friedrich Gottlob Keller in Germany

1845

-- Edgar Allan Poe, �The Raven,� �The Tell-Tale Heart,� et al.

-- Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

-- James Polk inaugurated president

-- Texas joins United States as a state

-- State of Florida enters Union

1846

-- U.S.-Mexican War begins (1846-1848)

-- Brigham Young leads Mormons from Illinois to Utah territory

-- State of Iowa enters Union

-- Sewing machine patented by Elias Howe

-- Ether first used as anesthetic by U.S. dentist

-- Famine in Ireland caused by failure of potato crop�beginning of mass immigration to U.S.

-- First British �cheap paper� appears, the Daily News, edited by Charles Dickens

1847

-- Discovery of gold in California�Gold Rush begins

-- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

-- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

-- Liberia, African nation formed by former American slaves, proclaimed independent republic

1848

-- Mystic spiritualism becomes popular in U.S.�fans include many literary figures

-- State of Wisconsin enters Union

-- �Communist Manifesto� released by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels

1849

-- Zachary Taylor inaugurated president

-- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

1850

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

-- Fugitive Slave Law passed

-- Millard Fillmore inaugurated president

-- State of California enters Union

-- Population of U.S. 23 million, including 3.2 million slaves

-- Population Great Britain, 20.8 million

-- In next decade, 424,000 people will emigrate from Britain to U.S.

-- In next decade, 914,000 people will emigrate from Ireland to U.S.

1851

-- Herman Melville, Moby Dick

1852

-- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom�s Cabin

1853

-- Franklin Pierce inaugurated president

1854

-- Fanny Fern, Ruth Hall

-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods

-- Crimean War begins (1854-1856)

1855

-- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

-- First iron steamship sails across Atlantic, cutting six week journey down to 9 days

1856

1857

-- James Buchanan inaugurated president

-- Atlantic Monthly started by James Fields, publisher of Hawthorne, Longfellow, et al.

-- U.S. enters severe economic depression

1858

-- State of Minnesota enters Union

1859

-- First oil well drilled, Titusville, PA

-- State of Oregon enters Union

-- Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

-- Work on Suez Canal begins

1860

-- Abraham Lincoln elected president; South Carolina secedes from Union in protest

-- First recorded baseball games

-- Population U.S. 32 million

-- Population Great Britain 23 million

1861

-- Abraham Lincoln inaugurated president

-- April, Civil War begins