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North America

continent in the Americas

56 dated entries naming North America, drawn from 52 separate years between 1200 BCE and 2011 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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12th century BC

  • 1200 BCEc. 1200 BC: Ancestral Puebloan civilization in North America. (approximate date)source

6th century

  • 600The Hopewell tradition (North America) ceases to be the dominant culture (approximate date).source

7th century

  • 620The town of Cholula is founded in central Mexico (later said to be the oldest continuously occupied town in all of North America).source
  • 6641 May – A solar eclipse affects areas along a line from Central America, through eastern North America, the North Atlantic, Ireland, Great Britain and Germany.source

11th century

  • 1001Vikings, led by Leif Erikson, establish small settlements in and around Vinland in North America (approximate date).source
  • 1006April 30 – The brightest supernova ever recorded, SN 1006, occurs in the constellation of Lupus. It is observed and described in China, Japan, Iraq, Egypt, and Europe and possibly depicted in North American rock art. Modern astronomers now consider its distance at about 7,200 light-years. The supernova provides enough light to read by on a night with a dark moon.source
  • 1010Viking explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to found a settlement in North America (approximate date).source

12th century

  • 1170The Welsh prince Madoc (son of King Owain ap Gruffudd of Gwynedd) sails to North America, in his ship the Gwennan Gorn, and founds a colony.source

14th century

  • 1398According to fringe theorists, the Scottish explorer Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, reaches North America.source

16th century

  • 1501Gaspar Corte-Real, Portuguese navigator, makes the first documented European landing in North America since c. 1000 A.D.source
  • 1513April 2 – Juan Ponce de León and his expedition become the first Europeans known to visit Florida, landing somewhere on the east coast. One of the expedition, Juan Garrido, becomes the first African known to visit North America.source
  • 1539The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City.source
  • 1539May 30 – Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay, Florida with 600 soldiers, with the goal of finding gold. He also introduces pigs into North America.source
  • 1543March 7 – Massive flooding of the Mississippi River and the Arkansas River begins in southeastern North America over a 40 day period while Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his team are passing through. The event is noted by the chronicler of the DeSoto Expedition, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.source
  • 1578June 11 – Humphrey Gilbert is granted letters patent from the English crown to establish a colony in North America.source

17th century

  • 1603French Huguenot Pierre de Gua is granted royal permission to settle in North America, founding the colony of Acadia.source
  • 1615January 1 – The New Netherland Company is granted a three-year monopoly in North American trade, between the 40th and 45th parallels.source
  • 163220 June – A royal charter was issued for the foundation of the Maryland colony in North America. Lord Baltimore appointed as the first governor.source
  • 1634March – Leonard Calvert leads the first group of settlers to the new English colony of Maryland in North Americasource
  • 1635First secondary school established in the North American colonies, the English High and Latin School at Boston.source
  • 1636Unknown – Roger Williams founds the new English colony Rhode Island in North Americasource
  • 163730 April – King Charles issues a proclamation attempting to stem emigration to the North American colonies.source
  • 1640The first book to be printed in North America (the Bay Psalm Book) is published.source
  • 1650September 19 – Treaty of Hartford: the English Commonwealth's Connecticut Colony and the Dutch Republic's colony of New Netherland establish their frontiers in North America.source
  • 165019 September – Treaty of Hartford: the English Connecticut Colony and the Dutch Republic's colony of New Netherland establish their frontiers in North America.source
  • 1654August 22 – Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam: 23 Sephardic Jews arrive as refugees from Brazil and settle in New Amsterdam, forming the nucleus of what will be the second largest urban Jewish community in history, that of New York City, and of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in North America.source
  • 166324 March – the colony of Province of Carolina is established in North America.source
  • 166412 March – Province of New Jersey becomes an English colony in North America.source
  • 1666Jean Talon completes a census of New France, the first census in North America.source
  • 1678January 27 – The first fire engine company in North America goes into service in Boston.source
  • 1679April 10 – A total eclipse of the Sun takes place over North America, with its peak over the region occupied by the Lakota Sioux people in modern-day South Dakota.source
  • 1691February 13 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony issues the first paper money in North America, in lieu of coins, two months after a December 20 law authorizing the printing. The oldest known specimen, for 20 Massachusetts shillings bears the date "Feb. 3, 1690" based on the British old style calendar in use at the time.source
  • 1700January 26 – The Mw 8.7–9.2 Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese tsunami records.source

18th century

  • 1701War of the Spanish Succession begins in Europe; spreads to North America (Queen Anne's War) in 1702.source
  • 1702Having begun in Europe in 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession spreads to North America (Queen Anne's War) in Acadia and New England.source
  • 1703March 1 – The Recruiting Act 1703 goes into effect in England, providing for the forcible enlistment of able-bodied but unemployed men into the English Army and Royal Navy in order to fight in Queen Anne's War in North America. The Act expires at the end of February 1704.source
  • 17031 March – the Recruiting Act 1703 goes into effect, providing for the forcible enlistment of able-bodied but unemployed men into the Army and Royal Navy in order to fight in Queen Anne's War in North America. The Act expires at the end of February 1704.source
  • 1718July–August – the first ships carrying Scotch-Irish emigrants from Ulster to North America arrive in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • 1727The first Amish move to North America.source
  • 1734January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America.source
  • 1745June 16 – King George's War: The British capture Cape Breton Island in North America from the French.source
  • 1746August 30: Duc d'Anville Expedition, led by a French aristocrat, arrives at Chebucto (now Halifax Harbour) with 13,000 men in 70 ships. His orders from the King of France: Expel the British from Nova Scotia, then burn Boston and sack New England. Disease and dissension within the command structure defeats d'Anville's force, which despite its formidable strength has no discernible effect on the course of events in North America.source
  • 175520 February – General Edward Braddock lands in Virginia to take command of the British forces against the French in North America.source
  • 1765March 22 – Royal assent is given to the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765, historically referred to as the Stamp Act, imposing the first direct tax levied from Great Britain on the thirteen American colonies, effective November 1. The revenue measure (which requires the purchase of a stamp to be affixed for validation of all legal documents, but also to licensed newspapers and even playing cards and dice) is made to help defray the costs for British military operations in North America, including the French and Indian War.source
  • 1771William James of Bailieborough emigrates to the Thirteen Colonies of North America where he will make a great fortune in Albany, New York, and become father of Henry James Sr.source
  • 1773April 27 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act (coming into force on May 10), designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.source
  • 177327 April – Parliament passes the Tea Act 1773 (13 Geo. 3. c. 44), designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.source
  • 1790British Captain George Vancouver begins his three-year survey of northwest coast of North America .source
  • 179320 July – Stornoway-born explorer Alexander Mackenzie's 1792–1793 Peace River expedition to the Pacific Ocean reaches its goal at Bella Coola, British Columbia, making him the first known person to complete a transcontinental crossing of northern North America.source

19th century

  • 1844June 22 – Influential North American student fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon is founded at Yale College.source
  • 1852End of the Great Famine (Ireland). In the period it has lasted since 1845, one million people have emigrated from Ireland. The Irish now make up a quarter of the population of Liverpool, and the same is true of cities on the east coast of North America.source
  • 18861-30 June - Numerous Norwegian emigrants arrived in North American ports aboard transatlantic steamships, including New York, Quebec, Boston, Philadelphia, and Halifax.source

20th century

  • 1964March 27 (Good Friday) – The Great Alaskan earthquake, the second-most powerful known (and the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history) at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.source
  • 1969May 15 – An American teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.source
  • 1985October 18 – The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in North America, helping revitalize the home video game industry after the video game crash of 1983.source

21st century

  • 2011February 26 – The Nintendo 3DS has its first release in Japan, following later releases in Europe on March 25, North America on March 27, and Australia on March 31.source

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