History of the United States (dates)

Vikings led by Leif Erikson found Vinland in Newfoundland

circa 1000

Columbus discovers America

1492

John Cabot reaches Newfoundland

1497

Juan Ponce de Leon claims Florida for Spain

1513

Jacques Cartier explores Canada

1536

Hernando de Soto explores the South

1539-1542

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado reaches New Mexico

1540-1542

Roanoke (Lost Colony)

1587

Jamestown, Virginia founded

1607

Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec

1608

The Mayflower (Pilgrims land at Plymouth)

1620

The English capture New Amsterdam and Fort Orange

1664

William Penn founds Pennsylvania

1682

New Orleans founded by the French

1718

James Oglethorpe founds Savannah in Georgia

1733

Vitus Bering discovers Alaska

1741

French and Indian War

1754-1763

Battle of Quebec

1759

Treaty of Paris (ending the French and Indian War)

1763

Boston Massacre

1770

Boston Tea Party

1773

American War of Independence (Revolutionary War)

1775-1783

Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

Battle of Saratoga

1777

Battle of Yorktown

1781

Treaty of Paris (ending the American Revolution)

1783

Northwest Ordinance

1787

The United States Constitution signed

1787

Bill of Rights ratified

1791

Cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney

1793

Washington D.C. becomes the capital

1800

Marbury vs. Madison

1803

Louisiana Purchase

1803

Lewis and Clark expedition

1804-1806

Second War of Independence (War of 1812)

1812-1815

The Star-Spangled Banner written

1814

Battle of New Orleans

1815

Acquisition of Florida

1819

Missouri Compromise

1820

Monroe Doctrine

1823

Indian Removal Act

1830

Battles of Alamo, San Jacinto, Texas becomes a republic

1836

Texas joins the Union

1845

Mexican War

1846-1848

Oregon Treaty

1846

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

1848

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854

American Civil War

1861-1865

Emancipation Proclamation

1863

Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg

1863

Reconstruction

1865-1877

Alaska Purchase

1867

Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone

1876

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876

Wounded Knee Massacre

1890

Plessy vs. Ferguson

1896

Spanish-American War

1898

Annexation of Hawaii

1898

Panama Canal built

1904-1914

USA in WWI

1917-1918

14 Points of Woodrow Wilson

1918

Great Depression

1929-1939

Lend-Lease Act

1941

Atlantic Charter

1941

Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941

USA in WWII

1941-1945

Operation Overlord (D-Day)

June 6, 1944

Battle of the Bulge

1944-1945

Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa

1945

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 6 and 9, 1945