Atlantic Worlds Timeline

Pre-1500s

  • Ancient Slavery (Rome): Slaves under Justinian's Code — Slavery not racial, part of Roman law

  • Chattel slavery: Slaves treated as property, could be bought/sold

  • Serfdom in Europe: Declined after Black Death, not racial, had customary rights

  • Muslim-Christian mutual enslavement: Religious conflict-driven enslavement

  • Timbuktu slave trade: Non-Muslims captured in war, sold

  • Trans-Saharan slave trade: Early African slave trade by Muslims

1140s

  • Portuguese begin capturing African slaves — Domestic labor, not yet central to economy

1492

  • Columbus arrives in the Americas — Triggers colonization and transformation of Atlantic world

1500s

  • Juan Garrido (~1480–1540s): African conquistador, former slave, gained freedom

  • Estevanico (captured 1513): Moroccan enslaved by Portuguese, later explorer in Americas

  • Panfilo de Narvaez (1520s): Spanish explorer, failed expedition in Florida

  • Juan Valiente (mid-1500s): African mercenary and slave-conquistador in Guatemala

  • Las Casas/New Laws (1542): Advocated better treatment of natives, influenced Spanish law

  • Curse of Ham: Biblical justification for African slavery

  • Aristotle's "natural slaves": Used to justify slavery without racial connotation

  • Just War Theory: Justified enslaving enemy combatants

1570

  • Portuguese law on native slavery: Similar to Spain’s New Laws

1580

  • Spain and Portugal unified: One crown, shifts power dynamics in colonization

1584

  • Richard Hakluyt writes A Discourse on Western Planting: Advocated English colonization for overpopulation and economy

Late 1500s

  • English privateering begins: Sea dogs attack Spanish fleets for wealth

  • Sir Francis Drake: Famous English privateer, hero of Elizabethan England

1600s

  • VOC (1602): Dutch East India Company, global trade

  • Jamestown (1607): First permanent English settlement

  • Samuel de Champlain (1608): Founds Quebec, allies with Wendat

  • Dutch independence: Northern Netherlands becomes Protestant republic

  • WIC (1621): Dutch West India Company

  • New Netherland: Dutch colony in North America

  • Richard Mather migrates to New England: Puritan minister

  • Indentured servitude: Poor English migrated to work 7 years unpaid

  • Navigation Acts (1651): Only English ships could trade in colonies

  • Port Royal (Jamaica): Pirate haven post-English conquest

  • Bartholomew Sharpe (1660s–80s): Pirate, raided Spanish colonies

  • Pueblo Revolt (1680): Led by Po’pay, successful revolt against Spanish

  • Revocation of Edict of Nantes (1685): Louis XIV eliminates Protestant rights in France

1688

  • Glorious Revolution: William of Orange overthrows James II, Protestant constitutional monarchy

1689

  • War of the League of Augsburg: European war extends to colonies

  • Piracy returns: Privateering resumes due to war with France

1690s

  • William Phips attacks Quebec (1690): Fails due to cold and supply issues

  • Captain Kidd: Privateer turned pirate, executed in 1701

1700s

  • War of Spanish Succession (1701): First global war

  • French-Native raids: E.g., Deerfield raid (1704), captives taken to New France

  • Blackbeard (died 1718): Ruthless pirate, protected by Carolina governor

  • Treaty of Utrecht (1713): Ends war, defines colonial borders

  • British capture Acadia (1710): Renamed Nova Scotia

  • Louisbourg fortress: French stronghold, later captured by English (1745)

  • Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748): Returned Louisbourg to France

  • War of Jenkins' Ear (1739): Conflict over trade, English-Spanish