ICE AGE

About 40,000-10,000 years ago

Nomadic peoples cross the Bering Land Bridge and enter North America

About 10,000 years ago

8,000 B.C. (before Christ) or B.C.E.

(before common era)

Early North American tribes explore and settle

the Pacific Northwest. Early people live by hunting and gathering.

About 4,000 years ago

(2,000 B.C.E.)

People in the Americas develop agriculture (Planting and harvesting)

About 3,000 years ago

(1,000 B.C.E.)

Mound Builders culture develops along the

Mississippi River.

About 3,000 years ago

(1,000 B.C.E.)

Mayan civilization starts to develop

About 2,500 years ago (500 B.C.E.)

Inuit reach Alaska from Asia

About 1,500 years ago (500 A.D. Anno Domini, or “Year of Our Lord”)

The Anasazi cliff dweller culture develops in the Southwest.

About 1200 A.D. or C.E.

(Common Era)

Aztec and Incan civilizations develop.

By the 1400s

Native Americans have settled different areas and developed different cultures, including the Woodlands, Southeastern, Great Plains, Southwestern, California-Mountain, and Northwest Pacific regions.

In the late 1500s

Five Woodlands tribes join to form the Iroquois League.

About 1000 A.D.

Leif Eriksson, a Viking seaman, explores the east coast of North America from the Viking colony on Greenland

1492

Columbus lands on an island in the Bahamas, thinking it is an Asian island. He names the island San Salvador and the Taino natives

“Indians.”

1497

John Cabot of England explores the Atlantic coast of Canada, looking for a passage

around or through the continent.

1519-1522

Ferdinand Magellan’s crew sail around the world for Spain, reaching Asia by

sailing east. Magellan dies in the Philippines.

1539-1542

Hernando de Soto of Spain explores the southeastern United States.

1607

John Smith founds Jamestown, Virginia.

1609-1611

Henry Hudson explores the Arctic Ocean and Northeastern North America.

1619

Twenty Africans are brought by a Dutch ship to

Jamestown for sale as indentured servants, marking the beginning of slavery in Colonial America.

1620

The Mayflower lands in Massachusetts.

1621

First Thanksgiving

1678-1687

French explorer La Salle explores the lower Mississippi Valley region.

1754-1763

The French and Indian War ends. England gains all territory from the East coast to the

Mississippi River

1764-1766

Stamp Act “Taxation without Representation”

1775

Paul Revere Warns:

"The Regulars Are Coming"

1770

Boston Massacre: British soldiers fire into a crowd, killing

5, including Crispus Attucks, an African-American sailor.

1773

Boston Tea Party: Sons of Liberty destroy the

cargo of tea the English government required the

colonies to buy. The Port of Boston is closed.

1776

Fighting at Lexington and Concord—Beginning of the American Revolution

June 17, 1775: Battle of Bunker Hill

Colonists show they can stand up to British redcoats on the field of battle.

1776

Declaration of Independence approved. American Revolution becomes War of Independence.

October 17, 1777: Battle of Saratoga

American soldiers defeat British in traditional battle lines, convincing France and Spain to ally with the

United States.

October 19,

1781

Yorktown

British surrender to the Americans at Yorktown, ending the Revolutionary War.

September 17, 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia sends the Constitution to the states for

ratification

December 17, 1791 Congress Ratifies the Bill of Rights, the first

10 Amendments to the Constitution

1803

President Thomas Jefferson purchases the Louisiana Territory from France

1804-1806

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lead the Corps of

Discovery to Oregon and back with the help of

Sacajawea

1805-1807 Captain Zebulon Pike explores the Western

territories of the Louisiana Purchase and parts of New Spain

1820 Missouri Compromise

Missouri enters the Union as a slave state; future states north of Missouri’s southern

border will be free states

1831-1838 “Trail of Tears”

President Andrew Jackson forces eastern Native American tribes to resettle west of the Mississippi.

1835-1836

Texas War of Independence

1846

Oregon Treaty

with Great Britain

peacefully divides Oregon

Country between U.S. and Canada

1846-1848

Texas

Annexation,

Mexican-American War,

and Mexican

Cession

1849

California Gold Rush creates population in territory for statehood

Compromise of 1850

California enters Union as a free state, but

Northern states must enforce Fugitive Slave Acts. Underground Railroad extends to

Canada to reach freedom.

1852

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published by Harriet

Beecher Stowe, a “little lady who

caused a great war.”

1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act

Residents of new states will decide whether to have

slavery by “popular sovereignty.” Jayhawkers

(abolitionists) and Bushwackers (pro-slavery) fight for years

before the Civil War.

1858

Dred Scott sues for freedom, but the Supreme Court decides he cannot sue because he is not a U.S. citizen and cannot use the court. This suggests free African-American cannot be citizens, either.

November 1860

Abraham Lincoln elected the 16

th President after

taking the advice of 11-year-old Grace Bedell to let his whiskers grow to get more votes.

December 24, 1860

South Carolina secedes from Union; six other

states follow before Abraham Lincoln takes office. Four more Southern states secede by June 1861.

April 12-13, 1861

Battle of Fort Sumter begins the Civil War between the Confederacy and the Union.

July 21, 1861

Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, keeps the Union Army from capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond. It

helps Confederates and Unionists realize the war will be long and difficult.

September 17, 1862

Battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg, in Maryland, is the first major battle won by the Union. It encourages President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing

slaves in the states “in rebellion.”

July 1-3, 1863

Battle of Gettysburg

The Confederate Army invades Pennsylvania and threatens Washington, D.C.

After terrible losses on both sides, the battle ends in Union victory.

November 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln, invited to say “a few appropriate words,” to dedicate the military cemetery at Gettysburg, sums up the reason for the war, so

"government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

April 9, 1865 Appomattox Courthouse

After abandoning the Confederate capital of Richmond, Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrender to U.S. Grant and the Union Army of the Potomac at

Wilmer McLean’s home. His first home had been damaged by gunfire at the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas.