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HISTORY TIMELINE (1500-1599) By Gerald Murphy
DATE EVENT
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1500 Fernandes explores Labrador
1500 Pedro Alvarez Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal
1501 Gaspar Corte-Real kidnaps 57 Indians in Newfoundland
1501 Rodrigo de Bastidas explores Central American coast & Caribbean
1507 Lands of the New World named for Amerigo Vespucci by Waldseemuller
1510 Spain begins settlements in Jamaica; two years later in Cuba
1512 Juan Ponce de Leon names discovery after Easter Sunday; Pascua Florida
1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa names large body of water as "Pacific"
1519 Hernando Cortes begins assault on Mexico, defeats the Aztecs
1519 Cortes brings Arabian horses to Americas from Spain
1519 Domenico de Pineda explores Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Vera Cruz
1520 Magellan navigates through the straits from Atlantic to Pacific
1521 Martin Luther excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, Jan 3
1521 Guam, where America's day begins, explored by Magellan
1524 Giovanni da Verrazano explores Hudson River and New York harbor waters
1526 Spanish attempt colonization of Cape Fear; it lasts only a few months
1528 Panfilo de Narvaez invades Florida from Cuba, wars with Indians
1531 Spain invades Peru; end of Inca civilization
1534 Jacques Cartier explores coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland
1535 Jacques Cartier explores St. Lawrence River, trades with Huron Indians
1536 Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aries
1536 Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca reaches Culiacan after roaming over the So.
1538 Bogota settled by Quesada
1539 Hernando de Soto leaves Havana to find Seven Cities; finds Indian war
1539 First printing press set up in the New World - at Mexico City
1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado treks north from Mexico to Zuni territory
1540 Coronado's troops discover the Grand Canyon
1541 Hernando de Soto explores Mississipi River valley and Gulf Coast
1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrilho explores in area of San Diego for Spain
1544 Sebastian Cabot publishes map of the world with remarkable detail
1555 First tobacco taken from America to Spain
1555 Rio de Janeiro colony established by the French
1558 Reign of Elizabeth I begins; ends in 1603
1562 French establish trading post in South Carolina, erect monument in FL
1562 John Hawkins begins slave trade between Guinea and West Indies
1564 French Huguenots try to colonize at Jacksonville; are killed by Spain
1564 French found Fort Caroline, FL. First European colony on the mainland
1565 Spanish attack Fort Caroline, and find St. Augustine in the process
1572 Francis Drake attacks Spanish harbors in the Americas
1576 Martin Frobisher puts his name on Frobisher's Bay, Canada
1577 Sir Francis Drake begins explorations on west coast of North America
1581 Franciscan friars begin missionary work in "New Mexico"
1584 Walter Raleigh knighted by Virgin Queen for naming new colony for her
1585 English attempt colony at Roanoke Island, NC, but have Indian trouble
1586 Potatoes from Columbia introduced to England by Herriot
1587 New colony established at Pamlico Sound. It disappeared within 2 yrs
1587 Virginia Dare was first child born in the colonies; fate unknown
1588 English defeat Spanish armada of King Philip II
1590 Galileo describes the law of falling bodies
1592 Alleged date of Juan de Fuca discovery of inland passage
1598 Colonists landed on Sable Island
1598 Henry IV issues Edict of Nantes to quiet religious wars
1598 Don Juan de Onate claims all of New Mexico for Spain
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