Colonialization of the Americas, and the Growth of the American Empire

(Last revised 21 December 2021)

Early 6th century – Voyage of Brendan of Clonfert to the “Fortunate Isles”.  Possible plantation of an Irish colony in the Chesapeake Bay region that the later Vikings called Hvitramamaland (“White Man’s Land”) or Irland Ed Milka (“Greater Ireland”).

986 – Norse and Icelanders found two colonies on the island of Greenland.

1000 – Norse Vikings under Leif Erikson establish a settlement on the island of Newfoundland they call Vinland.  They also carve out territories on Labrador, which they call Markland, and on Baffin Island, which they call Helluland.  The permanent site on Vinland is abandoned ten years later, but maintained as a site for temporary stay.  Markland, at least, they maintain as a lumber source for Greenland, and fishing vessels from there ply the waters of the area and up the St. Lawrence River, until around 1400.

1400 – Probably the last year ships from Greenland visit Vinland.

1450 – The colony on Greenland disappears by this date.

1492 – Cristoforo Colombo of the Republic of Genoa, sailing for the Kingdom of Spain, “discovers” the Americas. He leaves 39 men on the island of Hispaniola after the Santa Maria runs aground there, who found the settlement of La Navidad.

1496 – Spain establishes the city of Nueva Isabella, now Santo Domingo, on the island of Hispaniola.

1497 – Zuan Chabotto of the Republic of Venice, sailing for the Kingdom of England, “discovers” Newfoundland.

1498 – Columbus discovers the island of Trinidad, which remains in Spain’s possession until 1797 though populated mostly by French colonists.

1502 – Amerigo Vespucci of the Republic of Florence, sailing for the Kingdom of Portugal, proves that the new lands are separate from Afro-Eurasia.

1508 – The Spanish found Caparra on the island they name San Juan Bautista and later rename Puerto Rico.

1509 – The Spanish establish Sevilla la Nueva on the island of Jamaica, the first settlement of what becomes the colony of Santiago.

1519-1521 – The Spanish under Cortes conquer the Empire of the Mexica.

1521 – Portugal establishes a fishing colony on Cape Breton Island.

1526 – Spain establishes the first European colony in the later United States of San Miguel de Gualdape at or near Sapelo Island in Georgia, though this is very short-lived, lasting only three months.  By that time, two-thirds of the 600 colonists had died and their 100 slaves had revolted, escaping to live among the Guale people.  It was the first African slave revolt in the Americas.  The colonists named the region Carolina after Charles I of Spain/Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.

1527-1528 – Narvaez’ ill-fated expedition into La Florida.

1530 – The Portugese begin colonization of Brasil.

1531-1537 – The Spanish under Pizarro conquer the Inca Empire.

1531 – The Spanish establish El Nuevo Reyno de Galicia.

1536 – Spain establishes the Viceroyalty of Nuevo España.

1538 – French Huguenots establish a short-lived colony on Saint Christophe.

1539-1542 – DeSoto’s expedition into the interior of La Florida.

1540 – The Spanish found the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, which includes the current Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Chiapas, as a part of Nueva España.

1540-1546 – After two failed attempts (1527-1528 & 1531-1535), Montejo finally succeeds in conquering Yucatan.

1541 – Cartier establishes Fort Charlesbourg Royal near the Iroquoian town of Stadacona (what is now Quebec) at the modern Cap-Rouge.  It was abandoned in 1542.

1542 – Spain creates the Viceroyalty of Nuevo Castillo, later named the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Meeting Cartier’s departing soldiers and a few of the colonists at Newfoundland, de Roberval continues on to the colony, which he renames France-Roy.  All the colonists return to France the next year.

1549 – The first Portugese Governor-General arrives in Brasil.

1555 – French Huguenots establish the colony of France Antartique on the coast of Brasil from Rio de Janero to Cabo Frio.

1559 – De Luna establishes Santa Cruz on the Alabama River at the former site of the town of Nanipanca after landing at the later Pensacola, and the colony lasts for nearly a year, during which the Spanish make an expedition into Southeast Tennessee to support the Coosa against the Napochi.

1562 – France establishes Charlesfort at the foot of Parris Island, South Carolina, and Fort Carolina, near Jacksonville, Florida, naming their colony Carolina after their king, Charles IX; most of the settlers are Huguenots.

Nueva España establishes Nueva Vizcaya.

1564 – The Captaincy-General of New Granada is established at Bogota, taking in roughly the territory of modern Colombia.

1565 – Spain destroys the recent French settlements and establishes the colony of La Florida, with its capital at Santa Elena on Parris Island adjacent to the Presidio de San Salvador (later San Felipe), keeping the name Carolina for the region. They also establish the later capital San Agustin somewhat south of the former Fort Carolina, which the Spanish rename Ft. San Mateo.

With the founding of a permanent settlement on the island of Cebu under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the colony of the Spanish East Indies is established, and includes the Philippine Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Marianas Islands, Palau, Sabah, and parts of Formosa and Moluccas.

Both La Florida and the Spanish East Indies are part of the Viceroyalty of Nueva España.

1567 – During an expedition into the interior of La Florida, Juan Pardo establishes the following forts and foundations for intended settlements:  Fuerte de San Juan and Ciudad de Cuenca at Joara; Fuerte de San Pedro at Chiaha; Fuerte de San Pablo at Cauchi; Fuerte de Santiago and Cuidad de Salamanca at Guatari; Fuerte de San Tomas and Ciudad de Toledo at Cofitachequi (aka Canos); and Fuerte de Nuestra Señora and Villa de Buena Esperanza at Orista. 

Hernando Moyano, sergeant in charge while Pardo is in San Agustin, raids into the interior of Carolina, burning the Chiska town of Maniateque (Saltville, VA) and the town of Guapere (upper Watauga river), before establishing Fort San Pedro at the town of Chiaha.

Eighteen months later, the natives burn all the structures and kill all the members of the garrisons, save for one soldier.

The Portugese wipe out France Antartique.

1568 – A joint French-Indian force burns Fort San Mateo after massacring the population.

1570 – Spain establishes the mission Santa Maria in Ajacan (their name for what later became Virginia) on the coast of Virginia, but it is destroyed a year later.

1571 – The Spanish Inquisition comes to Nueva España as the Mexican Inquisition.

1572 – Vilcabamba, the last holdout of the Inca, falls to the Spanish conquistadors.

1576 – Santa Elena and Fort San Felipe are abandoned by the Spanish due to wars with the Orista and the Escamacu, who burn them to the ground.

1577 – The Spanish rebuild Santa Elena, replacing Fort San Felipe with Fort San Marcos,

1579 – Francis Drake lands at Point Reyes in California and claims the area for England as New Albion.  This claim forms the basis for later English claims to all North America above the Rio Grande.

1582 – The Spanish found the colony of Nueva Reyno de Leon.

1583 – Humphrey Gilbert establishes the colony of Newfoundland.

1585 – Walter Raleigh establishes a colony on Roanoke Island (off the coast of the later North Carolina) under Ralph Lane, as the first English settlement of Virginia, which establishes relations with the nearby Secotan and Croatoan tribes. 

1587 – The Spanish abandon Santa Elena and Fort San Marcos for good, but establish their first mission in what later becomes Georgia, San Pedro de Mocama, at the Timucuan-speaking town of the same name.

       

A group of 150 arrives at the colony on Roanoke Island, led by John White as governor of the Colony of Virginia.

1590 – A relief expedition finds Roanoke deserted, with the word CROATOAN carved on a post of the fort. Most historians speculate, as did Governor White at the time, that the colonists had moved to Hatteras Island to live with the Croatoan.

1598 – Nueva España establishes the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico.

1601 – The French found Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence River, the first lasting permanent settlement of New France.

1602 – The Spanish establish the mission Santa Catalina de Guale on St. Catherine’s Island off the northern coast of Georgia which becomes the headquarters for their mission efforts in the region.

1604 – France establishes the first settlement in what later becomes Acadie. Most of the colony’s settlers come from Brittany and Normandy.

1607 – The London Company reestablishes the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown.

The Plymouth Company establishes Popham Colony in what is now Maine, but the effort collapses within a year.

1608 – France establishes the colony of Canada at Quebec.  It ultimately develops into three districts governed from the settlements of Quebec, Montreal, and Trois-Rivieres.  The vast region west of Montreal centered on the Great Lakes and known as the Upper Country is dependent on the bigger colony.

1609 – The English attempt to colonize Grenada in June, but are driven out by the native Caribs and Galibis six months later.

1610 – Nueva España establishes Sante Fe as the capital of Nuevo Mexico.

1612 – The British establish a colony on Bermuda, originally as part of Virginia Colony; it remains a colony of the United Kingdom to this day.

       

The French establish the short-lived colony of France Equinoxiale, with its capital of Saint Louis, now Sao Luis, Brasil.

1616 – The Dutch found the colony of Essequibo on the northeastern coast of South America.

1620 – James VI & I designates the Atlantic coast from Acadie to Chesapeake Bay as New England.

Under the Merchant Adventurers of London, a group of English (church) Separatists known as Brownists (calling themselves the Saints) and a number of Anglicans accompanying the mission (whom the Brownists call the Strangers), along with number of individuals paying their own way (called Particulars), establish New Plymouth on land formerly occupied by the Wampanoag subtribe of the Patuxet, who had been wiped out by smallpox.  Later known as the Pilgrims, for the first two centuries the inhabitants of the colony are known as the Brownist Emigration.

1621 – Scots, primarily Highlanders, began immigrating into Acadie.

1622 – The Plymouth Company establishes the Province of Maine.

1623 – The English establish a colony on the island they call Saint Kitts, the same as Saint Christophe.

The English establish a short-lived colony at Cape Ann on Massachusetts Bay.

Another group of Strangers establishes a new colony on the site of Wessegusset, renaming it Weymouth.  Though its leader, Robert Gorges, returns to England after six months, the colony lasts until being absorbed by Massachusetts Bay in 1630.

1624 – The United Provinces of the Netherlands establishes Nieuw-Nederland.

       

James I of England revokes the London Company’s charter and it becomes a royal colony.

The Dutch Republic establishes the colony known as Dutch Formosa in the south of the island.

1625 – France reestablishes a colony on Saint Christophe.

1626 – The authorities of Nueva España in Manila establish a colony in northern Taiwan known as Spanish Formosa.  

1627 – France joins Acadie and Canada into the Viceroyalty of Nouvelle France.

The Dutch establish the colony of Berbice on the northeastern shore of South America.

1629 – The Plymouth Company divides off the western part of Maine as the Province of New Hampshire.

Scotland establishes the colony of Nova Scotia, at the time taking in all the area between Newfoundland and New England, but the land returns to France over two years.

Salem, founded in 1626, secedes from New Plymouth Colony and joins Massachusetts Bay Colony the next year.

France begins colonizing Cape Breton Island.

1630 – A group of English Puritans establishes Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The age of buccaneering begins when the Spanish drive a group of French from Hispanolia, after which they establish themselves on Tortuga.

1631 – The Swedish Empire establishes the short-lived colony of Zwaanendael at the mouth of the Delaware River.

A group of English Puritans establishes a colony of Providence Island in the Caribbean Sea off the Mosquito Coast.  They are driven out by the Spanish a decade later.

1632 – Lord Baltimore establishes the Palatinate of Maryland.

1635 – France colonizes Guadeloupe and Martinique.

John Winthrop, son of the Massachusetts governor, establishes the Saybrook Colony in what is now Connecticut.

1636 – Roger Williams founds the colony of Providence Plantation.

1637 – New Haven is established by a group of Puritans who believe the ones in Massachusetts Bay are too lax.

1638 – Sweden establishes Nya Sverige.

The Pawtuxet Purchase is added to Providence Plantation.

Pocasset is established by Anne Hutchinson and others on Aquideneck or Rhode Island.

New Haven and Exeter are established in the New England area.

1639 – Connecticut is formed by settlers in Windsor (originally Separatists from New Plymouth), Wethersfield, and Hartford.

Newport is founded on Aquideneck Island by William Coddington, John Clarke, and others.

Pocasset on Aquideneck Island becomes Portsmouth.

Charles I grants a patent to Lion Gardiner and his descendants for an independent proprietary colony adjacent to the later Maidstone (East Hampton) known as Gardiner's Island.

1641 – New Hampshire is absorbed by Massachusetts Bay.

1642 - The Colony of Maryland declares war on the Susquehannock.

Shawomet Plantation is founded by Samuel Gorton.

Spanish Formosa falls to its rival Dutch Formosa.

1643 – The United Colonies of New England, comprised of Massachusetts Bay, New Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut, is formed.

France colonizes Saint Lucie.

1644 – Saybrook is sold to Connecticut.

The separate settlements of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport unite as the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

1646 – The Susquehannock defeat the Colony of Maryland with help from Nya Sverige.

1648 – France colonizes Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy.

Shawomet becomes Warwick, in honor of Robert Rich 2nd Earl of Warwick, who granted it a charter establishing its separation from Massachusetts Bay and attachment to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

1649 – France colonizes the island of Grenada.

1650-1730 – The Golden Age of Piracy.

1650 – France colonizes Saint Croix.

1651 – The British establish the colony of Willoughbyland on the northeastern coast of South America.

The Knights Hospitaller of Malta purchase the islands of Saint-Christophe, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, and Saint Croix from the failed French Company of the American Islands, selling them to the French West India Company in 1665.

1653 – The Province of Virginia authorizes the Albemarle Settlements south of the Roanoke River, whose settlers are nearly all Virginians relocating south.

1654 – The Duchy of Courland colonizes Tobago. After Courland abandons the colony in 1690, the island changes hands 35 times.

1655 – The Dutch conquer Nya Sverige and add it to Nieuw-Nederland.

The English capture the Spanish colony of Santiago and establish the colony of Jamaica.

1656 – The French establish the colony of Saint-Domingue in the western third of Hispaniola, largely inhabited by people expelled from Acadie, in what was formerly the territory of mostly French buccaneers.

1663 – Nouvelle France becomes a province of France.

The Province of Carolina is founded by Lords Proprietor from England, named for Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland by his son and successor Charles II, with most of the original settlers coming from Virginia, New England, and Bermuda.  The Proprietors guarantee freedom of religion to “Jews, dissenters, and heathens” as well as Anglicans.  The province is divided into three counties: Albemarle in the north (later North Carolina), Clarendon (later South Carolina), and Craven (later Georgia, and including northern Florida).

The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is formed from Warwick, Newport, Portsmouth, and Providence.

1664 – The British capture Nieuw Amsterdam, and Nieuw-Nederland, comprising territory of the later colonies of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, falls to them. New York and New Jersey are established in the central part of the former Dutch colony.

New Haven becomes part of Connecticut.

The French establish the colony of (French) Guiana, which even today remains the territory of France.

The Corporation of Barbadian Adventurers establishes settlements on Cape Fear River (which they called Charles River), with their seat at Charles Towne near the mouth of Old Town Creek (then called Indian River).  By 1667, the settlements have failed due to lack of support from the Lords Proprietor and hostility of the local Indians.  Most of the would-be colonists of the Cape Fear settlements later form the core of the group known as the Goose Creek Men.

1665 – The Lords Proprietor get a new charter including the Albemarle Settlements, which later become the foundation for the later North Carolina.

1667 – The Dutch capture Willoughbyland, renaming it Suriname, later surrendering claim to New Amsterdam in return for being allowed to retain this colony.

1671 – The English establish the Colony of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea:  St. Christopher, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, and St. Vincent

1673 – The Dutch retake New York from the British and rename it Nieuw Orange, but return it a year later.

1674 – New Jersey is divided into East Jersey for Scots Presbyterians (primarily from Aberdeen and Montrose) and West Jersey as a royal colony.

The Franco-Dutch War takes place in the New World, ending with the Dutch occupation of Acadie as New Holland, an attempt ending two years later with the French again in full control of the area.

1680 – New Hampshire regains its individual identity.

1681 – William Penn establishes the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

1682 – The French establish Ft. Prudhome at Randolph, Alabama, and Fort Assumption on the Chickasaw Bluffs on the Mississippi River.

1684 – Stuarts Town and two counties carved out of the English colony of Carolina are settled by colonists from Scotland. The settlement is wiped out two years later by the Spanish and their Indian allies, though the survivors of an epidemic that brought their number down to 150 escape ahead of time after being warned by their Yamasee allies.

1685 – The Dominion of New England is formed by King James VII & II from the colonies of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey.

The French build Fort Saint Louis at the site of the current Iñez, Texas.

1688 – New Hampshire is again joined to Massachusetts Bay.

1689 – The Dominion of New England is dissolved into its constituent parts.

A force from the Nueva España province of Coahuila destroys Ft. St. Louis.

Martin Chartier establishes a trading post among the Shawnee at the Great Salt Lick on the Cumberland River, now the site of Nashville, Tennessee.

1690 – With the foundation of the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas (near the present Alto, Texas), Tejas is added to Nueva España as a virtually autonomous entity.

1691 – The northern part of Carolina is divided off as Albemarle.

New Hampshire once again regains its separate identity.

Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes a crown colony as the Province of Massachusetts Bay, absorbing New Plymouth, Nova Scotia/Acadia, New Brunswick, Nantuckett, Martha’s Vineyard, Maine, and the Elizabeth Islands.

1696 – Nova Scotia is returned to its status as a separate colony.

1697 – Scotland establishes the Colony of Caledonia in the Gulf of Darien region of Panama.  Its town is called New Edinburgh and its fort is named Fort St. Andrew, but it fails within a few years due to lack of support from Edinburgh and interference from the East India Company.

The Itza of Tayasal, the last independent people in Mesoamerica, falls to the Spanish under Ursua.

1698 - Col. Daniel Coxe is granted a patent for a colony called Carolana between the 31st and 36th parallels from the Carolinas to Nueva España.  He sends expeditions from England to Charlestown and the mouth of the Mississippi to cement his claims but is beaten by the French and the Spanish.

The Spanish in New Spain establish the city of Pensacola with the building of the Presidio Santa Maria Galve, which contains Fuerte de San Carlos de Austria and a village.  The new settlement is not under the administration of San Agustin; instead it answers to the central authority of New Spain in Mexico City and is supplied out of Vera Cruz as a separate colony.

1699 – The French establish La Louisiane in the Mississippi Valley, building Fort Maurepas at the present Ocean Springs (aka Old Biloxi).  Upper Louisiana (later known as Illinois Country), centered on Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, draws most of its settlers from Canada, while Lower Louisiana in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and West Tennessee draws its settlers from all over the empire

1702 – East and West Jersey are reunited as New Jersey once again.

The French build Fort Louise de la Louisiane at Mobile.

The Spanish missions in the provinces of Guale and Mocama collapse under pressure from English privateers from the colonies of Virginia and Carolina and attacks by their Indian allies, with the survivors fleeing to the safety of San Agustin.

1704 – The Three Lower Counties on the Delaware River are established as an autonomous entity within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

1706 - English buccaneers establish the Republic of Pirates on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas.  It lasts until 1718.

1712 – The northern and southern districts of the Province of Carolina become virtually separate colonies.  Albemarle becomes North Carolina and Clarendon and Craven become South Carolina. 

France dissolves Nouvelle France into Canada, Acadie, Plaisance (Newfoundland), Hudson Bay, and La Louisiane.

1713 – Great Britain gains the former French territories of Nova Scotia (Acadie), Rupert’s Land (Hudson Bay), and Newfoundland (Plaisance) in the Treaty of Utrecht.

France responds by establishing the colony of Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island), which includes Ile Saint Jean (Prince Edward Island). 

1714 – The French establish Fort Charleville at the Great Salt Lick on the Wasioto (later Cumberland) River and Ft. Toulouse near the later site of Montgomery, Alabama.

1716 – The French build Ft. Rosalie at Natchez.

1717 – The Spanish create the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada comprising the territory of the later Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama.

The various scattered settlements in the Bahamas, mostly former or current buccaneer or pirate settlements, become a single British colony.

Robert Montgomery proposes a buffer colony between Carolina and La Florida on 400 square miles between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers called the Margravate of Azilia, but the effort never gets past planning because of funding.

1718 – The French establish La Nouvelle-Orleans as the capital of La Louisiane.

1719 – The French build Ft. St. Pierre at Yazoo, Mississippi.

The colonists of South Carolina appeal to the king to make them a royal colony with a royal governor.

1723 – The French rebuild Ft. Louis at Mobile as Ft. Conde.

1728 – The boundary between Virginia and North Carolina is settled by surveyor William Byrd.

1729 – In the Province of Carolina, Albemarle County officially becomes a separate colony as North Carolina, while Clarendon and Craven Counties become the colony of South Carolina.

1733 – Oglethorpe establishes the colony of Georgia in the former Craven County of South Carolina, originally as a slave-free colony of former indentured servants and penal prisoners.

1736 – Scottish Highlanders settle Darien District in Georgia (the town was originally called New Inverness), at the request of James Oglethorpe to serve as a buffer between the English colony and the Spanish.

The French establish Ft. Tombecbe on the Tombigbee River in Alabama.

1738 – Governor Manuel de Montiano of La Florida establishes Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, or Fort Mose, two miles north of San Agustin as a free settlement for runaway slaves escaped from the British colonies of South Carolina and Georgia.  It is the first free black settlement in what would become the continental United States.  Captured by a British force of the 42nd Highlanders, colonial rangers from Georgia, and Creek and Yuchi auxiliaries in 1740 during the War of Jenkin’s Ear, it was destroyed in the subsequent Battle of Fort Mose, in which a combined force of 300 Spanish regulars, free black militia, and Seminole auxiliaries almost entirely wiped out the occupying force.  Rebuilt in 1752, it was inhabited until the Treaty of Paris in 1763 which ended the French and Indian War and saw Florida turned over to the British.

1739 – Three hundred fifty people from Islay, Gigha, and Kintyre settle Argyll Colony on Upper Cape Fear in North Carolina.  It was the vanguard of a wave of immigration and settlement from the Highlands which would give the nickname Valley of the Scots to the region.

1748 – Nueva España begins creating the colony of Nuevo Santander.

1752 – The Dutch establish the colony of Demerara on the northeastern coast of South America, linking their other colonies of Essequibo and Berbice.

1754 – The Danish settlements in the Virgin Islands become a colony.

1755 – Le Grand Dérangement: Great Britain expels over 12,000 Acadians from Nova Scotia, most of whom settle in the Mississippi River delta where they become known as Cajuns.

1758 – Great Britain establishes the colony of St. John’s Island, formerly part of Acadie, after expelling its Acadian population.

1762 – France cedes La Nouvelle-Orleans and La Louisiane west of the Mississippi to Spain.

1763 – At the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War, France cedes Nouvelle France, La Grenade, and La Louisiane east of the Mississippi to Great Britain.

Spain cedes its territory east of the Mississippi, including La Florida and Nueva Orleans, to Great Britain.

The British divide Florida into East and West, with capitals at St. Augustine and Pensacola respectively. They rename Ft. Conde as Ft. Charlotte and Ft. Tombecbe as Ft. York.

Canada is renamed Quebec.

La Grenade is renamed Grenada.

Brasil officially becomes a viceroyalty of Portugal.

France attempts to colonize French Guiana with thousands of settlers, but within a year and a half only a few hundred remain, taking refuge on the islands of Royale, Saint Joseph, and Diable.

1764 – A colony called Charlotiana is proposed for the area later known by the United States of America as the Northwest Territory.

1765 – British settlers in the Yucatan peninsula organize under the name the Settlement of Belize and adopt their own code of law known as Burnaby’s Code.

1766 – A French trapper name Timothy Demonbreun establishes a trading post at the French (Great) Salt Lick on the Cumberland River that  is still there when James Robertson and others arrive to build Fort Nashborough.

1769 – Nueva España establishes the Presidio de San Diego and the mission San Diego de Acala.

St. John’s Island is separated from Nova Scotia.

Lands south and west of the Ohio River are proposed for a colony to be called Vandalia; the proposed colony was an outgrowth of an earlier scheme for a colony called Indiana.

1770 – Nueva España establishes the El Presidio Real de San Carlos de Monterey and the nearby Mission San Carlos Borromeo Carmelo.

1772 – Virginian French Huguenots, North Carolina Regulators, and others from both colonies living in the North Holston, Watauga, Nolichucky, and Carter’s Valleys of what is now East Tennessee form the Watauga Association.

1773 – Nueva España establishes the Province of California.

1775 – The American Revolution begins, with the United Colonies declaring independence within a year.

1776 – The Three Lower Counties, long independent for all practical purposes, finally get an official identity as Delaware.

Westsylvania (modern West Virginia plus the southwest corner of Pennsylvania) secedes from Virginia and Pennsylvania but fails to gain recognition from the Continental Congress.

Nueva España builds the El Presidio Real de San Francisco.

The Spanish establish the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata, including what is now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia.

The Viceroyalty of Nueva España establishes the Comandancia y Capitanía General de las Provincias Internas, composed of the provinces of Nuevo Leon, Sinora y Sinaloa, Nueva Vizcaya, Las Californias, Nuevo Mexico, and Nuevo Santander, Nueva Extremadura.

1777 – After being disputed over for decades by Nouvelle France, New Netherlands, New York, Massachusetts Bay, and New Hampshire, the Republic of Vermont declares independence upon seceding from New York, originally naming itself New Connecticut.

The Watauga Association dissolves in order to become Washington County of North Carolina.  Its territories included the former Washington District west of the Appalachians as well as the territories of the modern Allegheny, Ashe, and Watauga Counties in North Carolina.

1779 - The British create the colony of New Ireland from territory captured from the state of Massachusetts in what is now Maine.  It returns to Massachusetts with the treaty of 1783.

1780 – Pendelton District and Carter’s Valley become part of Washington County, North Carolina.

James Robertson of Washington County establishes the Cumberland Compact at the Great Salt Lick.

Nueva España renames Ft. Charlotte as Ft. Carlota.

1782 – Nueva España establishes El Presidio Real de Santa Barbara.

1783 – At the conclusion of the American Revolution, Great Britain recognizes the independence of the United States of America, and cedes the Floridas back to Spain.  All other territory south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River belongs to the new government, with the exception of the Republic of Vermont.

At this time, the United States of America includes New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Nueva España builds Ft. Nogales at the mouth of the Yazoo River.

The Cumberland Compact becomes Davidson County of North Carolina, though for all intents and purposes remains virtually independent.

Gardiner's Island comes under the jurisdiction of East Hampton, though Lion Gardiner's descendants retain possession of the entire island to this day, held under the original patent.

1784 – Maine becomes part of the state of Massachusetts.

Russia establishes its first outpost in Alaska at Three Saints Bay.

The British divide the colony of Nova Scotia into Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Cape Breton Island.

The Settlement of Belize receives its first Superintendent.

1785 – Washington County (the former Watauga Association settlements on the Watauga and Nolichucky Rivers, plus the later Allegheny, Ashe, and Watauga Counties of western North Carolina) secedes from North Carolina as the State of Franklin.

1787 – The Continental Congress establishes the (Old) Northwest Territory, which later becomes Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa (and part of Minnesota).

The British establish the Province of Freedom and the Old Town of Granville in the later Sierra Leone for poor blacks in London, the majority of whom are former slaves in the Americas freed during the Revolution.  The effort lasts but two years, when the settlement is destroyed by the the Kingdom of Koya.  The town of Granville was later re-established some distance away.

1789 – Nuevo España establishes Santa Cruz de Nuca on Vancouver Island as the local seat of the Territorio de San Lorenzo de Nutca, claiming for that territory the coast and its hinterlands from Alta California to parallel 61 N.  The expansion attempt ends in 1795.

1790 – The State of Franklin collapses and those settlements, along with those in the Cumberland region, become part of North Carolina, which in turn cedes the area to the United States to become the (Old) Southwest Territory, later the State of Tennessee.

1791 – The Republic of Vermont joins the United States.

Canada is divided into English-speaking Upper Canada and French-speaking Lower Canada.

The slave revolt which culminates in the Haitian Revolution begins.

1792 – The long autonomous Kentucky County secedes from Virginia to become a State.

The Nova Scotian Settlers, Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia originally from South Carolina and the Caribbean, establish the Colony of Freetown (now the Settler Town district of the City of Freetown) on the original site of Granville Town.  The Old Settlers of New Granville merge into the new colony though they remain in place.

1794 – Nueva España establishes Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas at Chickasaw Bluffs, and rebuilds Fort York as Fort Confederacion.

Robespierre’s 193 surviving followers are sent to French Guiana.

1795 – The Indians in Spanish-held La Florida and southern Georgia declare independence as the State of Muskogee.

1796 – The British capture the Dutch colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice.

Nueva España abandons Ft. San Fernando de las Barrancas.

1797 – The island of Trinidad passes from Spain to the United Kingdom.

1798-1800 – The United States of America and the Republic of France fight the naval Franco-American War.

1798 – The United Kingdom renames St. John’s Island as Prince Edward Island.

1799 – The Russian Empire forms its possessions in Alaska into the colony of Russkaya America.

1800 – Spain returns (western) La Louisiane to France.

Jamaican Maroons, former rebels transported to Nova Scotia, arrive in Freetown and are given land that becomes Maroon Town.

1801 – The Haitian rebels capture Santo Domingo and control the whole island.

1802 – Georgia cedes its western territory to the United States, which later becomes the larger part of Mississippi and Alabama.

The United States of America takes control of Ft. Confederacion and renames it as Ft. Confederation.

1803 – The United States purchases La Louisiane from France, territory which later becomes (the remainder of) Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, most of Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, along with half of Colorado, most of Wyoming, and the northeast corner of New Mexico state.

Spain disputes the right of France to cede the territory between the Calcasieu River (Arroyo Hondo) on the east to the Sabine River on the west, which it claims as part of the Viceroyalty of Nueva España.

1804 – Nueva España’s province of California is divided into Nueva (later Alta) California (primarily territory of the later USA state of California) and Vieja (later Baja) California.

At the end of the slave revolution begun in the French colony of Saint-Domingue begun in 1791, the Republic of Haiti becomes independent.

1806 – An agreement between James Wilkinson, newly-appointed American governor of Louisiana Territory, and Simon de Herrera, Spanish military commander in East Tejas, sets aside the disputed territory between the Calcasieu and Sabine Rivers as neutral ground, creating what is later called the Sabine Free State.  The majority of its inhabitants are a mixed-race ethnic group called the Redbones.

1808 – The British establish the Crown Colony of Sierra Leone, taking in Freetown, Granville, Maroon Town, and surrounding lands.

1810 – The Republic of West Florida, in reality confined to the four districts of Spanish West Florida west of the Pearl River, rebels against Nueva España and three months later becomes a territory of the United States.

1812 - The United States of America forcibly annexes the Mobile District of Spanish West Florida, between the Pearl and Perdido Rivers.

Russkaya Amerika establishes Fort Ross in Alta California in what is now Sonoma County.

1813 – The United States of America renames Ft. Carlota as Ft. Charlotte.

1814 – The British unite Essequibo and Demerara as one colony.

After it changes hands 35 times, Tobago comes under British rule.

After the break-up of its 500 year union with Norway, Denmark inherits Greenland (along with Iceland and the Faroes).

1815 – The Portugese gain control from Spain of the area called Banda Oriental, which it renames Cisplatina.

1816 – Jose de San Martin leads Argentina to independence from Spain.

The Russian American Company builds a fort and settlement on Oahu in the Hawai’ian Islands, but are soon expelled.  After this, the Russians relocate to Kaua’i, where they build Fort Elizabeth, Fort Alexander, and Fort Barclay-de-Tolly, only to be expelled by the end of 1817.

1818 – With the help of San Martin, Bernardo O’Higgins leads Chile to independence along with Manuel Rodriguez and Thomas Cochrane.

The American army of Andrew Jackson captures the capital of the State of Muskogee, ending both the State and the First Seminole War.

1819 – In the Adams-Onis Treaty, the Spanish cede East Florida to the United States, their claims to West Florida, their claims to Oregon Country (Territorio de Nutca—later El Orejon—to Spain, Columbia District to the UK:  Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia), and their claims to the neutral ground of the Sabine Free State.  In return, the United States surrenders its claims on Tejas/Texas west of the Sabine River.

Simon Bolivar leads the movement to turn the Viceroyalty of New Granada into the Republic of Gran Colombia.

1820 – Maine is separated from Massachusetts to become a state. Cape Breton Island is rejoined to Nova Scotia.

The first settlement of the American Colonization Society (ACS), dedicated to returning free blacks and former slaves to Africa, is established on the Grain (Pepper) Coast just south of Sierra Leone as Christopolis, later renamed Monrovia in honor of the American president.

1821 – The Adams-Onis Treaty goes into effect, and the Sabine Free State becomes part of the U.S. State of Louisiana.

Nueva España gains its independence from Spain as the Empire of Mexico; its original territory includes all of Central America.

The western two-thirds of Hispaniola declares independence as Haiti Español, but instead of gaining admission into Gran Colombia is captured by the forces of Toussaint Louveture.

1822 – The Empire of Brasil declares independence from Portugal.

Uruguay declares independence from Spain.

Monrovia becomes the seat of the Colony of Liberia.

1823 – The Federal Republic of Central America (República Federal de Centroamérica), comprised of Guatemala (then including a large part of Chiapas), El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Los Altos (west highlands of Guatemala and Chiapas) is established.

A revolt against the Empire of Mexico establishes the United Mexican States.

1824 – The state of Coahuila y Tejas is established as one of the United Mexican States.

Antonio Jose de Sucre leads the Republic of Peru to independence, with help from San Martin and Bolivar of Venezuela.

1825 – Bolivar and Sucre lead the Republic of Bolivia to independence from Spain.

The ACS establishes St. Paul’s Settlement (later Caldwell) and New Georgia on opposite sides of the St. Paul River on the Grain Coast.

1827 – The ACS establishes the colony of Marshall on the Grain Coast.

1828 – The region called Cisplatina gains its independence from the Empire of Brasil to become Uruguay.

The ACS establishes the colonies of Millsburg and Kentucky-in-Africa on the Grain Coast.

1830 – The Federation of Gran Colombia dissolves into the United States of Colombia, the United States of Venezuela, and the State of Ecuador.

1831 – The British unite Essequibo-Demerara with Berbice into British Guiana.

1832 – The ACS establishes the colonies of Edina and Port Cresson on the Grain Coast.

1834 – The ACS establishes the colony of Maryland-in-Africa on the Grain Coast.

1835 – Port Cresson is destroyed by the Bassa, prompting its residents to relocate and establish the colony of Bassa Cove (later Buchanan).

The ACS establishes Mississippi-in-Africa (later Sinoe) on the Grain Coast.

1836 – The Department of Tejas, now separate from that of Coahuila, announces its secession from the Republic of Mexico and is eventually successful at establishing its independence as the Republic of Texas, while voting at the same time to join the United States.

1837 – The colony of Edina becomes part of Bassa Cove, but retains its separate identity.

1838 – The ACS establishes the colonies of Greenville and Bexley on the Grain Coast.

1839 – Monrovia, New Georgia, Caldwell, Millsburg, Marshall, Bexley, Bassa Cove, and Edina join together as the Commonwealth of Liberia.

1840 – The Republic of the Rio Grande, composed of the Departments of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaluipas, secedes from the Republic of Mexico, but the effort collapses within the year. The Republic of Yucatan does likewise and is somewhat more successful.

Upper Canada and Lower Canada are reunited.

The Federal Republic of Central America dissolves into its constituent parts.

1841 – Russia establishes Fort Ross fifty miles north of San Francisco.

Maryland-in-Africa becomes the State of Maryland.

1842 – The Commonwealth of Liberia annexes Mississippi-in-Africa.

1843 – Yucatan reenters the Republic of Mexico.

1844 – The Dominican Republic becomes independent of Haiti.

1845 – The Republic of Texas enters the United States, bringing the territory of the present state, the southeast third of the current state of New Mexico, part of Colorado and Wyoming, and the panhandle of Oklahoma.

The Republic of Yucatan once again declares its independence from Mexico.

John O’Sullivan weaves the ideologies of United States expansionism, American exceptionalism, and romantic nationalism into the doctrine of Manifest Destiny.

1846 – The United States acquires unchallenged title to Oregon Country, which later makes up Washington, Oregon, Idaho, the northwest corner of Montana, and part of Wyoming.

The Republic of California declares independence, which ends twenty-five days later with the arrival of the U.S. military.

1847 – The Commonwealth of Liberia becomes independent of American control as the Republic of Liberia.

1848 – At the end of the Mexican-American War, Mexico cedes the provinces of Sante Fe de Nuevo Mexico and Alta California and the territory of Apacheria to the United States; these later become Arizona, Nevada, Utah, part of the current state of New Mexico, the remainders of Colorado and Wyoming, and ending claims to the already independent and U.S.-held California.

Nova Scotia becomes autonomous.

The colony of British Columbia is established.

Yucatan again reenters the Republic of Mexico.

1849 – The British establish the colony of Vancouver Island.

1852 – Frenchman Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon leads an expedition into Mexico attempting to wrest independence for the State of Sonora, but is repulsed.

1853 – In the Gadsden Purchase, Mexico cedes its claims to the southern part of Arizona and the southwest corner of New Mexico.

1854 – Newfoundland becomes autonomous.

Filibuster William Walker seizes control of the Mexican territory of Baja California in late 1853 and establishes the Republic of Baja California on the basis of the laws of Louisiana.  Three months later, he establishes the Republic of Sonora, though he never controlled that state and merges the first into the latter.  The “republic” collapses in early May.

Raousset-Boulbon leads another failed filibuster expedition into Sonora, this time losing his life along with the fight.

The State of Maryland on the Grain Coast becomes independent of American control as the Republic of Maryland.

1857 – An insurgency of the Kru and the Grebo forces the formerly independent Republic of Maryland to join the Republic of Liberia.

1861 - Eleven states in the Union, Indian Territory, and Arizona Territory secede and become the Confederate States of America in order to preserve slavery.

1862 – The French conquer Mexico and establish the Second Mexican Empire.

The Settlement of Belize becomes the Crown Colony of British Honduras.

In the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln of the U.S.A. plans a colony called Lincolnia in Chiriqui Province (Isthmus of Panama) of the Republic of New Grenada (Colombia) for free blacks and emancipated slaves.  Of the 500 volunteers recruited to pioneer the colony, some 349 emigrate, but the effort is halted by protests from the countries of Central America.

1865 - With its loss at the end of the War Between the States, the states and territories of the Confederacy return to the Union.  A number of ex-Confederates emigrate rather than surrender, establishing colonies in Latin America. 

New Virginia in the French-controlled Empire of Mexico along with smaller settlements in the northern border provinces 

New Richmond and ten smaller settlements in British Honduras

Medina in Spanish Honduras

New Manasses in Peru

Orinoco City, Las Tablas, Santa Cruz, Caroni, Paragua, Carratel, and Pattisonville in the 240,000 square mile Price Grant in Venezuela

Two groups established settlements in Cuba and in Costa Rica.

The largest group, some ten to twenty thousand, settled in the Empire do Brasil at the invitation of the emperor.  While many stayed in Rio de Janeiro, others founded the settlements of Norris Colony near Santa Barbara; Gunter Colony on Lake Jurapaña and Rio Doce; Gaston Colony near Xiririca; Lizzieland on the Juquia River; New Texas on the Sao Lourenco River; Parangua on the Assunguy River; and Santarem at the confluence of the Amazon River and Rio Tapaj.

With the exception of Los Confederados do Brazil, few of the expatriate colonies lasted more than a few years.  The ex-Confederates in British Honduras either repatriated or assimilated.  Los Confederados remains a large ethnic group in Brasil, with its center at Americana, the former Norris Colony.

1867 – Russia sells Alaska to the United States.

The United Kingdom establishes the autonomous Confederation of Canada.

The Republic is restored in Mexico when the Juaristas drive out the French.

1870 – The Hudson Bay Company cedes Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory to Canada.

1873 – Prince Edward Island, after considering joining the United States of America, joins the Confederation of Canada.

1886 – The United States of Colombia becomes the Republic of Colombia.

French settlers establish the short-lived Republique de Guyane Independente on the coast of Brasil, commonly called Courani after its capital. It folds three years later.

1889 – Trinidad and Tobago are united into a single colony.

1893 – A group of American businessmen bring about a coup d’etat against the reigning monarch in the Hawaii Islands and establishes the Republic of Hawai’i.

1898 – The United States of America annexes the Republic of Hawai’i.

At the end of the Spanish-American War, Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States of America, with the rest of Spain’s Pacific possessions going mostly to the German Empire.

1899 – The United States of America annexes Wake and American Samoa.

1900 – Tutuila Island and Aunuu Island become part of American Samoa.

1901 – Cuba becomes an independent nation.

1903 – The United State of America instigates a revolution that results in a Republic of Panama independent of Colombia in order to gain territory to build a canal between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

1904 – Manua becomes part of American Samoa.

1907 – Newfoundland, still a colony of Great Britain, becomes independent.

1914 – The Panama Canal opens under total United States of America jurisdiction.

1917 – The United States of America buys the Virgin Islands from Denmark.

1919 – Germany’s Pacific possessions, previously held by Spain, fall to the Empire of Japan, including German Samoa, the Northern Marianas Islands, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau.

1925 – Swains Island becomes part of American Samoa.

1935 – Jarvis Island becomes permanent territory of the United States of America.

The Philippine Islands become a theoretically autonomous republic in domestic affairs, though still a protectorate of the United States of America.

1946 – The Republic of the Philippines becomes completely independent of the United States of America, at least by law.

1947 – Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas Islands, Micronesia, and Palau become a U.N. Trusteeship of the United States of America.

1949 – Newfoundland joins the Confederation of Canada.

1962 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes an independent Commonwealth nation.

1966 – British Guiana becomes independent as the Republic of Guyana.

1973 – The Bahamas becomes fully independent.

British Honduras changes its name to Belize.

1975 – Suriname becomes fully independent.

1976 – Trinidad and Tobago leaves the Commonwealth to become a republic.

1978 – The Northern Marianas Islands becomes a protectorate of the United States of America with much the same status as Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

1979 – The Republic of the Marshall Islands becomes theoretically independent of the United States of America, but remains an “Associated State”.

The Panama Canal comes under joint control of Panama as well as the United States of America.

1981 – Belize becomes independent. 

1986 – The Federated States of Micronesia becomes theoretically independent of the United States of America but remains an “Associated State”.

1994 – The Republic of Palau becomes theoretically independent of the United States of America but remains an “Associated State”.

1999 – Panama assumes total control of the Canal.