Contact and Settlement (1000-1700) With Columbus’ “discovery” of America in 1492 came the beginning of an era filled with exploration and settlement. Many groups came to the Americas seeking God, gold and glory but ended up finding only harsh environments and even death*

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1000 • Leif Ericson explores the east coast of North America

1215 • The Magna Carta document is adopted in England

1492 • October 12 – Christopher Columbus makes his first voyage to the New World

1497 • John Cabot of England explores the Atlantic coast of Canada

1513 • Ponce de Leon of Spain lands in Florida

1517 • Martin Luther launches the Protestant Reformation in Europe

1519 • Hernando Cortes conquers the Aztec empire 1519-1522 • Ferdinand Magellan and his crew            are the first people to sail around the world

1524 • Giovanni da Varrazano explores the Carolina area, Hudson River, Narragansett Bay, and                  Nova Scotia

1541 • Hernando de Soto of Spain discovers the Mississippi River

1565 • St. Augustine, the first permanent colony in Florida by the Spanish

1585 • Roanoke Island settled by Sir Walter Raleigh

1590 • Roanoke colony vanishes, leaving only “Croaton” carved on a tree

1606 • The London Company sponsors a colonizing expedition to Virginia

1607 • Jamestown is founded in Virginia by the colonists of the London Company