HISTORY TIMELINE

During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the Spanish Empire.

myth: America was discovered in 1492 because Europeans were starting to get curious about the outside world thanks to the Renaissance and Enlightenment

In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, a group of 104 English men and boys began a settlement on the banks of Virginia's James River. They were sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, whose stockholders hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World. The community suffered terrible hardships in its early years, but managed to endure, earning the distinction of being America's first permanent English colony.

The Thirteen Colonies in order of settlement
1607 – Virginia
1620--Plymouth
1626 – New York
1633 – Maryland
1636 – Rhode Island
1636 – Connecticut
1638 – Delaware
1638 – New Hampshire
1653 – North Carolina
1663 – South Carolina
1664 – New Jersey
1682 – Pennsylvania
1732 – Georgia

On this day in 1620, William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgirms landed at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Mayflower transported the first English Pilgrims to America, with 102 passengers. When the Pilgrims disembarked, they founded the Plymouth Colony. The Plymouth Colony, along with Jamestown, Virginia, was one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/columbus.htm
http://historyisfun.org/Jamestown-Settlement.htmhttp://todayinhistory.tumblr.com/post/14578679513/december-21st-1620-mayflower-pilgrims-land-at-plymouth