1603. June 2. Martin Pring, of England, sighted the islands of Maine and Massachusetts Bay, entering the present harbor of Plymouth.

1604. Samuel de Champlain, in the interest of the French, ascended the Penobscot River, Maine.

1605. George Waymouth, sailing from Dartmouth, explored the Kennebec.

1606. April 10. Sir Fernando Gorges despatched an expedition under Thomas Hanam.

1607. April 26. An English expedition for colonization, left the Downs January 1, 1607, and reached Chesapeake Bay. It consisted of the "Susan Constant," Captain Christopher Newport, with 71 persons; "God-Speed," Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, with 52 persons; "Discovery," Captain John Ratcliffe, with 20 persons; crews, 39; total, 105 persons. May 13, landed, and settled Jamestown, Virginia.

The political history of the United States begins with the founding of Jamestown. 1609. Expedition of Thomas West (Lord de la Ware) arrived at Jamestown, Virginia.

1609. August 28. Hendrik Hudson, under the auspices of the East India Company (Dutch), entered Delaware Bay, September 4, and discovered and entered the Hudson River (New York). 1609. July 29. Champlain reached Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. 1610. The Dutch sent six ships and occupied New Amsterdam (New York).

1614. Captain John Smith explored the coast from "Cape Cod" to the "Penobscot River," and gave the name, "New England," to the country.

1618. Danes emigrated, making a settlement at "Bergen,” on the Hudson River. The first settlement in New Jersey.

1618. Jean Nicolet of Cherbourg, France, entered Lake Michigan, and coasted south to "Grand Bay," an inlet on its western shore.

1620. November 11. A large number of the English congregation at Leyden, formed of PURITANS, who sailed from Holland in July, anchored in the harbor of " Cape Cod." They named the place "New Plymouth." This was the first permanent settle

ment in New England.

1623. First settlement in New Hampshire at Little Harbor, on the Piscataqua, by a Scotchman named David Thomson.

1624. June 16. The charter of the London Company dissolved.

1627. Swedes and Finns landed at Cape Henlopen, and purchased from the natives the land from that cape to the falls of the

Delaware.

1628. Foundation of the colony of Massachusetts laid.

"The Council

for New England," March 19, sold to six residents of Dorchester, England, a belt of land stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, extending three miles south of the river Charles and Massachusetts Bay, and three miles north of every part of the Merrimac River. John Endicott, as governor, laid the foundation of Salem, the first permanent town in Massachusetts.

1629. November 7. John Mason procured a patent granting him the territory between the Merrimac and Piscataqua rivers; afterward called "New Hampshire."

1631. March 19. The Earl of Warwick's grant of land (1630), afterward formed into and known as the "Connecticut Colony "; assigned over to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brooke, John Hampden, and others.

1632. June 20. Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, granted a patent by King Charles I. of the tract of land bounded by the ocean, the fortieth degree of latitude, the meridian of the western head of the Potomac, the river itself from its source to its mouth, and a line drawn due east from Watkins Point to the Atlantic, now known as "Maryland."

1643. The colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut united in a confederation for amity, offence, and defence, and mutual advice and assistance, under the title of "The United Colonies of New England."

1643. The English Parliament passed an ordinance appointing the Earl of Warwick governor-in-chief and lord-high-admiral of the American colonies.

1655. The Dutch, under Governor Stuyvesant, sailed from New Amsterdam against the Swedes on the Delaware. The Dutch victorious; the Swedes not taking the oath of allegiance to the Dutch returned to Sweden.

1659. Medard Chouart (Sieur des Groseilliers) and Pierre d'Esprit (Sieur Radisson) traversed the southern shores of Lake Superior.

1662. April 23. Connecticut Colony obtained a charter from King Charles II.

1663. A charter granted by King Charles II. to the Earl of Clarendon

and associates for colonizing and government of the country lying between 31 and 36 degrees north latitude. The province of" Carolina."

1663. November 24. A charter conferred on "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" by King Charles II.

1664. March 12. King Charles II. granted a patent to his brother, Duke of York and Albany, for several tracts of land north and west of the Hudson River. —June 23, 24. A part of the territory "New Jersey was reconveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.

1664. August. An English expedition under Richard Nichols demanded the surrender by the Dutch of New Amsterdam (New York City). Articles of capitulation signed August 27.-September 24, the Dutch at Fort Orange surrendered. - October 1, the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware capitulated.

The English now exercised dominion over all New Netherlands.

1668. The Province of Maine placed under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, upon application of its inhabitants.

1668. First permanent settlement in "Michigan" by Father Marquette, a French missionary who established a mission at Sault Ste. Marie.

1673. Incident to the war between Holland and England, the Dutch despatched an expedition to destroy the commerce of the English-American colonies. They ravaged the coast of Virginia, and compelled the surrender of New York, thereby regaining possession of all New Netherlands. A treaty of peace the following year restored New Netherlands to the English.

1673. The Mississippi explored by Fathers James Marquette and Louis Joliet.

1679. La Salle built a ship, "The Griffin," on the Niagara River, and sailed into Lake Erie, the first vessel ever seen on the lakes. He crossed the lake, through Lake Huron into Lake Michigan, where he constructed a trading house at Mackinaw.

1680. By orders from England, New Hampshire was set apart from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and erected into a separate

province. The first provincial assembly convened at Portsmouth, March 16.

1680. Upper part of Mississippi River explored by Father Louis Hennepin.

1681. March 4.

William Penn received from King Charles II. a charter and grant of lands lying between Delaware Bay and River and the Province of Maryland, - "Pennsylvania." Colony arrived and settled above the confluence of the Schuylkill and the Delaware rivers.

1681. M. de la Salle descended the Illinois River to the Mississippi, went down that stream to the sea, and on May 14 took possession

of all the country watered by that river for the King of France. Named "Louisiana."

1683. Controversy between Massachusetts and England concerning collection of royal customs at Boston.

1684. October 23. The High Court of Chancery in England gave judgment for the king against the colony of Massachusetts;

their charter declared forfeited, and the liberties of the colonists seized into the hands of the king.

1685. King Charles succeeded by his brother, James II. A quo warranto issued against the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut.

1686. Attorney-general of England ordered to prosecute writs of quo warranto against East and West Jersey, as King James, designing to establish an arbitrary government for New York, deprived that province of its immunities.

1686. December 19. Sir Edmund Andros arrived at Boston with the king's commission for the government of New England. He

dissolved the government of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and assumed the administration.

1687. October. Andros went to Hartford, accompanied by his troops, when the General Assembly was in session, and demanded the surrender of the Connecticut charter. This was the charter that was preserved through the zeal of Captain Wadsworth of Hartford, and secreted in the hollow of the "Charter" oak

tree.

1688. The inhabitants of Massachusetts despatched an agent to King James to protest against the oppressive administration of Andros.

1689. April. The people of Boston and surrounding country rose in arms, seized and imprisoned Andros and others, reinstating the old magistrates in power. The Rhode Island freemen, hearing the action of Boston, met at Newport, May 1 (1689), voted to resume their charter, and replaced. all the old deposed officials of the colony. Connecticut reëstablished her colonial

government. New York was controlled by a committee of safety until the new king should establish the form of government, - King James having abdicated and been succeeded by William and Mary.

1692. Right granted by King William to Connecticut and Rhode Island to resume their old charters, and a new charter given to Massachusetts, under which the colony of Plymouth united, and the jurisdiction of Massachusetts extended over the provinces of Maine, Nova Scotia, and other territories.

1698. Louis XIV. of France projected a settlement of a colony in Louisiana, and sent over two vessels to gather information.

1701. Sieur de la Motte Cadillac (French), June 24, arrived at and settled "Detroit," Michigan; the first permanent settlement in Michigan.

1702. East and West Jersey united by Queen Anne under one government, receiving the name of "New Jersey."

1729. Province of Carolina divided, and two distinct governments instituted, i.e. North and South Carolina.

1732. Corporation formed in England, receiving a charter from King George II. for the colonization of the country between South Carolina and Florida.

1733. In February, James Oglethorpe, one of the Georgia trustees, arrived, and laid out Savannah.

1756. First permanent settlement in Tennessee, about thirty miles from "Knoxville."

1761. In Massachusetts the royal authorities and people disputed concerning proposed arbitrary methods of collecting customs, engendering bitter feeling against the government.

1763. February 10. Treaty at Paris between France, Spain, and England. France relinquished her claims to all territory east of the Mississippi River, and was confirmed in her right to the country west of that river. Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain, and all its title to territory east of the Mississippi.

1764. By a treaty concluded between Spain and France, all of Louisiana was ceded to Spain.

1764. Protests forwarded to England against the act of the House of Commons that the government had the right to tax the American colonists without their representation in Parliament, the tax carrying severe penalties.