Christopher Columbus, financed by Spain, makes the first of four voyages to the New World.
The first Spanish missions to what is now Florida begin soon after the Jesuit Foundation of St. Augustine.
Sir Walter Raleigh sends a reconnaissance fleet to what is now North Carolina. In the following year, he authorises a colonising expedition to Roanoke Island, naming the new territory Virginia for the 'Virgin Queen', Elizabeth I. Unable to sustain themselves, the colonists return to England after 10 months
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, is established in Virginia by the London Company.
A Dutch trading post (New Amsterdam) is set up on the lower end of Manhattan Island.
Smallpox wipes out 90% of Native Americans in Massachusetts bay. Imported disease became a major cause of the devastation of the indigenous population.
Twenty African indentured servants are brought to Jamestown.
The Plymouth colony is established in Massachusetts by a group of separatists from the Church of England. The rules of the community are agreed by the 'Mayflower Compact' and signed by the 41 men who travelled on the ship of that name.
