This is a list of the times people explored the Americas or made significant changes in travel or territory.
- 14,000 yrs ago: Humans cross Bering Land Bridge, entering Alaska.
- 12,000 yrs ago: Humans from Alaska spread over new areas and fully colonize the New World; New wave of migrations arrive in Chile by boat
- 10,000 yrs ago: Last migration of the Na-Dene peoples into North America
- 1000 AD: Leif Erikson lands at Newfoundland, Canada, and sets up a colony there. He and other Viking explorers like Thorfinn Karlsefni may have also sailed all the way to New England.
- 1492 AD: Columbus goes on his famous voyage to ‘the Indies’ but lands in the Caribbean. He sets up a slave trade and profits hugely on it. He also sets up the encomienda system which would enslave Native Americans
- 1519-1542 AD: Conquistadors explore North and South America, destroying the Aztec and Incan empires
- 1579: Francis Drake claims New Albion, California as a territory for England.
- 1585 AD: Famous ‘Lost’ Colony is founded at Roanoke, Virginia. No one knows what happened to the colony, as they vanished leaving the word ‘Crotoan’ on a tree.
- 1620 AD: Plymouth Colony is established by the Pilgrims in Massachussetts, setting friendly relations with the Wampanoag and Abenaki peoples.
- 1803 AD: Thomas Jefferson makes the Louisiana Purchase with the First French Republic, Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition to the Pacific ensues.
- 1869 AD: Transcontinental Railroad completed.
Anay Ganesh 