American Vintage
...establishing a short-lived settlement there.
1215 - The Magna Carta document is adopted in England, guaranteeing liberties to the English people, and proclaiming basic rights and procedures which later become the foundation stone of modern democracy.
1492 - Christopher Columbus makes the first of four voyages to the New World, funded by the Spanish Crown, seeking a western sea route to Asia. On October 12, sailing the Santa Maria, he lands in the Bahamas, thinking it is an outlying Japanese island.
1497 - John Cabot of England explores the Atlantic coast of Canada, claiming the area for the English King, Henry VII. Cabot is the first of many European explorers to seek a Northwest Passage (northern water route) to Asia.
1499 - Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, sights the coast of South America during a voyage of discovery for Spain.
1507 - The name "America" is first used in a geography book referring to the New World with Amerigo Vespucci getting credit for the discovery of the continent.
1513 - Ponce de León of Spain lands in Florida.
1517 - Martin Luther launches the Protestant Reformation in Europe, bringing an end to the sole authority of the Catholic Church, resulting in the growth of numerous Protestant religious sects.
1519 - Hernando Cortés conquers the Aztec empire.
1519-1522 - Ferdinand Magellan is the first person to sail around the world.
1524 - Giovanni da Verrazano, sponsored by France, lands in the area around the Carolinas, then sails north and discovers the Hudson River, and continues northward into Narragansett Bay and Nova Scotia.
1541 - Hernando de Soto of Spain discovers the Mississippi River.
1565 - The first permanent European colony in North America is founded at St. Augustine (Florida) by the Spanish.
1587 - The first English child, Virginia Dare, is born in Roanoke, August 18....
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