Norse explorer Leif Erikson reaches Vinland, likely in present-day Newfoundland, nearly 500 years before Columbus.
Approximate date.
Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, is the largest urban center of the Mississippian culture in North America, dominated by Monks Mound.
From the 16th to the 19th century, an estimated 12.5 million enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas, with profound consequences for both continents.
English colonists establish Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec on the St. Lawrence River, which becomes the centre of the colony of New France.
The Mayflower Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact and establish Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
In colonial Massachusetts, more than 200 people are accused of witchcraft and 19 are hanged.