Timeline for the 13 Colonies
New Jersey- 1609: Henry Hudson sails along the New Jersey shore and claims the region for the Netherlands.
- 1638: Swedish settlers buy land near Cape May.
- 1664: England gains control of New Jersey.
- 1746: Princeton University is founded.
- 1758: Land near Indian Mills is set aside for the Lenni-Lenape people.
Pennsylvania- 1615: Cornelius Hendrickson, a Dutch explorer, sailed up the Delaware River to present-day Philadelphia.
- 1638: The colony of New Sweden is founded along the Delaware River.
- 1682: William Penn founds the Pennsylvania colony.
- 1731: Benjamin Franklin begins the first library in the colonies.
Virginia- 1607: The first English settlers land at Jamestown.
- 1674-1676: Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion against the colonial governor and fights for the rights of the people in West Virginia.
- 1693: The College of William and Mary is founded in Williamsburg.
- 1736: Virginia’s first newspaper is published in Williamsburg.
North Carolina- 1650's: The first English colonists arrive in the Albemarle Sound area.
- 1711-1713: The Tuscarora War ends with the defeat of the Native Americans.
- 1718: Blackbeard is killed near Ocracoke Island.
- 1729: North Carolina becomes an English colony.
Massachusetts- 1620: The pilgrims landed in what is now Massachusetts under a grant to the Plymouth Company. The Mayflower Compact lead them; it was signed before they left.
- 1621: They celebrated the first Thanksgiving.
- 1628: The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed
- 1630: The city of Boston was formed.
New Hampshire- 1614: John Smith explored what is now New Hampshire.
- 1623: Settlers founded New Hampshire's first permanent non-Indian town. Today that town is Hover.
- 1629: John Mason named New Hampshire after Hampshire, England.
- 1641: It was part of Massachusetts, but by 1680 it was made a colony by New England.
Rhode Island- 1636: Rhode Island was settled
- UNKNOWN: Roger Williams was driven from Boston for his religious and political beliefs. He bought land and formed Provodience.
- 1647: It became a colony.
Delaware- 1638: colony founded by Sweden.
- 1655: colony captured by Dutch.
Connecticut- 1665: New Haven becomes part of the Connecticut colony.
- 1701: Yale University is founded; Hartford and New Haven are twin capitals.
- 1775-1783: The colonists fight England in the Revolutionary War and win their independence.
- 1776: Nathen Hale is hanged as a spy by the British.
Maryland- 1649: Maryland passes the Toleration Act, which gives religious freedom to all Christians.
- 1694: Annapolis becomes Maryland’s capital.
- 1776-1777: Baltimore is the U.S. capital.
New York- 1625: Colony founded by Peter Stuyvesant.
- 1664: Colony captured b duke of York and renamed New York.
- 1785-1790: New York City serves as the U.S. capital.
- 1788: New York becomes the 11th state.
