MERICA was

known to the an1492. cient Northmen as early as the tenth century, but its true discovery dates from the voyage of Columbus, in 1492.

Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, having enlisted the assistance of Isabella of Spain, sailed from the port of Palos, on the third day of August, 1492, on his voyage of discovery, with a fleet of three vessels, and a crew of one hundred and twenty men, and landed on the island of San Salvador on the twelfth of October of that year.

1493.-Having returned to Spain, where he gave an account of his discoveries to their majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus sailed on the twenty-fifth of September, 1493, on his second voyage, in which he discovered more of the West India Islands. 1497.-Sebastian Cabot, who claims with Columbus to have been the first discoverer of the Western Continent, was a son of John Cabot, a Venetian, and a native of Bristol. He sailed in the spring of 1497, in search of the northwest passage to India, and discovered land, which he called Prima Vista, or Newfoundland, after which he sailed along the coast of

America as far as Chesapeake Bay, and then returned to England.

1498. On the thirteenth day of May, 1498, Columbus set out on his third voyage from the Bay of St. Lucas, and, after sighting some new islands, on the first of August he discovered the continent, but imagining it to be an island, he termed it Isla Santa.

1499.-Americus Vespucius, or Vespucci, from whom the Western Continent derives its name, was a native of Florence, and made four voyages to the New World from 1499 to 1503. After returning to Spain he was appointed by King Ferdinand to draw sea charts descriptive of the New World, from which circumstance the continent became known as America.

1512. Ponce de Leon, a native of Spain, discovered Florida on Easter Sunday (Pascua Florida, in Spanish), April 6, 1512.

1513.-On September 29, 1513, Balboa, a Spaniard, crossed the Isthmus of Darien and discovered the Pacific Ocean. He took possession of all the lands it might touch in the name of the Spanish crown.

1524-Francis I., of France, ambitious of the glory of Charles V., supplied Verazzano, a noble Florentine, with four vessels to prosecute discoveries in America. After a severe voyage he came upon a coast supposed to be North Carolina. Sailing north he entered a spacious bay receiving a noble riverthe Hudson-and following the coast he reached Martha's Vineyard and Boston. Proceeding further, first west and then north, he skirted Nova Scotia,

discovered Cape Breton Island, and finally reached the land discovered by the Cabots, Newfoundland and Labrador.

1535-Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, sailed from the port of St. Malo, France, and ascended the river St. Lawrence in 1535, as far as the site of the present city of Montreal.

1538.-The career of Hernando de Soto is one o the most adventurous episodes in the history of American discovery. He accompanied Pizarro to America, and distinguished himself in the severe battle that took place between his chief and Almagro. Having returned to Spain, he was created Captain-General of Cuba and Florida, and sailed in command of a brilliant armament from San Lucar de Barrameda, April 6th, 1538, to undertake the conquest of Florida. He arrived at Cuba on the 1st of May, sailed from Havana May 12, 1539, arrived at Espiritu Santo, Florida, on the 25th, and took formal possession of the country in the name of the Spanish Emperor. After being harassed by the Indians, he continued his route to the dominions of the caique Tuscaloosa, which comprised part of Alabama and Mississippi. Here he fought a disastrous battle on the site of the city of Mobile, and on the 1st of April, 1541, he came in sight of the Mississippi River, which he crossed. In the spring of 1542 De Soto returned to the Mississippi, where, after untold trials and disappointments, he succumbed to fever and fatigue. His body was sunk in the river, lest the Indians should desecrate it.

1542.-Cabrillo made the first voyage along the Pacific coast, sailing as far north as the boundaries of Oregon.

1562.-Admiral Coligni, one of the Huguenot leaders in France, conceived the design of establishing a trans-atlantic settlement for the purpose of affording an asylum to his Protestant brethren, and fitted out two vessels in 1562, which he placed under command of John Ribault, of Dieppe, a seaman of experience. The discoverers landed in Carolina, but the settlement did not prove successful.

1564-In 1564 Coligni fitted out three vessels, which he placed under the command of Laudonniere, an officer who had accompanied Ribault, which attempt, however, was no more successful than the first. In 1565 Ribault was sent with several ships to supersede Laudonniere, bringing with him large supplies, which induced the colonists to remain.

1565.-Melendez, a Spanish explorer, landed in Florida in 1565, and laid the foundations of a col ony. It was named St. Augustine, and is the oldest town in the United States.

1576.-Frobisher, an English navigator, tried to find a northwest passage, entered Baffin Bay, and twice endeavored to found a colony in Labrador, but was unsuccessful.

1578.-Sir Francis Drake, a famous English captain, from 1578 to '80 sailed through the Straits of Magellan and along the Pacific coast as far as Oregon, wintered in San Francisco harbor, and circumnavigated the globe.

1582. In 1582 New Mexico was explored and named by the Spaniard Espejo, who founded Santa Fé, the second oldest city in the United States.

1584. Sir Walter Raleigh is distinguished for having projected and established permanent British settlements in America. In April, 1584, he fitted out two ships, fully equipped and provisioned, under the command of Captain Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow. Having arrived on the American coast, they entered into trade with the natives, and after a hasty examination of the country, returned to England, where they arrived in September. The country which they discovered was named Virginia, by order of Queen Elizabeth, in allusion to her unmarried state of life. Sir Walter soon fitted out another fleet for America, under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, Mr. Ralph Lane having been appointed Chief Governor of the colony. The Governor returned to England for supplies shortly afterward. Raleigh dispatched another colony under John White, who was appointed Governor. Governor White returned to England, and when he came back, three years later, he found that the entire colony had perished. It is asserted by Camden that tobacco was now for the first time introduced into England, and the potato into Ireland, from America.

1605.-De Monts, a native of France, received a grant of all the land lying between the fortieth and forty-sixth parallels of latitude. The tract was termed Acadia. With Champlain, he founded Port Royal, the first permanent French possession in America.

1606.-James I. of England granted the London Company a colony in Virginia in 1606. The expedition reached America in 1607, and, ascending the James River, chose for their colony a spot which they called Jamestown. The colonists and their

posterity were declared English subjects, though they were invested with no political rights. The colonists suffered many severe hardships, and were saved from destruction mainly through the energy and sagacity of Captain John Smith, who had been installed as president. This was the first permanent English settlement in America.

1608.--The first permanent French settlement in Canada was established by Samuel de Champlain, who founded the city of Quebec in 1608. In the following year he discovered the beautiful lake which bears his name. He has been justly termed "The Father of New France," as the French possessions in America were named.

1609-10.-In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Dutch and English directed their attention to the discovery of a northwest passage to In dia After the failure of several navigators in this endeavor, it was resumed by Henry Hudson, a navi gator in the Dutch service. Not succeeding, he proceeded to explore the American coast, and sailed. up the river that now bears his name.

In 1610 he was sent by a Dutch company on another voyage, when he explored the great bay to which his name is attached.

In virtue of Hudson's voyage, the Dutch claimed the country from the Delaware River to Cape Cod, and in 1610 several stations were formed on the Island of Manhattan, the name then given to New York. In 1613, a settlement was founded. The country was called New Netherlands, and a cluster of cottages, where New York now stands, was named New Amsterdam.

1619.-The "first legislative body that ever assembled in America" was called at Jamestown by Governor Yeardly, July 30, 1619. Its laws were ratified by the company in England, but possessed no binding force unless subsequently ratified by the colonial assembly. These privileges were in 1621 embodied in a written constitution, "the first of its kind in America."

1619.-Slavery was introduced into the United States in 1619, by the captain of a Dutch trading vessel, who bought twenty negroes which he sold to the tobacco planters. Their labor being found profitable, a traffic in slaves soon sprung up.

1620.-After various abortive attempts to colonize New England, a tide of population poured into it from an unexpected quarter. The "Pilgrim Fa

to fitty or sixty persons, they persevered, and a spring of 1624 they counted one hundred and ey Their numbers were increased in 1679, and in 1639 fifteen hundred settlers having arrived from England in the latter year. They soon became involved in war with the Indians, which checked the progress of the colony but the natives were finally subdued and dispersed. In 1692, Plymouth was united with. Massachu setts Bay Colony, under the name of Massachusetts. 1622-On the 22d of March, 1622, occurred the Indian Massacre of Virginia, when over three hundred men, women and children fell victims in a single day. 1630. The first house erected in Boston, under Governor Winthrop, in July, 1630.

Connecticut was settled at Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield, in 1633-6.

1633-Sir George Calvert, Secretary of State under James I., obtained from King Charles I. a large grant of land in America, which was named Maryland, in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria. Sir George, now created Lord Baltimore, died before the completion of the charter, and the establishment of the colony devolved accordingly on his son Cecil The first emigrants, consisting of about two hundred persons, arrived in 1633. The colonists acted justly toward the natives, and the Maryland government was distinguished for proclaiming religious tolerabon to all. The Protestants having obtained a majority deprived Catholics of their rights, and declared them outside the protection of the law. In 169 Lord Baltimore was deprived of his proprietary rights, and Maryland became a royal province. In 175 under the fourth Lord Baltimore, the goverme was recovered and religious toleration was restored.

1636.-Rhode Island was settled at Providence in 1636, by Roger Williams, who stamped apon the colonies the idea of religious toleration. 1647, a set of laws guaranteeing freedom of worship were enacted-" the first legal declaration of liberty of conscience ever adopted in Europe or America." 1638.-The first permanent settlement in Delaware was made in 1638 by the Swedes, on a tract

lying near Wilmington. The settlement was subsequently conquered by the Dutch, and later still yielded to the English power.

1 1043-In 1643 took place the Union of the Colonies, Massachusetts Bay, New Haven and Conhecticut, for the purpose of common defense against the Indians, and the encroachment of the French and Dutch settlers.

1046.—In 1646 Peter Stuyvesant was appointed Governor of the New Netherlands, which colony continued to thrive under his just and humane rule til its conquest by the English in 1664

1660.-In 1660, the British Parliament enforced the Navigation Act, whereby the commerce of the colony of Virginia should be carried on in English vessels, and their tobacco shipped to England.

1663-In 1663 Charles II. granted a vast tract of land south of Virginia to Lord Clarendon and oth oblemen, which was termed Carolina in honor of the king Two settlements were established, Albemarle Colony and Carteret Colony (1670). The two colonies separated in 1729.

1664.-In August, 1664, Sir Robert Nichols, who had been sent out by Charles II. to effect the conquest of the Dutch possessions in America, arrived before New Amsterdam, having landed a portion of his troops on Long Island. The Governor, Peter Stuyvesant, was unable to offer any effective resistance, and the colony passed into the possession of the English.

1673.-The Jesuit Missionaries were the explorers of the Mississippi Valley. Father Marquette, in 1673, floated in a birch-bark canoe down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, which he descended to the mouth of the Arkansas.

La Salle, another Jesuit missionary, in 1682, made his way to the Gulf of Mexico, and named the country bordering on the gulf Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV, King of France.

1682. The first settlement in Pennsylvania was established by William Penn, an English Quaker, in 1682. In the following year he purchased land of the Swedes, and laid out on it the city of Philadelphia. He entered into a friend'y treaty with the Indians, and the colony flourished apace. After his death, in 1718, his heirs ruled the colony until 1779, when their claims were bought out by the State for the sum of half a million dollars.

1689-1697-King William's War.-In conse

quence of the war between England and France, in Europe, hostilities between their colonies Droke out in America. The savage tribes took part on both sides. The war lasted eight years, during which time several horrible massacres and barbarities took place.

1692. In 1692, the mania known as the Salem witchcraft broke out, and not till torty-five people had been tortured and twenty hung was it abated.

1702.-Queen Anne's War.-In this year, England having declared war against France and Spain, the colonies took up the contest. Hostilities continued for eleven years, during which period several fruitless expeditions and horrible massacres took place. Peace was ratified by the treaty of Utrecht.

1733.-Georgia Founded.-The last of the thir teen colonies was planned in 1732, and settled the following year by James Oglethorpe, an English officer, who received a tract of land from George II., which he termed Georgia, in honor of the donor. Georgia became a royal colony in 1752.

1744-King George's War.-France and Eng. land being once more at war, the colonies entered into hostilities also. The war lasted four years and was concluded by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

1754-1763. During this period the French and Indian war raged, having originated in the English and French laying claim to the territory west of the Alleghany Mountains. Peace was signed at Paris in 1763, whereby the English acquired all the territory stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

1765. The Stamp Act, which ordered that stamps purchased from the British Government should be placed on all legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers, etc., was passed in 1765. Resistance to the measure was threatened on all sides. Depu ties from nine of the colonies assembled at New York and drew up a Declaration of Rights and a petition to the King and Parliament. The Act was repealed in 1766, but the right to tax the colonies was still asserted.

1768. In this year the "Mutiny Act" was passed, whereby soldiers were quartered on the inhabitants of the colonies, without the consent of the latter.

1770. On March 5, 1770, occurred the "Boston Massacre." This was a fight between the soldiers sent by General Gage to quell the incipient resist ance of the Bostonians to the "Mutiny Act," and