1513:Discovery and initial documented European coastal exploration of "La Florida" by Juan Ponce de León
1519-1521: Conquest of Aztec empire in México by Hernán Cortéz
1521: Hostile Native Americans frustrate Juan Ponce de León's attempt to establish colony in Florida (probably San Carlos Bay area); León wounded by arrow in thigh and withdraws settlers; León dies shortly thereafter in Cuba from infected wound
1520s: Much of coastal southeastern North America probed and investigated by Spanish slaving expeditions (slavers may have arrived in Florida as early as the first decade of the 1500s)
1526: Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón establishes first named European settlement in what is now the United States, the short-lived colony of San Miguel de Guadalupe in coastal Georgia (September 29); settlement fails after less than two months
1528: Pánfilo de Narváez lands near Tampa bay and begins ill-fated exodus from Florida to the Texas coast that will ultimately cost his life and the lives of all but four of the expedition's 300 original members
1528-1536: Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three other survivors of ill-fated Narváez expedition dwell among the natives in Texas until 1534 and then walk overland to find their countrymen, ultimately arriving in Mexico City on 24 June 1536
1533: Dispatched by Hernán Cortéz, pilot Fortún Jiménez discovers the Baja peninsula and names the region California
1539-1543: Hernando de Soto lands south of Tampa Bay and begins expedition that will take his force 3,700 miles through Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas; after the loss of half their number and Soto himself, the survivors reach the safety of Río Pánuco in 1543
1540-1542: Francisco Vásquez de Coronado leads army of mixed
conquistadores, missionaries, Mexican Indian allies and 1,500 pack horses on fruitless venture to find fabled treasure cities of Cibola; in the process he opens pathways for later Spanish enterprises from New Mexico and Arizona to Kansas
1542-1543: Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo reaches Pacific coast of present-day United States and explores region from southern California to Oregon
1549: Dominican Fray Luis Cáncer de Barbastro and comrades killed during effort to peacefully befriend Indians in Tampa Bay area of Florida 1559-1561: Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano founds colony near present-day Pensacola, Florida; after a hurricane devastates settlement and other misadventures frustrate and ultimately doom effort, Spaniards abandon region in 1561
1562-1564: Jean Ribault commands French expedition consisting largely of Calvinist Huguenots to Florida; after initial landing at mouth of St. Johns River, settlers sail northward and establish colony and build Charlesfort at Port Royal harbor in present-day South Carolina. Ribault's arrest and detention in England as well as disturbances in France prevent resupply and reinforcement of Port Royal, and disheartened settlers abandon colony by 1564
1564: French under command of René Goulaine de Laudonnière return to Florida and establish Fort Caroline near present-day Jacksonville on St. Johns River, but when supplies run short many colonists mutiny or desert; some of the deserters resort to piracy and are captured by the Spanish, who thus learn of the French intrusion into the heart of their shipping lanes
1565: Jean Ribault named to replace Laudonnière and leads fleet to reinforce Fort Caroline; meanwhile, acting upon urgent orders from King Philip II of Spain, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés establishes
San Agustín (St. Augustine), first permanent European settlement in present-day United States. After failing in attack on new Spanish outpost, Ribault's fleet wrecks along Florida coast in storm and Menéndez's soldiers slaughter both the French garrison at Fort Caroline (renaming it Fort San Mateo thereafter) and many survivors of Ribault's shipwrecked expeditionary force at Matanzas (place of slaughter) Inlet; also capture other members of Ribault's force near the wrecksite of their ship, the
Trinité
1566: Menéndez begins process of exploring much of Atlantic seaboard of modern United States and Canada and establishes colony of Santa Elena on present-day Parris Island, South Carolina to serve as capitol of Florida; Captain Juan Pardo dispatched from Santa Elena on first of two exploratory expeditions into North American interior, where he journeys to the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and establishes small colony at Cuenca and post of Fort San Juan
1567: Juan Pardo sets out on second inland expedition, this time reaching eastern Tennessee; fearing Indian aggression, Pardo reverses course and returns to Santa Elena
1568: French aristocrat and privateer Dominique de Gourgues directs force that destroys Fort San Mateo (formerly Fort Caroline) in revenge for the massacre of Fort Caroline's defenders and members of Ribault's expedition
1570: After the failure of similar attempts in southern Florida, group of Jesuits led by Father Juan Baptista de Segura establish small mission of Ajacán in Chesapeake Bay (
Bahía de Santa Maria) region near later site of English settlement of Jamestown
1571: Chesapeake Jesuits at Ajacán wiped out by Indians led by Luis de Velasco (A.K.A. Opechancanough, Massatamohtnock), Indian captive trained and educated by Spanish who later escaped to rejoin his people and become nemesis of Europeans settling in region until his death in 1644 at purported age of 100
1576: Santa Elena temporarily abandoned as result of incompetent leadership, after death of Menéndez two years earlier, of Hernando de Miranda and threat of imminent Indian attack 1580s: Franciscan missionaries revisit and establish missions among Native Americans in
San Felipe de Nuevo México (New Mexico) among Pueblos in region explored forty years earlier by Coronado
1585: Sir Walter Raleigh recruits his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, to lead a group of men to establish English colony on island of Roanoke off coast of North Carolina; colonists quickly antagonize natives in region and run short of supplies 1586: After sacking Santo Domingo and Cartagena, Sir Francis Drake raids, plunders, and razes town of St. Augustine; Drake also removes surviving, beleaguered English colonists from Roanoke
1587: Santa Elena destroyed and permanently abandoned by colonists who leave to concentrate in St. Augustine after Drake's raid; Raleigh launches second attempt to establish colony at Roanoke, landing 117 additional settlers at site
1588: Catastrophic defeat and destruction of half of Spanish "Invincible Armada" during failed attempt to invade England results in shift in European balance of power and beginning of decline in Spain's influence and prestige 1590: Delayed by events at home that prevent resupply or reinforcement of colony, English relief force returns to Roanoke to find settlement abandoned; members of "lost colony" never seen or heard from again
1598: Juan de Oñate leads heavily armed force to take possession of New Mexico and to "pacify" the region's native inhabitants; he then proceeds to launch first of three expeditions to locate Pacific Ocean from newly conquered lands
1607: First permanent English colony established at Jamestown, Virginia 1608: First permanent French colony in North America established by Samuel de Champlain at Québec on high bluff overlooking northern bank of St. Lawrence River in present-day Canada
1609: Englishman Henry Hudson explores and names Hudson River while employed by Dutch, establishing basis for later Dutch occupation of New Amsterdam (later New York); Spanish colonists found Santa Fe in New Mexico