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The Americas

1000 CE – 1900 CE

The Americas from the precontact civilizations through colonization to independence — North, Central, and South together.

2740 events · 2979 people · 3 eras

Key events

1. Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire1519 CE
   The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire with its Indigenous allies. Between 1519 and 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his small army of European soldiers and numerous Indigenous allies, overthrew the most powerful empire in Mesoamerica.
2. La Noche Triste1520 CE
   La Noche Triste, officially called in Mexico Victorious Night, was an important event during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, where Hernán Cortés and his army of Spanish conquistadors, including their native allies were driven out of the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlan.
3. American Revolution1763 CE
   The American Revolution (1765–1789) was a political movement in the Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain. It began as a rebellion and turned into a revolution eventually creating the sovereign United States, which was the outcome of the associated American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). The Second Continental Congress, as the provisional government, established the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief in 1775. The following year, the Congress passed the Lee Resolution on July 2nd and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. Throughout most of the war, the outcome appeared uncertain, but a 1781 victory by Washington and the Continental Army in the Siege of Yorktown led King George III and the Fox–North coalition in government to negotiate the cessation of colonial rule and the acknowledgment of American sovereignty, which was formalized in the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783. The Constitution took effect in 1789 and the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.
4. Battle of Bunker Hill1775 CE
   The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved. It was the original objective of both the colonial and British troops, though the majority of combat took place on the adjacent hill, which became known as Breed's Hill.
5. Siege of Yorktown1781 CE
   The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, took place in 1781 and was the final major land engagement of the American Revolutionary War. It was won decisively by the Continental Army, led by George Washington, with support from the Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops, led by Comte de Rochambeau, and a French Navy force commanded by the Comte de Grasse, defeating the British Army commanded by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.
6. Haitian Revolution1804 CE
   The Haitian Revolution, also known as the Haitian War of Independence, was a successful insurrection by enslaved Africans against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was one of the only known slave rebellions in human history that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery and ruled by former captives.
7. Adams–Onís Treaty1821 CE
   The Adams–Onís Treaty was an agreement between Spain and the United States, signed February 22, 1819, by John Quincy Adams and Luis de Onís respectively. The US acquired Florida while renouncing claims to Spanish Texas and establishing its first transcontinental boundary.
8. Battle of the Alamo1836 CE
   The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar.
9. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo1848 CE
   The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on the 2nd of February 1848 in the town of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
10. Gadsden Purchase1853 CE
    The Gadsden Purchase, also known as the Treaty of Mesilla, is a 29,640-square-mile (76,800 km2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico. The first draft was signed on December 31, 1853, by James Gadsden, US Minister to Mexico, and by Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico. The treaty took effect on June 8, 1854.
11. Battle of Fort Sumter1861 CE
    The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina, by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender of the fort by the United States Army, beginning the American Civil War.
12. Second Battle of Bull Run1862 CE
    The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia, and a battle of much larger scale and numbers than the First Battle of Bull Run fought on July 21, 1861, on the same ground.

Notable people

• Abraham Lincoln1809 CE – 1865 CE
• Napoleon1769 CE – 1821 CE
• جورج واشنطن1732 CE – 1799 CE
• Christopher Columbus1450 CE – 1506 CE
• Theodore Roosevelt1858 CE – 1919 CE
• John Adams1735 CE – 1826 CE
• Elizabeth I of England1533 CE – 1603 CE
• Simón Bolívar1783 CE – 1830 CE
• James Madison1751 CE – 1836 CE
• Hernán Cortés1485 CE – 1547 CE
• Andrew Jackson1767 CE – 1845 CE
• Ulysses S. Grant1822 CE – 1885 CE

Cultural works

Eras spanning this view

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Want the background? Read the guides on what was happening at the same moment in history.

Events from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA); base map © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); era boundaries are a hand-curated set in v1. Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].