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| | | 15,000 B.C. | Paleo-Indian Era (Stone Age)
Hunter gatherer groups inhabit North America | |
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| | | 12000 BC | Migrants arrive in the United States of America | |
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| | | 9000 BC | Clovis Culture (named because of artefacts found at Blackwater Draw, Clovis, New Mexico | |
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| | | 7500 BC | Folsom Culture (named after artefacts found at Folsom, New Mexico | |
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| | | 7500 BC | Eastern Woodland Culture begins | |
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| | | 4000 BC | Copper culture begins along the Great Lakes | |
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| | | 2000 BC | Pecos Culture begins producing rock paintings | |
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| | | 1100 BC | Anasazi build cliff cities at Mesa Verde, Colorado | |
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| | | 1700 BC | Mound Builders culture | |
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| | | 250 BC | Bow and arrow weapon introduced | |
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| | | 1000 AD | Woodland Culture Period:
Adena Culture
Hopewell culture | |
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| | | 1000 | Mississippian Culture established - Cahokia is the capital | |
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| | | 1492 | Christopher Columbus discovers America | |
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| | | 1500 | The Europeans brought diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, smallpox, measles and influenza to the indigenous population. Their numbers fell from 80 million to less than 1 million in less than 500 years | |
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| | | 1513 | Alonzo de Pineda explores gulf Coast of America (Florida area) and encounters Calusa Indians | |
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| | | 1524 | Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay | |
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| | | 1528 | Panfilo de Narvaez conquers Cuba and explores Florida and Alvar Cabeza de Vaca explores Texas, Arizona and New Mexico | |
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| | | 1534 | :Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River encountering the Native Americans of the region | |
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| | | 1539 | Hernando de Soto explores south-eastern North America defeating resistance from Timucuan warriors, leading to the Napituca Massacre. | |
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| | | 1540 | Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores south-western North America and Mexico defeating Zuni Pueblo Indians. Later involved with fighting the Choctaws | |
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| | | 1541 | Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explores Kansas and New Mexico which led to the Tiguex War | |
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| | | 1542 | Cabrillo explores and discovers the Californian coast and the Californian Indians | |
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| | | 1559 | Tristan de Luna explores North America | |
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| | | 1563 | Francisco de Ibarra explores New Mexico | |
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| | | 1576 | Sir Martin Frobisher explores Baffin Bay and the Hudson Strait | |
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| | | 1584 | Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe (both in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh) explore the coast of North Carolina | |
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| | | 1585 | Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America. Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island and the Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established | |
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| | | 1598 | Juan de Archuleta explores Colorado | |
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| | | 1607 | Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown | |
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| | | 1609 | Henry Hudson explores North eastern North America including the Hudson River | |
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| | | 1620 | Pocahontas marries John Rolfe | |
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| | | 1614 | The Mayflower arrived at Plymouth to found first colony in New England | |
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| | | 1622 | 1622-1624 The Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia between colonists and Native Indian Americans
First Indian uprising in an English colony (Virginia). | |
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| | | 1637 | The First Reservations were established by Puritans near New Haven, Connecticut | |
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| | | 1638 | The Pequot War - The Pequots were defeated by the colonists led by John Underhill and John Mason allied with the Narragansetts and Mohegans. | |
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| | | 1640 | 1640 - 1701 - The Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars | |
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| | | 1655 | 1655 - The Peach Tree War, The Susquehannock Nation and allied Native Americans on ssettlements around New Amsterdam | |
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| | | 1675 | 1675 - 1677 King Philip's War so named after Metacomet of the Wampanoag tribe, who was called Philip by the English. | |
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| | | 1680 | 1680-1692: The Pueblo Revolt occurred in New Mexico and Arizona between the Tuscarora Native Americans and the Spanish. | |
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| | | 1689 | 1689 - 1763 The French and Indian War between France and Great Britain for the lands in the New World. The Iroquois Indians were allied to the French and the Algoquian tribes were alliedt o the British | |
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| | | 1711 | 1711-1713: The Tuscarora War between the Tuscarora Native Americans and European settlers in Northern Carolina. The Tuscarora were defeated | |
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| | | 1715 | The Yamasee War - The Yamasee against the white settlements in South Carolina | |
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| | | 1722 | Iroquois surrender claims to land south of the Ohio River in addition to counties in the eastern panhandle | |
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| | | 1756 | 1756 - 1763: The Seven Years War (French and Indian War) due to disputes over land is won by Great Britain. France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba. | |
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| | | 1763 | Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763) | |
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| | | 1764 | Pontiac's Rebellion in the Ohio River Valley. The Ottawa Chief Pontiac (1720-1769) led a rebellion against the British | |
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| | | 1774 | December 16: The Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor. | |
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| | | 1775 | Lord Dunmore's War in Southern Ohio in which Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia sent 3000 solders who defeated the 1000 Native Indians | |
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| | | 1776 | Chickamauga Wars (1776–1794) Cherokee involvement in the American Revolutionary War and continuing through late 1794 | |
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| | | 1785 | Northwest Indian War (1785–1795) in Indiana and Ohio. The Americans suffered 2 humiliating defeats by the Native Indians until they won the Battle of Fallen Timbers | |
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| | | 1811 | Tecumseh's War - Battle of Tippecanoe (1811–1813). The Prophet, brother of Shawnee chief Tecumseh, attacked Indiana Territory but was defeated by the troops of William Henry Harrison | |
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| | | 1811 | Creek War (1813–1814) erupted in Alabama and Georgia. The Creek Indians were defeated by American forces led by Andrew Jackson | |
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| | | 1813 | Peoria War (1813) was conflict between the U. S. Army, settlers and the Native American tribes of the Potawatomi and the Kickapoo tribes in Illinois. | |
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| | | 1812 | War of 1812 begins. | |
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| | | 1817 | First Seminole War (1817–1818) erupted in Florida as the Seminole Indian tribe defended their lands and runaway slaves | |
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| | | 1827 | Winnebago War (1827) in Wisconsin between the settlers and lead miners who were trespassing on their land and the Winnebago tribe. | |
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| | | 1832 | Black Hawk War occurred in Northern Illinois and Southwestern Wisconsin by Sauk and Fox tribes led by Chief Black Hawk in an attempt to re-take their homeland
Department of Indian Affairs was established | |
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| | | 1835 | Creek Alabama Uprising (1835–1837) in Alabama and Georgia. It resulted in a defeat for the Creek forces and the removal of the Creek people from their native lands to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. | |
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| | | 1835 | Second Seminole War (1835–1842) in the Florida everglade area. Under Chief Osceola | |
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| | | 1837 | Osage Indian War (1837) with the Osage Indians in Missouri. | |
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| | | 1838 | The Cherokee were the last of the Five Civilised Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminal and Chickasaw) to take the enforced march on the tragic
Trail of Tears | |
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| | | 1849 | 1846 - 1863 The Navajo conflicts in New Mexico and Arizona | |
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| | | 1854 | 1854 - 1890 The Sioux Wars in South Dakota, Minnesota and Wyoming led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull | |
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| | | 1855 | 1855 - 1856 Rogue River War in Oregon. Indian tribes were attacked in an attempt to start a war that would enable unemployed miners to work. Survivors were forced on to reservations | |
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| | | 1855 | Third Seminole War (1855–1858) in the Florida everglade area. The Seminole led by Chief Billy Bowleg made their last stand | |
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| | | 1862 | U.S. Congress passes Homestead Act opening the Great Plains to settlers | |
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| | | 1861 | 1861 - 1900 Apache Wars in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas led by Geronimo and Cochise. Geronimo surrendered in 1886 but others carried on the fight until 1900 | |
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| | | 1865 | 1865 - 1869 Building of Union Pacific Railroad brings settlers to the Great Plains | |
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| | | 1865 | 1865 1868 and in 1879: Ute Wars broke out in Utah due to Mormon settlers taking over their lands | |
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| | | 1872 | 1872 - 1873 Madoc War in California and Oregon led by Captain Jack | |
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| | | 1874 | Red River War in Northern Texas against the Arapaho, Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa tribes, | |
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| | | 1876 | Battle of the Rosebud in Montana. Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne under Crazy Horse cut off reinforcements intended to help Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. | |
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| | | 1877 | Nez Perce War in Oregon, Montana and Idaho led by Chief Joseph | |
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| | | 1887 | Dawes General Allotment Act passed by Congress leads to the break up of the large Indian Reservations and the sale of Indian lands to white settlers | |
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| | | 1890 | 1890 The Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota. Chief Big Foot led the last stand of Sioux | |
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| | | 1907 | Charles Curtis is the first American Indian elected to the U.S. Senate | |
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| | | 1969 | All Indians declared citizens of U.S. | |
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| | | 1969 | American Indian Movement (AIM) | |
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| | | 1979 | American Indian Religious Freedom Act (Public Law 95-341 ) passed | |
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