Time Lines
Pivotal transitions | Four centuries of occupation | map
Diego Rivera's 1920s mural of the Aztec's defeat.
The Pivotal Periods of Caribbean cultural fusion
Time Line
1300 Hopi Indigenous people's occupation of Old Oraibi Mesa, (N.M.) use of coal for heat.
1453 The Turks seize Constantinople from the Byzantine Greeks.
1480 Portugal opens west Africa to slaving.
1492 Unification of Aragon, Castile & Leon & conquest of the Moors in Grenada.
England (Henry 7th) invades northern France.
Columbus first voyage to the West Indies.
1493 Columbus 2d voyage to the Greater Antilles: St. Domingo, Puerto Rico, Jamaica.
cattle, fowl, horses, sugar cane and wheat brought from Spain.
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain & Portugal divides the entire world.
1494 French (Charles 8th) invasion of Italy and wars with Spain.
Aldine Press in Venice produces first “pocket” books.
1497 John Cabot (Italian) sail to North America, for England.
1497 Vasco de Gama’s voyage (Portugal) rounds Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
1498 Columbus 3d voyage to Trinidad, Orinoco River & Colombia.
Vasco de Gama reaches India (Goa, Gujarat).
1502 de Gama’s 2d voyage (Portugal) to India.
small watch (spring-driven time piece) was invented in Germany.
1507 German map makers initiate the term “new world” for American maps.
1508 First sugar mill in the West Indies.
1511 first Catholic Bishops in the Americas: 2 in Hispaniola and 1 in Puerto Rico.
1513 Juan Ponce de Leon from Puerto Rico reaches Florida on a slaving expedition.
Vasco Nüñez de Balboa Christens the Pacific Ocean at the Isthmus of Panama.
1514 Portugal’s fleet first enter Chinese ports (1570, trade into Japan).
1517 Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba lands on and explores the Yucatan peninsula.
1517 Protestant Reformation in Germany and Western Europe.
1519 Cortes lands in Mexico with men and horses.
Piñeda explores the Gulf from Florida to Veracruz, Mexico.
A time line of four centuries of colonial struggle & independence.
Dates, Wars & events described
1495- French invasion of Italy, wars with Spain for control of city states.
1505 Treaties of Blois, divides Italy between France and Spain.1522 Fleet of Magellan completes Euro- circumnavigation of the seas.
1544 Map of Magellan's 1520-22 voyage.1522 Magellan’s circumnavigation of the Earth, survived by his crew proves the planet
is a sphere and introduces the modern conception of geo-realism.
1524 Giovanni da Verrazano (Italian) sails for France from Maine to Carolina.
1525 William Tyndale translates the New Testament into English.
1526 Giovanni da Verrazano killed by indigenous people of the West Indies.
1536 Cabeza de Vaca arrives in Mexico having been lost in Texas in 1528.
1539 Hernando de Soto lands in Florida and explores the southeast.
Antonio de Mendoza founded the 1st press in the Americas in Mexico City.
1540 Coronado leaves Mexico for southwest exploration & the Grand Canyon.
1542 Juan Cabrillo explores the California Coast for Spain.
1543 Copernicus (posthumously) heliocentric solar system published.
Andrea Vesalius, Belgian anatomist, publishes an accurate anatomy book.
Spanish Inquisition is to root out “alleged” Protestant & Jewish heresies.
1545 Counter Reformation started by the Catholic Church.
1550 Peak of Spanish power (until 1600) Charles V & Phillip II.1555 French settle in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1558 Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Spain, sends tobacco to Paris.
1564 Peace of Troyes ends the Anglo French War.
1564 French Huguenots settle on St. John’s River at Fort Caroline, Florida.
1566 William of Orange declares Holland free from Spain.
1566 Netherland’s war for independence against Spain (Hapsburgs).
1570 Abraham Ortellius (Dutch) produces the first world Atlas.
1571 Spanish Colony in Manila, Philippines.(Manila Galleons as first global trade network linking Spain to Mexico, South America, Asia and The Philippines.)
1576 40,000 African slaves in South America introduced by the Portuguese & Spanish.
1579 Union of Utrecht, 7 Dutch provinces declare Netherlands free of Spain.
1586 Sir Francis Drake stalks, raids, & seizes Spanish wealth in Florida & the West Indies.
1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada by England.1608 German Protestant Union (GPU) founded.
1609 Catholic League formed by Duke of Bavaria, in opposition to GPU.
Governor's Palace in Santa Fe, New Mexico built.1618 Prague Revolt against Hapsburgs starts the Thirty Years War.
1621 Resumption of the Spanish-Dutch War.
1629 Charles I, Stuart, dissolves English Parliament.1636 Manchus (Manchuria) invade China and declare Ch'ing Dynasty.
1642 English Civil War begins between Crown (Charles I) & Puritans.
1648 2d English Civil War.
1648 Treaty of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years War: Dutch & Swiss free.1649 Charles I tried for treason and beheaded by Parliament.
1652- Anglo-Dutch War over colonial trade (Dutch found Capetown, South Africa).
1654 Peace between Britain and the Netherlands.
1655 English capture Jamaica from Spain.1657- Anglo French War against Spain.
1659 Peace of the Pyrenees.
1660 Restoration of the Stuart (Catholic) Monarchy in Britain.
1663 Charles II of England charters the Royal Africa Company, slave trade.1666- French, Danes support Dutch in Anglo -Dutch War (West Indies).
1667 Treaty of Breda (Dutch retain Surinam relinquish New York).
1667- War of Devolution: France seizes the Spanish Netherlands (Flanders).
1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
1672 - Anglo-French War against the Dutch.
1674 Treaty of Westminster, England signed with Netherlands.1674- Holy Roman - Franco-Swedish war.
1679 Treaty of Nijmegen, France with Holy Roman Empire & Sweden.1688 War of the League of Augsburg England, Netherlands & Spain vs. France.
1693 French fleet defeats the English off of Portugal.
1697 Treaty of Ryswick ends the 1688-97 war.1701 War of Spanish Succession Anglo-French War.
1702 Queen Anne's War in the colonies & West Indies.
1713 Peace of Utrecht end the War of Spanish Succession.1713 Assiento: sole right of Britain to trade African slaves in the Americas.
1719 Franco-Spanish War {Quadruple Alliance (1718)}.
1720 Treaty of the Hague end the Franco-Spanish War.1727 Anglo-Spanish War begins.
1729 Treaty of Seville, status quo antebellum.1740 War of Austrian Succession (Austria, Britain vs. France, Spain, Saxony).
British siege of Cartagena, & seize West Indian ports.
1741 Russians find Alaska (Vitus Bering).
British attack Santiago Cuba -- (King George's War).
1745 New Englander's seize French fort of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
1746 French seize Madras in India from Britain.
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of Austrian Succession.1756 Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) in Europe, America, India
Spain, France, Austria, Russia & Sweden vs. Britain, Prussia, Hannover.
1762 British seize Cuba from Spain (later returned) occupying Havana.
1763 Treaty of Paris resolves the first worldwide war, Florida is British,
French lose Canada, India and St. Domingo, retain Haiti, Guadeloupe.1765 British East India Company gains control of NE. India, Bengal.
1776 Britain's North American Colonies secede from the Empire
1777 British seize and hold Philadelphia
1778 Franco-British War begins (Dutch join 1779 & Spain in 1780)
1779 French seize St. Vincent & the Grenadines from Britain.
1780 British seize Charleston, S.C.
1781 French fleet defeats British at Hampton Roads & Yorktown, Virginia.
1782 The Netherlands [Dutch] recognize US independence.
1783 Treaty of Paris resolves north American Independence from England.
Britain returns Florida to Spain, including New Orleans.1789 Calling of the Estates General in Versailles by Louis 16th (not convened since 1614).
Beginning of the French Revolution.
1790 French National Assembly declares a democracy under limited king.
1791 Slave revolt in Haiti, brutally suppressed, Haiti in rebellion.
1792 Wars of the French Revolution against Prussia and Austria.
1793 Spain, Britain and Netherlands join against France.
1794 Britain suspends the Habeas Corpus Act.
1795 Napoleon Bonaparte commands the French Army in Italy.
1796 Spain sides with France and changes allegiances.
1798 Napoleon invades Egypt.
1799 French invasion of Syria rebuffed by the Ottoman Turks.1799 Alexander Von Humboldt begins a 5-year tour of Latin America.
1800 Spain secretly ceded Louisiana back to France.
1801 France and Austria Treaty of Lunéville ends the Holy Roman Empire.
1802 Treaty of Amiens among France, Spain and Britain cease hostilities.
Egypt returned to the Ottoman Turks.
French send troops to suppress Haitian Independence under Toussaint. L'Ouvature on the island of Hispaniola (St. Domingue).
1803 Anglo-Franco War resumes over Malta -- Louisiana Purchase.
1804 Napoleon declared Emperor of France (after assassination plot fails).
Spain joins France to war with Britain.
Large force of Mulattoes and freed slaves defeat French in Haiti.
Haiti declares its independence.
1807 Treaties of Tilsit between France and Russia & Prussia.
Portuguese Monarch flees French to refuge in Brasil.
1808 Spanish revolt against the French.
Mexico, upon Spanish uprisings begins to agitate for independence.1810 Mexico (New Spain) and South America (New Grenada) in revolt.
1812 French Army (largest ever assembled 500K) invades Russia.
1814 European allied states capture Paris, Napoleon abdicates, exiled.
1815 Congress of Vienna settles European, American, Asian boundaries.1816 Spanish authority reestablished in Mexico.
1816-17 Chile & Argentina in revolt from Spain under Jose Martin.
1818 Jean Pierre Boyer, President of Haiti.
1819 Simon Bolivar, defeats Spanish royal forces in Venezuela & Colombia.
1820 Jose Martin moves against Spanish forces in Peru.1821 Bolivar defeats Spain in Venezuela and Colombia.
Mexico, Peru, & Guatemala Independent of Spanish rule1822 Augustin de Itrubide, declared 1st Emperor of Mexico.
Haitians take control of all Hispaniola, to free colony from Spain.1823 Emperor Itrubide forced to abdicate.
5 smaller nations of Central America form free confederation.
1824 Mexico is declared a Republic.
1825 Bolivia declares independence from Spain.
Portugal recognizes Brazilian Independence.
1827 Argentinian-Brazillian war over Uruguay.
1830 Venezuela and Ecuador separate from Colombia (New Granada).1833 Britain abolishes slavery in the Empire and an end to the slave trade.
Antonio López de Santa Ana elected Mexico's president.
1835 centralization of the Mexican government.
1836 Andres Santa Cruz of Bolivia successfully invades Peru.
1839 Civil War in central America ends federation.
Chile invades Peru and defeats the Bolivians.
China forbids the importation of opium.
Opium Wars begin between Britain and China.
1842 Treaty of Nanking cedes Hong Kong to Britain & reopens Canton.1844 Dominican Republic established against Haitian rule.
1846 California declares itself a Republic, Bear Flag Revolt from Mexico.
1846 US declares war on Mexico.
1847 British and French naval blockade of Argentina for five years.
1848 Revolutions and uprisings throughout urban Europe (Paris, Vienna).
Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo cedes 1/3 of Alta Mexico to USA.1850 US Compromise of 1850 unrestrictive slavery in the territories.
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, Anglo-US accord, on neutrality of Panama.
1851 Expedition of filibusters from New Orleans seeks to free Cuba from Spain.
1854 Ostend Manifesto USA declares right to seize Cuba if Spain refuses to sell the islands.
1855 William Walker (California) invades Nicaragua and seizes control 1856.
1857 Mexican adoption of a civilian and liberal constitution causes civil war.
1857 Benito Juarez, President of Mexico.
1861 Britain, France and Spain invade Mexico to force Juarez to pay debts.
1862 Napoleon III hopes to establish a French Empire in Mexico.
1863 French troops invade and capture Mexico City, Austrian archduke,
Maximilian declared Mexican Emperor.
1863 Civil War in Mexico.
1865 US abolished slavery with the adoption of the 13th Amendment.
1867 Maximilian is defeated by Benito Juarez, who reestablishes order.
1870-71 Franco-Prussian War (over disposition of Spanish throne) France is defeated.1877 Porfirio Diaz elected President of Mexico (remains until 1911).
1879 Chile declares war on Bolivia & Peru over Atacama nitrate mine rights.
1883 Treaty of Ancón between Chile & Peru.
1884 Truce of Valparaiso between Chile & Bolivia.
1889 Brazil declared a Republic.
First Pan American conference meet in Washington, D. C.
1890 creation of the Pan-American Union, for inter national assistance.
1892 global depression, bank failures in US leads to Populist Party.
1895 War breaks out in Cuba to fight for independence from Spain.
US interferes in the British-Venzuelan boundary dispute (Guyana).
1896 Congress grants "belligerent" status to Cubans over Spain's objections.1898 Battleship Maine explodes in Havana, US declares war on Spain.
1898 Treaty of Paris, ends the Spanish War in US favor:
Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam ceded to US and Cuba becomes a US protectorate.
1899 1st World Peace Conference in the Hague, est. International Court of Justice.
Secretary of State John Hay, announces the Open Door Policy. (China)
1900 Hawaii a US territory.
1901 Hay-Pauncefote Treaty with Britain to build a Canal in Panama.
Platt Amendment passed by Congress forced on Cuba before US left.
1902 US offer to buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark, rejected.
1903 US treaty with Colombia for Panama Canal rejected by Colombia's Senate.
Panama declares its independence from Colombia.
1904 Supreme Court rules that Puerto Ricans are not aliens, nor citizens.
1905 Roosevelt Corollary of the Monroe Doctrine extends US hegemony.
1906 Roosevelt sends troops to Cuba to maintain order.
1907 Honduras defeated by Nicaragua.
1910 Mexican Revolution.
1911 Chinese Republic est. By Sun Yat Sen in South China.
1912 US Marines dispatched to Nicaragua during revolt & to China.
1914 The Great War (World War One): Anglo-French vs. Germany & Austria.
US dispute with Mexico heightens as US fires on Veracruz, Mexico.
1915 US Marines sent to Haiti.
The Opening of the Panama Canal by the USA
1916 US Troops in Santo Domingo until 1921, & Troops in Northern Mexico.
1917 US declares war on the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Turkey).
Russian Revolution, abdication of the Czar.
1918 Armistice, influenza epidemic kills 20 million, Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, US troops sent.
1919 Treaty of Versailles, ending World War One.
1920 Creation of the League of Nations.
1958 Ouster of Fulgencio Batista from Cuba by the Castro's insurgents
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis between the U. S. and the Soviet Union.
1965 Overthrow of Trujillo leads to Dominican Republic unrest and another U.S. Invasion.
2015 United States reopens relations with Cuba after Papal (Vatican) intervention.
Alfred Crosby, Germs, Seeds & Animals.
Octavio Paz, El Laberinto de la Soledad
Labor Theory of Value
