The major stages of the country's history at a glance
A few milestones to place the major stages in the country's formation and transformation — not an exhaustive summary of its history.
Indigenous peoples and European colonisation
The territory of the present-day United States has been inhabited for millennia by several hundred Native American nations and peoples. Estimates of the population before European contact vary widely, from 2.5 to 7 million people north of Mexico depending on the study. From the early 17th century, European powers (Spain, France, the Netherlands, England) established colonies on the Atlantic coast.
Milestones
1607
Founding of Jamestown
The first permanent English colony in North America, in Virginia.
1620
Arrival of the Mayflower
Puritan settlers found Plymouth Colony, in present-day Massachusetts.
1619 – 1775
Growth of colonial slavery
From 1619, enslaved Africans are brought to the British colonies of North America; slavery spreads and is gradually legalised colony by colony, especially in the agricultural Southern colonies.