It is also the seat of Hamline University (Methodist Episcopal), Concordia College (Lutheran), Macalester College (Presbyterian), several medical colleges, a State Reform School, and an Academy of Natural Sciences.
St. Paul has a park system of remarkable beauty. Como and Phalen Parks have picturesque lakes, and Indian Mound Park is said to have views unsurpassed anywhere else on the Mississippi River. Harriet Island, in the river opposite the business district, is provided with public baths. There are twenty-two miles of park and boulevard driveways, not including the River Boulevard. The total park area is one thousand two hundred and four acres. Fort Snelling, attractively located at the mouth of the Minnesota River, occupies a large tract adjacent to the city on the southwest.
The manufactures of St. Paul include machinery, farming implements, furniture, carriages, boots and shoes, and malt liquors. Here also are located the extensive meat packing plants of Swift & Co., and quarries of fine limestone. It is the center of the wholesale grocery and dry-goods business in Minnesota. It is also an important printing and publishing center, and has large car shops, lumber and planing mills, and breweries.
In 1841 Father Galtier, a French Canadian, induced the settlers, chiefly French Catholic hunters and traders in furs and whiskey, to build a log church which was dedicated to St. Paul. In 1849 the town became the capital of the newly organized territory of Minnesota, and was incorporated. It received its city charter in 1854.
WASHINGTON, AMERICA’S CITY BEAUTIFUL
1. THE CAPITOL2. MEMORIAL TO LINCOLN 3. THE WHITE HOUSE, (SOUTH FRONT)4. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
1. THE CAPITOL2. MEMORIAL TO LINCOLN 3. THE WHITE HOUSE, (SOUTH FRONT)4. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Washington, D. C.[The “City of Magnificent Distances,” from its being laid out on a large and regular scale; originally named Georgetown, but when selected in 1790 as the Federal Capital was re-named Washington in honor of the first President of the United States.]
The City of Washington, the Capital of the United States, lies on the left bank of the Potomac River, in the District of Columbia, one hundred and fifty-six miles from Chesapeake Bay, one hundred and eighty-five miles from the Atlantic Ocean, two hundred and twenty-six miles southwest of New York, one hundred and thirty-six miles of Philadelphia, and forty miles of Baltimore.
The city lies on a plain with slight elevations and surrounded by hills, and is generally accepted as the most beautiful in the United States, being finely laid out, with wide asphalted streets, opening up vistas of handsome public buildings, monuments, or leafy squares, with the Capitol and the Washington Monument dominating the entire view.
The original plan of Washington City was made by L’Enfant, a French engineer, who had adopted America as his residence. Based largely upon the topography of Versailles, its characteristic features are the crossing of the rectangular streets by frequent broad transverse avenues, one hundred and twenty to one hundred and sixty feet wide, lined with trees and named for various States of the Union. The streets running north and south are numbered, those running east and west are named by the letters of the alphabet. The circles formed by the intersection of the streets and avenues are one of the most charming features of the city.
Pennsylvania Avenue, between the Capitol and the White House (a distance of one and one-third miles), is the chief thoroughfare, and other important business streets are Seventh Street, Fourteenth Street, Ninth Street, and F Street. Among the finest residence streets are New Hampshire Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, and Sixteenth Street.
The new Union Railway Station, completed in 1908 at a cost of fifteen million dollars, including grounds and tunnels, is undoubtedly one of the most successful buildings in the country. It is situated at the junction of Massachusetts and Delaware Avenues, about one-third of a mile, and in full view of the Capitol. In front is a large plaza, embellished with shrubbery, fountains, and the finely sculptured Columbus monument.
The Capitol, splendidly situated on a hill ninety feet above the level of the Potomac, dominates the entire city with its soaring dome and ranks among the most beautiful buildings in the world. It stands in a park of about fifty acres, is seven hundred and fifty-one feet in length and one hundred and twenty-one to three hundred and twenty-four feet wide, and consists of a main edifice of sandstone, painted white, and of two wings of white marble. The building covers an area of three and one-half acres.
The cornerstone was laid by Washington in 1793. The main building, with its original low-crowned dome, was completed in 1827; the wings and the new iron dome were added in 1851-1865. The general style is classic, with Corinthian details. The principal facade looks towards the east, as the city was expected to spread in that direction, and the Capitol thus turns its back upon the main part of the city and on the other government buildings.
A fine marble terrace, eight hundred and eighty-four feet long, approached by two broad flights of steps, has been constructed on the west side of the Capitol and adds great dignity to this view of the building. The dome, which is two hundred and sixty-eight and one-half feet high, is surmounted by a figure of Liberty, nineteen and one-half feet high. The total cost of the building has been sixteen million dollars.
The front or east facade is preceded by three porticos, the main entrance being in the center. To the right of the central portico is the Settlement of America, a marble group by Greenough; to the left is the Discovery of America, a figure of Columbus by Persico. In the pediment above the portico is a relief of the Genius of America, by Persico; and in the pediment above the north portico is a group representing the Civilization of the United States, by Crawford.
The inauguration of the Presidents of the United States takes place on the broad steps in front of the main doorway.
In the interior beside the rotunda with its historical paintings, are the Senate Chamber in the north wing; the House of Representatives in the south wing, the Supreme Court in the central building, and the old Hall of Representatives, now used for historical statues.
To the north and south of the Capitol and connected with it by subways are the Senate and House of Representatives office buildings, two white marble edifices in a classic style, containing offices for senators and representatives.
To the southeast of the Capitol stands the Library of Congress, an enormous structure in the Italian renaissance style, four hundred and seventy feet long and three hundred and forty feet wide, erected in 1888-1897, at a cost of six million one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. It is in the form of a quadrangle, enclosing four courts and a central rotunda surmounted by a flat gilded dome and lantern. The main entrance, on the west side, is preceded by a broad flight of steps and a granite terrace, against the retaining wall of which is an effective fountain.
The interior of the Congressional Library is sumptuously adorned with paintings, sculptures, colored marbles, and gilding. To the right and left are massive marble staircases, richly adorned with sculptures and with bronze figures as lamp-bearers. The ceiling of the hall, seventy-two feet above the marble flooring, is resplendent in blue, green, and yellow.
The reading room rotunda is perhaps the finest and most thoroughly satisfactory part of the whole building. The chamber, which is one hundred feet in diameter and one hundred and twenty-five feet in height, accommodates about three hundred readers, is richly adorned[624]with dark marble from Tennessee, red marble from Numidia, and yellow marble from Siena. The eight massive piers are surmounted by symbolical female figures.
At the foot of the flights of steps descending from the terrace on the west side of the Capitol is an heroic statue of Chief Justice Marshall, by Story. The broad walk to the north leads to the Naval or Peace Monument, by Simmons. The walk to the south leads to the statue of President Garfield, by J. Q. A. Ward.
Diagonally to the southwest and northwest extend two grand avenues as far as eye can see—Maryland Avenue to the left leading down to the Potomac and carrying the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad to the river, where it crosses over the Long Bridge into Virginia; and Pennsylvania Avenue to the right stretching to the distant colonnade of the Treasury Building and the tree covered park south of the Executive Mansion. Between these diverging avenues and extending to the Potomac, more than a mile away, is the Mall, a broad inclosure of lawns and gardens. Upon it in the foreground is the government Botanical Garden, and behind this the spacious grounds surrounding the Smithsonian Institution; and the National Museum; while beyond, near the river bank, rises the tall, white shaft of the Washington Monument with its pointed apex; on either side spreads out the city, the houses bordering the foliage lined streets and having at frequent intervals the tall spires of churches and the massive marble, granite, and brick edifices that are used for government buildings.
The Smithsonian Institution is a red stone building in the late Norman style, erected in 1847-1856 at a cost of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The loftiest of the nine towers is one hundred and forty-five feet high. In front of it is a statue of Prof. Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Institution, by Story.
CORCORAN ART GALLERY, WASHINGTON
CORCORAN ART GALLERY, WASHINGTON
New buildings for the National Museum, on the Mall between Ninth and Twelfth Streets, and the new one million five hundred thousand dollar marble building of the Department of Agriculture, west of the Smithsonian grounds, are notable. The former, originally established to exhibit the rich contributions given to the government by various countries from the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876, has become a most extensive and instructive collection of antiquities, ethnology, geology, and natural history generally; and there are many museums, libraries and art galleries.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where the paper money, bonds and stamps of the United States are printed, is at the corner of B Street and the Mall, southwest.
The national monument to Washington, popularly known as the “Washington Monument,” is a towering obelisk of white marble, on the bank of the Potomac, erected at a cost of one million two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. It has a total height of five hundred and fifty-five feet, an area at the foundation of sixteen thousand feet, and a weight of thirty-six thousand nine hundred and twelve gross tons. The apex has an aluminum point, and there is an elevator and an iron stairway of nine hundred steps in the interior of the shaft.
From the Washington Monument the Treasury Department at Pennsylvania Avenue and Fifteenth Street comes into full view. It is an immense edifice, five hundred and ten feet long and two hundred and eighty feet wide, with an Ionic colonnade on the east front and porticos on the other three sides. The materials are freestone and granite, and it cost seven million dollars to erect the edifice. Among the chief objects of interest are the United States Cash Room, in the north corridor; the Redemption Division, in the basement; the Silver Vaults, containing bullion and coin to the value of hundreds of millions of dollars; and the Secret Service Division, with its collection of forged money and portraits of forgers.
On the south, opposite the Treasury, is the fine equestrian monument of General Sherman, by Rohl-Smith, erected in 1903. The pedestal is embellished with bronze reliefs, medallions, and figures of Indian women, and at the corners are four sentinels.
Following Pennsylvania Avenue towards the west, Lafayette Square, is approached. Here are bronze statues of General Andrew Jackson, by Clark Mills; the Rochambeau Monument, by F.[625]Hamar; and the Lafayette Monument, by Falguiére and Mercié. On the east side of the square is the Belasco Theater, occupying the site of the house in which an attempt was made to assassinate Secretary Seward in 1865.
Opposite Lafayette Square is the entrance to the White House or Executive Mansion of the President of the United States. The White House is a two-story stone building, painted white, one hundred and seventy feet long and eighty-six feet deep, with an Ionic portico. It was first built in 1792, occupied by President Adams in 1800, burned by the British in 1814, and rebuilt in 1818. In 1902-1903 the whole building was admirably restored, within and without. The esplanade or terrace on the west side connects the house with the new Executive Offices and Cabinet Room. The large East Room (eighty by forty by twenty-two feet) is open to the public from ten to two. The Reception Rooms, which contain portraits of Presidents and valuable gifts, and the handsome Dining Room are shown by special order only. The rest of the house is private. The grounds surrounding the house are seventy-five acres in extent.
To the west of the White House is the huge building of the State, War, and Navy Departments, enclosing two courts and measuring five hundred and sixty-seven feet in length by three hundred and forty-two feet in breadth. It is a granite building, in Renaissance style, the largest public edifice in Washington, covering four and one-half acres, has five hundred and sixty-six rooms, and cost eleven million dollars. The north and west wings are occupied by the War Department. The Navy Department is in the eastern part of the building.
The Department of State occupies the southern part of the building. Among the finest rooms are the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, containing portraits of the Secretaries of State from 1789 to the present day, and the Library, with Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence and other relics.
In Seventeenth Street, to the southwest of the State Building, between New York Avenue and E Street, is the Corcoran Gallery of Art, built and endowed by the late W. W. Corcoran. The present building, erected in 1894-1897, is a handsome white marble structure in a Neo-Grecian style, by Ernest Flagg. The semicircular hall at the north end is used for occasional exhibitions, while the rest of this part of the building is occupied by a School of Art. The steps to the main entrance are flanked by colossal bronze lions, modeled after those by Canova at the tomb of Pope Clement XIII. The Gallery contains more than two hundred paintings, the finest collection of Barye bronzes, Power’s Greek Slave, and Vela’s Dying Napoleon in marble.
Also in Seventeenth Street, south of the Corcoran Gallery, are the new Continental Hall, built by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the new building of the International Bureau of the American Republics, erected at a cost of one million dollars by Andrew Carnegie.
The Interior Department occupies an entire square in the heart of the city, and is constructed of white marble in pure Doric, costing three million dollars. The General Land Office opposite is a Corinthian marble edifice.
In Judiciary Square on the north side stands the Pension Office, an enormous structure of brick, four hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide. It is surrounded by a terra cotta frieze illustrating military and naval operations. The interior, with its mammoth columns (seventy-five feet high), can accommodate about twenty thousand people at an inauguration ball, or other occasions.
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, WASHINGTON
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, WASHINGTON
Nearby, in B Street, is the large Census Bureau, in which a large staff is constantly at work. The enumerating machines are especially interesting.
To the northeast of this point, at the corner of North Capitol and H Streets, is the Government Printing Office, a twelve-story building erected at a cost of two million dollars.
Ford Theater, in which President Lincoln was assassinated by Booth on April 14, 1865, is in Tenth Street. A house opposite bears a tablet stating that Lincoln died there, and contains a collection of Lincoln relics.
On the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets, is the Post Office Department, with a tower three hundred feet high. At the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth Streets is the new District or Municipal Building, a fine marble structure completed in 1908, and occupied by the District Commissioners and other officials of the local government.
At the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and New York Avenue is Mt. Vernon Square, containing the Public Library, a white marble building, presented by Mr. Andrew Carnegie.
Beyond the Capitol to the southeast are the Washington Barracks, at the junction of the Potomac and its Eastern Branch, an artillery post, and the War College, a fine brick building, erected 1903-1908. In front of the latter is a statue of Frederick the Great by T. Uphues, presented to the United States by Emperor William II.
About one mile to the northeast, on the Anacostia River, is the Washington Navy Yard, with a museum, an important gun foundry, and manufactories of naval stores.
There are more than two hundred and fifty churches in Washington, of which the more important are St. John’s (the “President’s[626]Church”), and St. Thomas’ Episcopal; the New York Avenue, and Church of the Covenant, Presbyterian; the Metropolitan and Foundry, Methodist; St. Matthew’s and St. Aloysius’, Roman Catholic; Calvary, Baptist; Garfield Memorial, Christian; and Mount St. Sepulchre, with its reproduction of the sacred places of the Holy Land.
The National Soldiers’ Home, two miles above the city, founded in 1851, has six hundred acres of park and forest, which serve as a public driving park and rural resort. To the north lies the National Military Cemetery, with the graves of General Logan, General Kearney, and seven thousand soldiers. On the west this is adjoined by Rock Creek Cemetery, containing Saint-Gauden’s beautiful monument to Mrs. Henry Adams. To the east of the Soldiers’ Home Park is the important Catholic University of America, around which has grown up a somewhat remarkable group of ecclesiastical establishments, including a Franciscan Convent, houses of the Dominicans, Paulists and Marists, and Trinity College for young women. The university has a number of fine stone buildings of striking architectural effect. The other colleges of note are: George Washington University, with academic, scientific, graduate, medical, and technological departments, and a famous law school; Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution with academic and professional schools; American University, for graduate instruction only; and the National Deaf-Mute College, founded in 1864, a government institution for the education of deaf and dumb pupils from the army, the navy, and the District of Columbia. Its fine stone buildings lie just north of the city.
Among the more important private buildings may be mentioned those of the Washington Post and Evening Star, and the Munsey buildings, all on Pennsylvania Avenue; the Riggs National Bank, American Security and Trust Company, Washington Loan and Trust, Union Trust and Storage Company, and the National Metropolitan Bank. The larger office buildings are the Bond, the Colorado, the Ouray, the Southern, and Woodward buildings. The Masonic Temple, the Scottish Rite Temple, and the Y. M. C. A. buildings, are important structures.
More and more Washington is becoming the home of a class of wealthy Americans, many of whom have erected beautiful residences, and among those of conspicuous architectural value are the Leiter, Townsend, Walsh, McLean, Belmont, Hale, Anderson, Boardman, Patterson, Thomas Nelson Page, Wayne McVeagh, Henderson, and Gale houses. Of similar interest are the embassy buildings of the British, Chinese, French, Russian, and other nations. The Metropolitan, the Cosmos, the Army and Navy, University, National Press, and the Washington (for women) are the principal clubs, and have homes of their own.
An elaborate park system is in course of development, which will ultimately surround the city with parks and connecting boulevards. The principal park is Rock Creek Park, to the north of the city, containing two thousand acres extending along both sides of Rock Creek. Its natural beauties are very great. On Mt. St. Alban, near Woodley, to the northwest of Georgetown, is the Peace Cross, a large Celtic cross erected at the close of the war with Spain (1898) on the grounds of the new Episcopal Cathedral, of which the cornerstone was laid in 1907. It affords a fine view of Washington. On the Chevy Chase Road, to the northwest of the Zoölogical Park, are the National Bureau of Standards and the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, the administration building of which latter is in Sixteenth Street.
South of Rock Creek Park, on Rock Creek, lies the National Zoölogical Park of one hundred and seventy acres, reached from Washington in a half hour.
On a commanding site overlooking Rock Creek, north of Georgetown, in handsome grounds, is the United States Naval Observatory, of white marble, with its twenty-six-inch equatorial telescope.
Scattered throughout the city are numerous squares, circles, and small parks, nearly all of which contain statues.
Of bronze statues erected in honor of famous men, Washington has an abundance—mainly to military characters. Equestrian statues of Washington, Jackson, Greene, Scott, Thomas, and McPherson are erected, besides full-length statues of Lafayette, Luther, Franklin, Chief Justice Marshall, Lincoln, Garfield, Professor Henry Farragut, General Rawlins, and Admiral Dupont.
ARLINGTON HOUSE, HOME OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE
ARLINGTON HOUSE, HOME OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE
At Arlington, across the river from Washington, on commanding heights, is the National Cemetery containing the graves of about sixteen thousand soldiers. Arlington House, in the middle of the grounds, two hundred feet above the river, was once the residence of George Washington Parke Custis (step-grandson of Washington) and afterwards of General Robert Lee, who married Miss Custis. Near the house are the graves of General Sheridan, Admiral Porter, General Lawton, General Wheeler, and other distinguished officers.
To the south is a tomb containing the remains of two thousand one hundred and eleven unknown soldiers. The sailors destroyed by the blowing up of the “Maine” in 1898 and other victims[627]of the war with Spain are buried in the southern part of the cemetery.
The cornerstone of a splendid military memorial or Hall of Fame was laid here in 1916, to be erected in classic style, of marble, and to cost several millions of dollars.
MOUNT VERNON
MOUNT VERNON
WASHINGTON’S TOMB, MT. VERNON
WASHINGTON’S TOMB, MT. VERNON
Mount Vernon, Washington’s home and burial place, is in Fairfax County, Va., about fifteen miles below the city. It is in full view, standing among the trees on the top of a bluff rising about two hundred feet above the river. As the steamboat approaches, its bell is tolled, this being the universal custom on nearing or passing Washington’s tomb. The estate was originally a domain of about eight thousand acres, and Augustine Washington, dying in 1743, bequeathed it to Lawrence Washington, who, having served in the Spanish wars under Admiral Vernon, named it Mount Vernon in his honor. General Washington, in 1752, inherited Mount Vernon from Lawrence. After his death the estate passed to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, subsequently descending to other members of the family.
Congress repeatedly endeavored to have Washington’s remains removed to the crypt under the rotunda of the Capitol, originally constructed for their reception, but the family always refused, knowing it was his desire to rest at Mount Vernon.
In 1856 the mansion and surrounding property were saved from the auctioneer’s hammer, and secured as a national possession by the Ladies’ Mount Vernon Association, assisted principally by Edward Everett, at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars.
Washington, originally called Federal City, was named after Washington in 1791, and became the capital in 1800. In 1814 the Capitol, White House, and other public buildings, were burned by the British.
I. PERIOD OF AUTHENTIC DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, FROM 1492 TO 1607
Precedingthis Period there are some legendary accounts of discoveries by Norsemen, Irish missionaries and even Asiatics. Little importance attaches to any except those of the Norse discoverers, chief of which was Lief Ericsson and his brother Thorwald who came upon the mainland of North America about 1000 to 1004. The discoveries of Columbus and Vasco da Gama opened a new era, during which the Spaniards explored and settled the West Indies, Mexico, and the southern part of the present United States; while the English and French explored, claimed, and made unsuccessful attempts at settlement in the North.
DatesSpanish Explorers and RulersPortuguese Explorers and RulersEnglish Explorers and RulersEuropean EventsDatesFerdinand and Isabella, 1474-1516.Emanuel I., the Great, 1469-1521.Henry VII., 1485-150914921492. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, an Italian, supported by Ferdinand and Isabella, set sail from Palos, Spain (August 3), and discovered America (October 12), landing at one of the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. During the following three months he visited the islands of Cuba and Hayti.1492. End of the Moorish dominion in Spain. Death of Lorenzo de Medici, the “Magnificent” at Florence.14921494. Beginning of a series of Italian wars, lasting till 1539.1497. JOHN CABOT, an Italian in the service of Henry VII. of England discovered the coast of NORTH AMERICA, probably at Labrador. He was accompanied by his son, Sebastian.1498. Columbus made aTHIRDvoyage, discovering the island of Trinidad and the mainland of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River.1498. Sebastian Cabot, on aSECONDvoyage, probably explored the Atlantic coast from Labrador to Carolina. These voyages were not followed by any attempt at colonization.1499-1507. Amerigo Vespucci wrote a letter to a friend claiming to have discovered a part of the South American coast in 1499, and an account of this voyage was published. The new continent, therefore, was named after him by the German geographer Waldseemüller, who had read the account.1499.Vasco Da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope and reached India.Another route to India was thus revealed.1499. The Swiss gain their independence from the Emperor Maximilian.15001500. Cortereal, a Portuguese, explored the coast from Labrador to Nova Scotia.15001502. Columbus made aFOURTHvoyage. He explored the coast of Central America and Panama, returned to Spain discouraged and died four years later in the belief that he had discovered India by sailing west.1502. Outbreak of war between France and Spain in Italy.1510Henry VIII., 1509-1547.15101512.Ponce De Leon, seeking a legendary fountain of youth,discovered Florida, so named because he landed on Easter Sunday, the Spanish “Feast of Flowers.”1511. Pope Julius II. forms the Holy League against France and Spain.1513.Balboacrossed the Isthmus of Panama and discoveredthe Pacific, which he took possession of, with its coast and islands, for Spain.CharlesI. of Spain and Charles V. of Germany, Emperor. 1516-1556.French Explorers and Rulers1513. James IV. of Scotland invades England, and is killed at battle of Flodden Field.Francis I., 1515-1547.1515. Wolsey appointed Chancellor by Henry VIII. of England.1519-1521.Cortez conquered Mexicofor Spain. This conquest led to the establishment of Spain’s Empire in the new world. The mines brought great wealth to Spain and formed thebasis of Spanish prosperity in the following years.1519. The German Empire, Spain, Netherlands, Two Sicilies and the Spanish Indies united under Charles V.15201520.Magellan, a Portuguese in Spain’s service, discovered the strait named after him. He reached and named thePacific Ocean.15201521. Magellan discovered thePhilippine Islands. His followers, after his death, continued westward and completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1522.1524.Verrazano, sailing in the service of France, traced the American coast northward from Cape Fear, and discovered New York harbor.1521. Beginning of the wars between Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. of France.1527. Captain John Rut explores the coast of North America.1527. Expulsion of the Medici from Florence.15301539.Coronado and a force of Spaniards marched northward from Mexico to Colorado and Kansas and discovered theGrand Canon of the Colorado River.DeSoto, at the same time, led an army of about a thousand into northwest Florida.He reached the Mississippiin 1541.1535.Cartier, in search of a northwest passage, ascended the St. Lawrence to Lachine Rapids and Mont Réal (Montreal).1535.Henry VIII. of England assumes the title of supreme head of the Church in England.153015401541.Roberval and Cartier made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a French colony on the St. Lawrence.1543.England enters into an alliance with Charles V. against France.15401550PhilipII., 1556-1598.Elizabeth 1558-1603.15501560Charles IX., 1560-1574.15601562. Jean Ribault establishes a Huguenot settlement at Port Royal.1562. Beginning of the Huguenot wars.1565. The Spaniards, under MENENDEZ, founded ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida.1565. The Huguenot settlement destroyed by Menendez.157015701576-1578.Frobisher, in the interest of England, made three attempts to find a northwest passage to Asia.1578.Drakeexplored the Pacific coast as far north as the state of Washington. He had previously doubled Cape Horn. He claimed the land for England.15801582.Spanish monks planted missions in New Mexico and Arizona.1581.Declaration of independence by the Dutch.15801583.Humphrey Gilbertlanded at St. John’s, Newfoundland, and took possession of the country for England.QueenElizabeth was financially interested in many of the expeditions which followed, and she knighted most of the men who commanded expeditions.1584.Sir Walter Raleighsent out an expedition under Captain Arthur Barlow. The expedition landed at Pamlico Sound and the region was namedVirginiain honor of Elizabeth.Henry IV., 1589-1610.1587. Raleigh despatched another expedition, consisting of two ships with one hundred and fifty men and women, to Roanoke Island. John White was the Governor. Virginia Dare, the first white child born in America, was born here.1587. Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.1588.Battle of the Spanish Armada.15901598.A Spanish settlement was planted byOñatenearSanta Fe, New Mexico.1595.France declares war against Spain.159016001602.Gosnold, an English merchant, made a settlement at Buzzard’s Bay, R. I.James I.,1603-1625.16001603.Champlainentered the St. Lawrence.The French occupation of Canadabegan with Champlain. His maps, reports, and settlements stimulated French enterprise.1603. Martin Pring enters the present harbor of Plymouth.1604.Charles IX. ascends throne of Sweden.1605. Champlain foundedPort Royal(Annapolis, N. S.), and sailed in an exploring expedition as far south as Cape Cod.1606.In England there was organized theVirginia Companyfor the purpose of establishing trading colonies in America.
DatesSpanish Explorers and RulersPortuguese Explorers and RulersEnglish Explorers and RulersEuropean EventsFerdinand and Isabella, 1474-1516.Emanuel I., the Great, 1469-1521.Henry VII., 1485-150914921492. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, an Italian, supported by Ferdinand and Isabella, set sail from Palos, Spain (August 3), and discovered America (October 12), landing at one of the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. During the following three months he visited the islands of Cuba and Hayti.1492. End of the Moorish dominion in Spain. Death of Lorenzo de Medici, the “Magnificent” at Florence.1494. Beginning of a series of Italian wars, lasting till 1539.1497. JOHN CABOT, an Italian in the service of Henry VII. of England discovered the coast of NORTH AMERICA, probably at Labrador. He was accompanied by his son, Sebastian.1498. Columbus made aTHIRDvoyage, discovering the island of Trinidad and the mainland of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River.1498. Sebastian Cabot, on aSECONDvoyage, probably explored the Atlantic coast from Labrador to Carolina. These voyages were not followed by any attempt at colonization.1499-1507. Amerigo Vespucci wrote a letter to a friend claiming to have discovered a part of the South American coast in 1499, and an account of this voyage was published. The new continent, therefore, was named after him by the German geographer Waldseemüller, who had read the account.1499.Vasco Da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope and reached India.Another route to India was thus revealed.1499. The Swiss gain their independence from the Emperor Maximilian.15001500. Cortereal, a Portuguese, explored the coast from Labrador to Nova Scotia.1502. Columbus made aFOURTHvoyage. He explored the coast of Central America and Panama, returned to Spain discouraged and died four years later in the belief that he had discovered India by sailing west.1502. Outbreak of war between France and Spain in Italy.15101512.Ponce De Leon, seeking a legendary fountain of youth,discovered Florida, so named because he landed on Easter Sunday, the Spanish “Feast of Flowers.”1511. Pope Julius II. forms the Holy League against France and Spain.1513.Balboacrossed the Isthmus of Panama and discoveredthe Pacific, which he took possession of, with its coast and islands, for Spain.CharlesI. of Spain and Charles V. of Germany, Emperor. 1516-1556.French Explorers and Rulers1513. James IV. of Scotland invades England, and is killed at battle of Flodden Field.Francis I., 1515-1547.1515. Wolsey appointed Chancellor by Henry VIII. of England.1519-1521.Cortez conquered Mexicofor Spain. This conquest led to the establishment of Spain’s Empire in the new world. The mines brought great wealth to Spain and formed thebasis of Spanish prosperity in the following years.1519. The German Empire, Spain, Netherlands, Two Sicilies and the Spanish Indies united under Charles V.15201520.Magellan, a Portuguese in Spain’s service, discovered the strait named after him. He reached and named thePacific Ocean.1521. Magellan discovered thePhilippine Islands. His followers, after his death, continued westward and completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1522.1524.Verrazano, sailing in the service of France, traced the American coast northward from Cape Fear, and discovered New York harbor.Henry VIII., 1509-1547.1521. Beginning of the wars between Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. of France.1527. Captain John Rut explores the coast of North America.1527. Expulsion of the Medici from Florence.15301539.Coronado and a force of Spaniards marched northward from Mexico to Colorado and Kansas and discovered theGrand Canon of the Colorado River.DeSoto, at the same time, led an army of about a thousand into northwest Florida.He reached the Mississippiin 1541.1535.Cartier, in search of a northwest passage, ascended the St. Lawrence to Lachine Rapids and Mont Réal (Montreal).1535.Henry VIII. of England assumes the title of supreme head of the Church in England.15401541.Roberval and Cartier made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a French colony on the St. Lawrence.1543.England enters into an alliance with Charles V. against France.1550PhilipII., 1556-1598.Elizabeth 1558-1603.1560Charles IX., 1560-1574.1562. Jean Ribault establishes a Huguenot settlement at Port Royal.1562. Beginning of the Huguenot wars.1565. The Spaniards, under MENENDEZ, founded ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida.1565. The Huguenot settlement destroyed by Menendez.15701576-1578.Frobisher, in the interest of England, made three attempts to find a northwest passage to Asia.1578.Drakeexplored the Pacific coast as far north as the state of Washington. He had previously doubled Cape Horn. He claimed the land for England.15801582.Spanish monks planted missions in New Mexico and Arizona.1581.Declaration of independence by the Dutch.1583.Humphrey Gilbertlanded at St. John’s, Newfoundland, and took possession of the country for England.QueenElizabeth was financially interested in many of the expeditions which followed, and she knighted most of the men who commanded expeditions.1584.Sir Walter Raleighsent out an expedition under Captain Arthur Barlow. The expedition landed at Pamlico Sound and the region was namedVirginiain honor of Elizabeth.Henry IV., 1589-1610.1587. Raleigh despatched another expedition, consisting of two ships with one hundred and fifty men and women, to Roanoke Island. John White was the Governor. Virginia Dare, the first white child born in America, was born here.1587. Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.1588.Battle of the Spanish Armada.15901598.A Spanish settlement was planted byOñatenearSanta Fe, New Mexico.1595.France declares war against Spain.16001602.Gosnold, an English merchant, made a settlement at Buzzard’s Bay, R. I.James I.,1603-1625.1603.Champlainentered the St. Lawrence.The French occupation of Canadabegan with Champlain. His maps, reports, and settlements stimulated French enterprise.1603. Martin Pring enters the present harbor of Plymouth.1604.Charles IX. ascends throne of Sweden.1605. Champlain foundedPort Royal(Annapolis, N. S.), and sailed in an exploring expedition as far south as Cape Cod.1606.In England there was organized theVirginia Companyfor the purpose of establishing trading colonies in America.
II. THE COLONIAL PERIOD OF UNITED STATES HISTORY, INCLUDING ITS SETTLEMENT (1607 TO 1689); AND ITS CONSOLIDATION (1689 TO 1763)
Thereal history of the United States begins with this period. Within it the original Thirteen Colonies were established; New England and Virginia grew in influence and population; the Indian power in the East was subdued; the Colonies increased in strength and self-reliance, and the struggle between England and France for control of the New World was settled in favor of the English.