Mapping Initial Encounters (1440-1804)

Portuguese begin to trade for enslaved Africans

Christopher Columbus lands on San
Salvador and encounters the Tainos

Christopher Columbus introduces pigs to the Greater Antilles

The Ais and Calusas peoples harass Ponce de León’s expedition across Florida

Smallpox virus erupts on Hispaniola

Juan Garrido participates in siege of Tenochtitlan

Esteban and his companions travel across Southwest, where they are first enslaved by the Karankawa, but later assisted by the Pima and the Avavre

The Micmac Indians encounter Jaques Cartier on Gaspé Peninsula in eastern Quebec

Hernando De Soto expedition wages war on Timucua

Miwok Indians encounter Sir Francis Drake on California coast

Jean Nicolet travels with Huron through Straits of Mackinac

Father Jean Claude Allouez founds trading post on Chequamegon Bay and trades with Souix and Illinois Indians

Jacques Marquette learns of the Mississippi River from the Native Americans in Illinois

Smallpox epidemic decimates Souix

Bering's expedition and Aleuts meet in what will become Alaska

Hawai’ian islanders welcome James Cook’s expedition and establish trade

Narbona invades Navajo territory
in Navajo territory

Watkuweis and Nez Perce aid
Lewis and Clark expedition

Spanish establish New Mexico colony

English establish Jamestown Colony in Virginia