Historical Timeline
The exploration of the New World and the eventual
founding of St. Augustine grew out of the Renaissance, the "re-awakening"
of interest in art, music, literature, science, exploration, and learning of all kind.
When the Turks captured Constantinople, a center for knowledge, the learned men there
fled west to Italy. The invention of the printing press made the written word more readily
available, and ideas spread throughout Europe. One of these ideas was Protestantism,
a major cause in the clash between the French and Spanish in Florida.
Europe
1453: Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople
1454: Gutenberg perfects printing with moveable type
1469: Marriage of Ferdinand & Isabella, uniting Spain
1480: Spanish Inquisition begins
1485: Henry VII defeats Richard III ending War of the Roses in England
1492: Spain pushes Moors out of Granada after 800 years and expels Jews from Spain
1503: Da Vinci paints "Mona Lisa"
1509: Henry VIII becomes king of England; African slave trade with the New World begins
1517: Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to church door, launching Protestant Reformation Coffee introduced into Europe
1519: Magellan begins round-the-world voyage
1558: Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
1570: Spanish introduce potato to Europe
1572: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France--Hundreds of Huguenots killed by Catholics
1588: The defeat of the Spanish Armada by Sir Francis Drake

1590: Shakespeare writes his first play
1611: King James Bible written
1633: Galileo is forced to renounce theories of Copernicus.
1649: King Charles I of England is beheaded; Oliver Cromwell becomes "Lord Protector"
1661: Louis XIV builds Versailles
1666: The Great Fire of London
1685: Johann Sebastian Bach born
1701-1714: War of Spanish Succession
1756-1763: Seven Years War (French and Indian War in North America)
1789: French Revolution begins
1808: Napoleon invades Spain
America
While art and science were flourishing in Europe, explorers from Spain and other European countries were seeking wealth and land in the New World.
1492: Columbus' first voyage to America
1497: Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), an Italian hired by England, lands in North America
1513: Juan Ponce de Leon explores Florida
1519: Cortes conquers Mexico
1521: Ponce de Leon fatally wounded in Florida
1532: Pizarro explores Peru
1534: Jacques Cartier explores the St. Lawrence River for France
1539: DeSoto begins four-year exploration of North America
1543: The survivors of the DeSoto Expedition arrive in Mexico after wandering for 2000 miles
1562: Jean Ribault explores coast of Florida and founds Charlesfort on present-day Parris Island, SC
1564: Laudonniere establishes Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River, on land claimed by Spain
1565: Pedro Menendez founds St. Augustine; French attempt to attack, but are blown off course and wrecked; French massacred
1569: First wooden watchtower built at Matanzas Inlet
1582: Spanish settle Santa Fe (New Mexico)
1585: Raleigh's unsuccessful colony at Roanoke (present-day NC)
1586: Drake sacks and burns St. Augustine
1607: Jamestown Virginia founded by English

1608: Quebec founded by French
1614: Dutch establish Nieuw Amsterdam colony (later New York)
1619: First African slaves arrive in North America
1620: Plimouth Plantation founded by Pilgrims in Massachusetts
1622: The Spanish treasure ship Atocha sinks in a hurricane 25 miles off present-day Key West
1668: English pirate Robert Searles sacks St. Augustine
1670: Charles Town (SC) founded by British
1672: Construction begins on Castillo de San Marcos
1686: Pirates capture Matanzas Watchtower
1692: Salem Massachusetts witch panic and trials
1695: Castillo construction completed
1702: Gov. Moore of Charles Town attacks St. Augustine
1704: Cubo Line built as inner defense line in St. Augustine
1715: Entire Spanish treasure fleet for that year sunk off southern Florida coast in a hurricane
1732: George Washington born in Virginia
1733: James Oglethorpe establishes Savannah
1738: Spanish grant freedom to slaves who escape to Florida; they establish Fort Mose
1740: Oglethorpe attacks St. Augustine
1740-1742: Fort Matanzas built
1741-1743: Oglethorpe makes several attempts against Fort Matanzas
1742: Battle of Bloody Marsh--Spanish repulsed by British at Frederica on St. Simon's Island, Georgia
1754-1763: French and Indian War
1764: Florida becomes English colony by treaty (First Treaty of Paris)
1769: Minorcans arrive at New Smyrna Plantation
1776: American colonies declare independence from England
1779: Spain enters war in support of the American colonies
1783: American Revolution ends; Spain regains Florida (Second Treaty of Paris)
1809: Abraham Lincoln born
1812: Fort Matanzas fires warning shot at US ship during Patriots' War
1815: Battle of New Orleans--last battle of War of 1812
1818: Andrew Jackson illegally invades Florida and seizes fort at San Marcos de Apalache, south of present-day Tallahassee
1819: Simon Bolivar secures independence of Columbia from Spain
 Henry Flagler

1821: Florida becomes a US territory; Fort Matanzas taken out of service
1822: Brazil gains independence from Portugal
1823: Monroe Doctrine
1825: Castillo renamed Fort Marion for Francis Marion, Rev. War hero
1837: Osceola is imprisoned at Fort Marion (the Castillo) during Second >Seminole War
1845: Florida admitted to the Union as the 27th state
1861-1865: Civil War; St. Augustine in Union hands from March 1862
1874: St. Augustine Lighthouse completed
1886: Apaches imprisoned at Ft. Marion
1888: Henry Flagler opens the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine
1899: Spanish-American War
1911: Florida East Coast Canal (Intracoastal Waterway), west of Fort Matanzas, is dredged
1912: Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad reaches Key West
1927: Bridge of Lions completed
1942: Congress returns the name "Castillo de San Marcos" to Fort Marion
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