The Americas

British Colonies in the Americas
AD 1583 - 1783

With the Spanish very active in South America and the Gulf of Mexico, and as far north as their newly-founded colony in Florida, Britain's own early explorative efforts were aimed much further north, mainly towards Newfoundland and the New England coast of the modern USA. Unlike the New Spain colony, or New France to the north and west of New England, the British colonies didn't have one overall viceroy in charge. Instead, each newly-founded colony or province had its own governor, most of whom answered directly to the Crown (while some were attempts at creating new homes independent of the perceived injustices in England or Scotland). However, Britain's American colonies came to rival those of the Spanish in terms of wealth and military might. Thanks to this, when they became independent, they were ideally placed to extend that might and over much of North America.

(Additional information from Britain's Bloody History: Plymouth, Laura Quigley.)

1485 - 1509

Henry VII

1497

English explorer John Cabot sets sail from Bristol in England to become the first European since the Vikingss to make landfall in Newfoundland, arriving on 24 June. The later city of St John in Newfoundland is named after him, although the exact location of his landfall is disputed. The name is first recorded on a Portuguese map of 1519.

1558 - 1603

Elizabeth I

1583

The first English colony in North America is chartered on 5 August at St John's Bay, Newfoundland, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The colony comprises mainly of Portuguese and French fishing villages, but Sir Humphrey sinks with his ship in a storm before he can make it home. No settlement is made there until 1604.

1585 - 1587

The English Roanoke Colony is founded in late 1585 or early 1586 on Roanoke Island (in modern North Carolina). Founded by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a permanent settlement in the Virginia Colony (which itself is named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen), the first stockaded town is named Fort Raleigh. Dwellings are probably more like barracks for the initial colonists - elongated English-style cottages with wattle-and-daub covered walls and perhaps internal divisions. Hidden by outer banks, the island is protected from being spotted by passing Spanish ships. The colony is abandoned the following year, leaving a hundred and eight colonists starving, who are then massacred by the natives.

An attempt to re-establish the colony in 1587 also fails, with the settlers disappearing utterly and only the bones of a single man being discovered. All that is discovered is the word 'Croatoan', the name of a native tribe, etched onto a tree. As this has almost certainly been scratched out by one of the colonists, the presumption is that they have joined that tribe in order to survive.

The final group of colonists, led by John White, disappear after three years without supplies from England, which is involved in a war with Spain. They become known as the Lost Colony after their leader, John White, returns to them from his drawn-out trip home for supplies to find them vanished. It is surmised that the colonists either die out or become assimilated into the local native tribes.

The Roanoke Colony, located on the large island to the lower centre-left of the illustration, was founded in 1586, but by the following year it had failed

1589

With little or no Spanish control, the Mosquito Coast along the Atlantic makes a perfect haven for Dutch and English pirates who are searching for safe bases from which to launch attacks on gold-laden shipping from New Spain.

1603 - 1625

James I

1604

The settlement of St John in Newfoundland is founded, making it the oldest incorporated settlement in North America. The settlement is used on a seasonal basis until it becomes permanent in 1620.

1606 - 1607

The Virginia Company is chartered by James I of England when two companies are given the rights to settle the coast of North America. The Virginia Company of London, or London Company, is centred on the James River in Virginia, while the Virginia Company of Plymouth, or Plymouth Company, is to handle the coastal strip to the north, although it fails to get started (this territory becomes known as New England). Robert Hunt, vicar of Holy Cross Church in Hoath, England, in 1594, arrives at the James River colony in 1607 and celebrates the first Anglican Communion in the new colonies, thereby laying the basis for the Episcopalian church in the later United States. The Popham Colony, or Sagadahoc Colony, is founded by the Plymouth Company in 1607, but is abandoned in 1608.

1607

James Fort is founded, the earliest part of the later Jamestown Colony (1609). Captain John Smith encounters Pocahontas (real name Matoaka or Amonute). She is about twelve years old, with an estimated date of birth of 1595 and is the daughter of Powhatan, the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy of native tribes. Smith later recounts how she saves him from execution at the hands of the natives when he is captured (and see 1611, below).

1609 - 1610

The Bermuda islands are settled by the London Company in 1609, followed by the founding of the Jamestown Settlement on 14 May 1610 in an area that contains no native settlements, making it the first permanent English settlement in North America. In the same year, the Cuper's Cove settlement is founded in Newfoundland by the Society of Merchant Venturers. It is abandoned in the 1620s.

The winter of 1609-1610 is an especially harsh one. The Jamestown settlers are besieged by the natives and have insufficient food to last the winter. First they eat their horses, then dogs, cats, rats, mice and snakes. Some are driven to eat the leather of their shoes. As the winter crawls on, nothing is spared to maintain life. The period is known as the Starving Time to historians, and is one of the most horrific periods of early colonial history. The final stage of that horror is when the living have to resort to cannibalising the bodies of the dead. Written documents suggest this to later historians, but in 2013 archaeologists discover the proof to back it up in the form of human bones that display clear signs of chops and cuts, probably by an inexperienced butcher, and possibly by a woman, who make up the majority of the fort's inhabitants. Relief finally arrives in the form of Lord De La Warr, who sails into the settlement with food and new colonists. After six months of siege and starvation, only sixty of the original three hundred settlers have survived.

1611

The 'Citie of Henricus' settlement is founded by Sir Thomas Dale (now in Chesterfield County, Virginia) as an alternative to the swampy Jamestown Settlement area.

From 1610 Pocahontas becomes a friend of the newly-founded Jamestown Colony. From 1613, she is resident at Henricus, where she is treated extremely courteously by the English. She is baptised as a Christian, taking the name Rebecca, and she meets tobacco plantation owner John Rolfe who is pioneering a new strain of tobacco plant. The two marry on 5 April 1614 and a son is born on 30 January 1615, Thomas Rolfe. The family sail to England to promote the colony in 1616, with Pocahontas being greeted at court by James I. She dies at Gravesend in March 1617 of an unspecified illness.

1615 - 1618

The London and Bristol Company creates the Renews settlement in Newfoundland in 1615 (but it is abandoned in 1619). The same company founds the New Cambriol settlement (also in Newfoundland), only for it also to be abandoned before 1637. In 1618 the Society of Merchant Venturers founds the Bristol's Hope settlement in Newfoundland, but it is abandoned in the 1630s.

1620

On 21 November, the Pilgrim Fathers arrive at Cape Cod in New England on the Mayflower (this land had formerly been the Plymouth Company territory). They are leaving behind them the confused religious situation in England, hoping to found a new and better community in the New World.

Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower – little did they realise what horrors awaited them on the coast of the New World (Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ61-206)

1622 - 1624

The Province of Maine (the far north-eastern corner of the modern USA) is founded in 1622, its name perhaps originating from the French province of the same name in New France. But it is not all plain sailing for the English in the Americas. The Jamestown Massacre devastates the Jamestown Settlement and the Citie of Henricus on Good Friday, 22 March 1622. Natives of the Powhatan Confederacy launch a surprise attack which leaves a quarter of the colony's population dead (347 people). In 1623, the Province of New Hampshire is settled immediately to the south of Maine, but in response to the native attack, in 1624 King James dissolves the charter company controlling the Jamestown colony and Virginia becomes an English royal colony.

1625 - 1649

Charles I

1628 - 1629

Salem Colony is founded. The following year it is merged with the new Massachusetts Colony, which takes its name from the local natives. Nova Scotia (New Scotland) is founded opposite and to the south-west of Newfoundland between 1629-1632. The Province of Maine borders it to the west.

1630

A fleet of eleven ships leaves England, bound for New England, with colonists led by the Puritan John Winthrop. He has collected people together to settle the new world, which offers religious freedom from the Anglican Church which is still seen by some as being too steeped in Catholicism despite its separation from the Catholic Church almost a century before. By the year's end the colonists found the city of Boston, naming it after the town in Lincolnshire in England.

1633 - 1636

Connecticut Colony is founded in 1633 out of territory which is part of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. It is named from an Algonquian native word for 'long river', Quinatucquet. The nearby Province of Maryland (named after the Virgin Mary) is founded a year later. The New Albion colony is also chartered to settle areas of Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, but it fails by 1649. In 1636, the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations are founded, as is the New Haven Colony, north of Rhode Island (only to be merged with the neighbouring Connecticut Colony in 1662).

1649 - 1658

Oliver Cromwell

1655

English troops take Jamaica from New Spain, making it a hub for rum production and slave trading.

1658 - 1659

Richard Cromwell

1660 - 1685

Charles II

1664 - 1667

The English capture the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, renaming it the Province of New York after the Duke of York (later James II). It includes territory belonging to the modern states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. The capture of New Amsterdam leads to the Second Anglo-Dutch War the following year, which ends with the Netherlands agreeing to the English ownership of the colony in exchange for Suriname.

1670

The Province of South Carolina receives its first permanent settlement. The Province of Georgia is also settled around this time.

1673 - 1674

New York is seized by the Dutch during the Third Anglo-Dutch war, but is returned as part of the Treaty of Westminster in 1674. Also in 1674, parts of the Province of New York are divided to become the Province of New Jersey.

1681

The Province of Pennsylvania is founded, although areas of the territory have already been settled by Dutch and Swedes since 1631. It is named after the owner of the Royal charter, the Quaker William Penn, 'Penn-silva-nia'; silvia being Latin for forest or woods.

1685 - 1688

James II

1685

Surveyors mark out Wall Street in New York along the line of the original New Amsterdam stockade.

1689 - 1702

William III & Mary II

1691

The Plymouth colony at Cape Cod is merged with the Massachusetts Bay colony. King William's War (1690-1697) sees the New French territory of Acadia captured by the British, but it is returned as part of the peace settlement.

1699

The British dismantle the defensive wall around the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.

1702 - 1714

Anne

1702 - 1713

Acadia is recaptured from New France by the British during Queen Anne's War and this time it remains in British hands, as confirmed by the Treaties of Utrecht in 1713, becoming part of the territory of Nova Scotia.

1704

The Delaware Colony is divided from Pennsylvania.

1714 - 1727

George I

1727 - 1760

George II

1744 - 1748

The War of the Austrian Succession is a wide-ranging conflict that encompasses the North American King George's War, two Silesian Wars, the War of Jenkins' Ear, and involves most of the crowned heads of Europe in deciding the question of whether Maria Theresa can succeed as archduke of Austria and, perhaps even more importantly, as Holy Roman Emperor. Austria is supported by Britain, the Netherlands, the Savoyard kingdom of Sardinia, and Saxony (after an early switchover), but opposed by an opportunistic Prussia and France, who had raised the question in the first place to disrupt Habsburg control of central Europe, backed up by Bavaria and Sweden (briefly). Spain joins the war in an unsuccessful attempt to restore possessions lost to Austria in 1715.

The War of Jenkins' Ear pitches Britain against Spain between 1739-1748. The Russo-Swedish War, or Hats' Russian War, is the Swedish attempt to regain territory lost to Russia in 1741-1743. King George's War is fought between Britain and France in the French Colonies in 1744-1748. The First Carnatic War of 1746-1748 involves the struggle for dominance in India by France and Britain. Henry Pelham, leader of the English government in Parliament, is successful in ending the war, achieving peace with France and trade with Spain through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Austria is ultimately successful, losing only Silesia to Prussia.

1759 - 1763

In 1759 General James Wolfe claims New France for Britain with victory over the French near Quebec, although he dies achieving it. It takes two years to secure the territory from the French. Havana in Cuba is seized and looted on 13 August 1762, but is restored to Spain the following year in exchange for Florida. The borders of the territory to be handed over are never entirely confirmed and remain contested (in words only) until after the creation of the USA. New France is also formally handed over to Britain by France and is renamed the Province of Quebec. The territory of the British thirteen colonies is confirmed as lying between the Atlantic coast and the Appalachian Mountains, with a band of Crown lands reserved for native tribes to the east, although that territory is also claimed as part of the vast territory of Louisiana.

General James Wolfe completed his victory over the French but paid for it with his life

Governors of the Province of Quebec
AD 1760 - 1791

By gaining control of New France between 1760 and 1763, Britain secured for itself the vast northern territories which form the eastern half of modern Canada. The post of governor was a direct continuation of the former French position, and mainly involved the control of British military forces and the territory's defence. However, very shortly after this date the thirteen British colonies to the south-east would be embroiled in the American War of Independence, with the result that Quebec assumed an increasingly important role in British interests in North America.

1760 - 1820

George III

1760 - 1763

Sir Jeffrey Amherst

First British governor of Quebec.

1764 - 1768

James Murray

1765

Prime Minister George Grenville, unpopular at home in Britain with the king and the people, attempts to regain favour by lowering domestic taxes at the expense of the colonies, introducing the Stamp Act (repealed in 1766). The laws give rise to widespread protests in America that eventually boil over into the War for Independence.

1768 - 1778

Sir Guy Carleton

1770

British troops kill three members of a mob in the 'Boston Massacre' - a propaganda coup for the colonials.

1774 - 1775

In September 1774, an American provisional government is established and the American Revolutionary War, or War of Independence, begins. The first blood to be shed is at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775. The British win both, as well as successfully defending West Florida.

1776 - 1783

On 4 July 1776, Britain's thirteen earliest colonies on the east coast of North America make a public declaration of independence. In revenge for the British seizure of Havana in Cuba in 1762, the Spanish governor of Louisiana supplies gunpowder to the revolutionary forces.

The British are defeated at the Battle of Saratoga, a turning point in the war, but it still takes the revolutionary forces over seven years to force Britain to declare that it will cease hostilities and withdrawn its troops and Hessian allied units from the thirteen colonies. The victors declare a United States of America. Britain is left with Bermuda, New Brunswick (formerly part of Nova Scotia), Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Province of Quebec (formerly New France). Florida is ceded back to Spain, with the colonial possessions in the Canadas now receiving Britain's main attention.

1778 - 1786

Sir Frederick Haldimand

1786 - 1791

Sir Guy Carleton

1791

British Quebec is renamed Lower Canada as a partner to the new Upper Canada which is created to accommodate Loyalists fleeing the USA. Ontario is separated from Quebec at the same time.

Governors-General of the Province of Canada
AD 1791 - 1867

With the loss of the thirteen British colonies in what soon became the United States of America, Canada became the main focus of British interests in North America. The governor-general became the official representative of the British king in North America, charged with maintaining the territory's borders.

1791 - 1796

Sir Guy Carleton

First governor-general, and former governor of Quebec.

1796 - 1799

Robert Prescott

1799 - 1805

Robert Shore Milnes

1805 - 1807

Thomas Dunn

1807 - 1811

Sir James Henry Craig

1812 - 1815

Sir George Prevost

1812 - 1814

The War of 1812 begins as the USA declares war on Britain over the interdiction of trade with Napoleonic France. At the heart of the declaration is the USA's desire to capture Britain's Canadian province to create a single nation in North America. American soldiers invade Canada with the confident expectation of a quick and easy victory  which, with a Canadian population of just 500,000 scattered among dozens of isolated settlements stretching from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic seaboard, seems entirely likely.

The attack and burning of Washington in 1814 resulted from the British operating from other flanks in support of the Canadian border's defenders

However, a few thousand British regulars, plus colonial militias and native allies, continually shock the American troops and drive them back across the border. Modern Canada can be said to be formed by this success. At the conclusion of the war, the 49th parallel is established as the border between Rupert's Land and the US west to the Rocky Mountains. The Red River Colony is ceded to the US and joint control of Oregon Country is commenced.

1816 - 1818

Sir John Coape Sherbrooke

1818 - 1819

Duke of Richmond

1820 - 1830

George IV

1820 - 1828

Earl of Dalhousie

1828 - 1830

Sir James Kempt

1830 - 1837

William IV

1830 - 1835

Lord Aylmer

1835 - 1837

Earl of Gosford

1837 - 1901

Victoria

1837 - 1838

Sir John Colborne

1838 - 1839

Earl of Durham

1839 - 1841

Lord Sydenham

1842 - 1843

Sir Charles Bagot

1843 - 1845

Charles Metcalfe

1845 - 1846

The US triggers the Mexican-American War in which it is successful. Britain, which still holds much of the disputed territory of Oregon, is persuaded not to intervene by an agreement called the Oregon Treaty which divides the territory along the 49th parallel in 1846. Britain keeps Vancouver to the north of the line (British Columbia), while the US gains Seattle to the south (Washington and Oregon).

1846 - 1847

Earl Cathcart

1847 - 1854

Earl of Elgin and Kincardine

1854 - 1861

Sir Edmund Walker Head

1858

The colony of British Columbia is founded from the fur district of New Caledonia.

1861 - 1868

Viscount Monck

1867

Upper and Lower Canada are united with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on 1 July under the British North America Act, creating the Dominion of Canada.

The British North America Act of 1867 created Canadian confederation

Modern Canada
AD 1867 - Present Day

Upper and Lower Canada were united with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on 1 July under the Britain North America Act. By enacting this, the British Parliament created the dominion of Canada, which was autonomous with regard to internal affairs. The position of governor-general of Canada was descended from the original post in New France.

1868 - 1872

Lord Lisgar

1871 - 1873

British Columbia is joined to the dominion of Canada in 1871, while Prince Edward Island is added in 1873.

1872 - 1878

Earl of Dufferin

1878 - 1883

Marquess of Lorne

1883 - 1888

Marquess of Lansdowne

1888 - 1893

Lord Stanley of Preston

1893 - 1898

Earl of Aberdeen

1898 - 1904

Earl of Minto

1901 - 1910

Edward VII

1904 - 1911

Earl Grey

1910 - 1936

George V

1911 - 1916

HRH Duke of Connaught & Strathearn

1914 - 1918

Having jointly guaranteed in 1839 to support the neutrality of Belgium, when the country is invaded by Germany, Britain, France and Russia are forced to declare war at midnight on 4 August. The First World War (variously called World War I, or the Great War), has begun and as a dominion Canada is directly involved.

1916 - 1921

Duke of Devonshire

1921 - 1926

Lord Byng of Vimy

1926 - 1931

Marquess of Willingdon

1931

Canada becomes a separate kingdom from Britain under the terms of the Statute of Westminster. The two countries share the same monarch as head of state, with the younger constitutional monarchy's administration being known as Her Majesty in Right of Canada. The position of governor-general becomes that of viceroy - the direct representative of the queen of Canada while she resides in Britain.

1931 - 1935

Earl of Bessborough

1935 - 1940

Lord Tweedsmuir

1936

Edward VIII

1936 - 1952

George VI

1939

The Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September is the trigger for the Second World War. With both France and Britain, under Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, pledged to support Poland, both countries have no option but to declare war on 3 September. Again, Canada supports Britain's efforts in war.

1940 - 1946

Earl of Athlone

1946 - 1952

Viscount Alexander of Tunis

1949

The sole remaining British North American colony, Newfoundland, joins Canada.

1952 - Present

Elizabeth II

1952 - 1959

Vincent Massey

1959 - 1967

Georges Vanier

1967 - 1974

Roland Michener

1974 - 1979

Jules Leger

1979 - 1984

Edward Schreyer

1982

Canada's last constitutional ties with the United Kingdom, apart from sharing the same monarch, are severed under Parliament's Constitution Act.

The centre block of the Canadian Parliament building in Ottawa was rebuilt in 1922 following a fire which destroyed the old block in 1916

1984 - 1990

Jeanne Sauve

1990 - 1995

Ray Hnatyshyn

1995 - 1999

Romeo Le Blanc

1999 - 2005

Adrienne Clarkson

2005 - Present

Michaelle Jean

Former refugee from Haiti.