1400s 1492-Christopher Columbus lands on one of the Bahamas Islands, "discovering" the New World (for 15th-century Europe) 1494-Treaty of Tordesillas 1497-John Cabot is the first European since the Vikings to reach North American mainland, which he claims for England 1500s 1513-Vasco Nunez de Balboa crosses isthmus of Panama, sees Pacific Ocean 1513-Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain 1519-Hernán Cortés defeats Tlaxcala, a small state neighboring the Aztec empire 1520s-Spanish begin conquest of Maya civilization 1521-Cortes destroys the Aztec empire 1524-Giovanni da Verrazano, working for France, explores coastline from present-day North Carolina to Maine 1542-Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River, strengthening Spanish claims to the interior of North America 1570s-Iroquois League founded 1587-Sir Walter Raleigh founds Roanoke, the first British settlement in the New World, in the Virginia territory 1590-Roanoke found deserted Beginnings to 1599History of the United States 1600-1699
