Home › Timeline › Colonial era

Colonial era

Americans born before 1700 — settlement, the Puritan colonies and the first contact conflicts.

–1699 Colonial era 7 1700–1779 Founding era 34 1780–1819 Early Republic 64 1820–1864 Antebellum & Civil War era 110 1865–1899 Industrial & Progressive era 125 1900–1929 Early 20th century 238 1930–1949 Mid-20th century 204 1950–1969 Late 20th century 113 1970– Contemporary era 46

7 people, oldest first

15401700180019002030

1547–1618

1588–1649

Anne Hutchinson

1591–1643

1596–1617

1603–1683

1638–1676

1644–1718

The people

Powhatan 1547–1618Reform & RightsParamount chief whose confederacy confronted the first permanent English colony at Jamestown.John Winthrop 1588–1649Government & PoliticsLong-serving Massachusetts Bay governor whose vision of a covenant community influenced New England political culture.Anne Hutchinson 1591–1643Ideas & MediaReligious dissenter whose trial and banishment exposed tensions over authority, gender, and conscience in Puritan New England.Pocahontas 1596–1617Reform & RightsPowhatan woman whose life and later myth became central to American narratives of early colonization.Roger Williams 1603–1683Ideas & MediaFounder of Rhode Island and early advocate of religious liberty and separation of church and state.Metacom 1638–1676Reform & RightsWampanoag leader whose war against New England colonies marked a decisive struggle over Indigenous sovereignty.William Penn 1644–1718Government & PoliticsFounder of Pennsylvania who advanced representative government and religious toleration in colonial America.