| 1534 | English Reformation begins. |
| 1609 | Henry Hudson searches for Northwest Passage. |
| 1620 | Plymouth colony founded. |
| 1626 | Manhattan Island purchased; New Amsterdam founded. |
| 1629 | Massachusetts Bay Company receives royal charter. |
| 1630 | John Winthrop leads Puritan settlers to Massachusetts Bay. |
| 1636 | Rhode Island colony established. Connecticut colony founded. |
| 1636–1637 | Pequot War. |
| 1638 | Anne Hutchinson excommunicated. |
| 1642 | Puritan Revolution inflames England. |
| 1649 | English Puritans win civil war. |
| 1656 | Quakers arrive in Massachusetts and are persecuted. |
| 1660 | Monarchy restored in England. |
| 1662 | Many Puritan congregations adopt Halfway Covenant. |
| 1664 | English seize Dutch colony, rename it New York. Colony of New Jersey created. |
| 1675–1676 | King Philip's War. |
| 1681 | Colony of Pennsylvania founded. |
| 1686 | Dominion of New England created. |
| 1688 | England's Glorious Revolution. |
| 1689–1697 | King William's War. |
| 1692 | Salem witch trials. |