16th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1513 | Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama. | |
| Spanish conquest of Yucatán: The Spaniard Juan Ponce de León defeated the state of Tlaxcala. | ||
| 1520 | Spanish conquest of Yucatán: Spanish conquest of the Maya civilization began. | |
| 1521 | Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire: Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés destroyed the Aztec Empire. | |
| 1524 | Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the Atlantic coast of North America under French employ. | |
| 1542 | Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi River, strengthening Spanish claims to the interior of North America. | |
| 1565 | Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine. | |
| 1570 | The Iroquois Confederacy was founded. | |
| 1587 | English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh founded Roanoke Colony. | |
| 1590 | The Roanoke Colony was found deserted. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of United States History
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“It is curious to note the old sea-margins of human thought! Each subsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters used to hide themselves.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)