Before 1600
| c. 12,000 B.C. | North American Indian cultures flourish. |
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| A.D. 1000 | Norse seaman Leif Ericsson lands in Newfoundland, which he calls Vinland. |  |
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| 1492 | Christopher Columbus, financed by Spain, makes the first of four voyages to the New World. He lands in the Bahamas (Oct. 12). |
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| 1513 | Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León lands on the coast of Florida. |  |
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| 1565 | Saint Augustine, Florida, settled by the Spanish, becomes the first permanent European colony in North America. |  |
