Early Modern
Intolerable Acts (1774): Britain's Punishment of Massachusetts
Intended to isolate Boston, the acts united the colonies in protest and led directly to the First Continental Congress.
Era · c. 1500 – 1800
Early Modern
Voyages of exploration, the Reformation and the age of revolutions that reshaped Europe and the wider world.
Early Modern
Battle of Quebec (1775): Failed American Invasion of Canada
British victory: Montgomery was killed, about 400 Americans were captured and the American attempt to take Canada began to collapse.
Early Modern
Paul Revere's Midnight Ride (1775): The Alarm Before Lexington
Hancock and Samuel Adams were warned and militia across the region were roused before the British reached Lexington; Revere himself was captured before Concord.
Early Modern
Battle of Bunker Hill (1775): Costly British Victory at Boston
British victory: the colonists were driven off the Charlestown peninsula, but the British lost over 1,000 men killed or wounded.
Early Modern
Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775): War Begins
The British destroyed some militia supplies but were driven back to Boston with heavy losses; the Revolutionary War had begun.
Early Modern
James Cook's Third Voyage (1776-1780): Hawaii and the Arctic
The expedition charted the North Pacific coast and reached Hawaii but found no Northwest Passage; Cook was killed in Hawaii and Clerke died before the ships returned.
Early Modern
Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776): Birth of Economics
The book became the founding text of classical economics and a lasting influence on debates about free trade, markets and the role of government.
Early Modern
Battle of Long Island (1776): Washington's Defeat and Escape
British victory: the American army was outflanked and defeated but escaped to Manhattan by night, and New York City fell to the British.
Early Modern
Common Sense (1776): Thomas Paine's Pamphlet for Independence
A best-selling pamphlet that turned public debate in the colonies towards full independence from Britain.
Early Modern
Washington Crossing the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton
American victory: about 900 Hessian soldiers were captured and the Patriot cause, close to collapse, was revived.
Early Modern
Declaration of Independence (1776): Text, Authors and Legacy
The Second Continental Congress declared the thirteen colonies independent of Great Britain and set out the principles on which the new nation claimed its rights.
Early Modern
Goree Island and the House of Slaves: Senegal's Memorial Site
Gorée became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 and a major memorial to the Atlantic slave trade, though historians debate its scale as a slave port.