| 1658 | French traders Medard Chouart and Pierre Esprit Radisson became the first Europeans to make contact with the tribes of the Northern Plains when they ventured west and south of Lake Superior in search of furs. | link |
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| 1660 | The Navigation Act of 1660 stated that all colonial produce and tobacco must be exported on English vessels or colonial-owned ships with English captains. | link |
| 1660 | Mary Dyer was hanged for preaching in Boston (the crime: Quakerism). | link |
| 1663 | The Navigation Act of 1663 required that most imports to the colonies must be transported via England on English ships. | link |
| 1664 | The Dutch New Netherland colony became English New York after governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered to the British following a naval blockade. | link |
| 1664 | Maryland Colony passed a law making lifelong servitude for black slaves mandatory to prevent them from taking advantage of legal precedents established in England which grant freedom under certain conditions, such as conversion to Christianity. Similar laws were later passed in the colonies of New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas and Virginia. | link |
| 1665 | William Darby's "Ye Bare and Ye Cubb", reportedly the first English-language play presented in the colonies, was performed. | link |
| 1665 | The Great (Bubonic) Plague devastated London. Smoking tobacco was thought to have a protective effect. | link |
| 1666 | Isaac Newton explained his calculus. | link |
| 1666 | Robert Boyle explained temperature-pressure-volume relations in gases. | link |
| 1666 | Isaac Newton published his physical laws. | link |
| 1669 | Rene de La Salle may have explored the Ohio River. | link |
| 1680 | Native Americans of present day Montana acquired horses. | |
| 1680 | Native Americans of present day New Mexico revolted against Spanish domination. This is said to be the only successful revolt ever waged in the Americas against the Spanish presence. | link |
| 1682 | Rene de La Salle navigated down the Mississippi River, naming the region Louisiana and claiming it for France. | link |
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1733
1743 |
Vitus Bering conducted a number of expeditions to what is now the Bering Strait and the coast of Alaska. | link |
| 1774 | Juan Perez commanded the first Spanish expedition to explore the Northwest Coast and sighted the Olympic Mountains. | link |