Maine Timeline
1000 AD Lief Erikson visited the Maine area.
1498 John Cabot reached Maine
1524 France sent Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the Maine region.
1604 Pierre du Gua (or du Guast), Sieur de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain were sent by France to do more exploring of the France region. Champlain named Mont Desert, the largest island along Maine's coast.
1605 George Waymouth was sent by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Sir John Popham, wealthy Englishmen, to explore the coast of Maine. Due to the favorable reports, Popham and Gorges decided to make a settlement in the area.
1607 Pioneering English colonists settled in the Maine area. They called it Popham plantation.
1608 The settlers were forced back to England due to lack of supplies and cold weather.
1620s The first permanent settlement in Maine was made by English colonists.
1622 The Council for New England gave Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason land which included Maine and New Hampshire.
1623 A settlement was formed near present-day Saco
1629 Mason and Gorges divided their land. Gorges received the Maine portion.
1636 Gorges set up Maine's first system of government.
1641 Gorgeana became the first English chartered city in what is now the United States.
1647 Gorges died. The people of York, Wells, and Kittery formed a new government.
1652-1658 The settlers in Kennebunk, Saco, Scarborough, and Casco Bay, agreed to become part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1660 Gorges' heirs claimed Maine for themselves and disputed the ownership of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1664 Maine was restored to the Gorges family.
1677 Massachusetts bought Maine from the Gorges family.
1689-1763 Off and on during this time period wars were fought between the colonists and the French and the Indians.
1745 The French fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia was captured by William Pepperrell of Maine.
1763 The Treaty of Paris ended all French claims to the Maine region.
1774 Colonists in York burned a supply of British tea. The event was called the York Tea Party.
1775 British troops burned Falmouth (now Portland).
June 1775 During the Revolutionary War the first naval battle was fought off Machias.
1775 Benedict Arnold marched from Augusta to Quebec..
1779 British troops occupied Castine.
1785 A movement began to separate Maine from Massachusetts.
1807 The Embargo Act hurt Maine's shipping industry.
1819 The people voted for separation
December 1819 A constitution was adopted.
15 March 1820 Maine became the 23rd state. William King became the first governor and Portland the capital.
1832 The capital was moved to Augusta.
1839 The Aroostook War took place. General Winfield Scott was sent to Maine by the United States government to come to an agreement with Canada about the boundary between Maine and Canada. No fighting took place.
1842 The Webster-Ashburton Treaty established the boundary between Maine and Canada.
1846 Maine became the first state to pass a law that prohibited the sale and manufacturing of alcoholic drinks.
1851 A new law was passed that banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages.
1861-1864 Hannibal Hamlin, a former governor of Maine and U.S. Senator, was elected Vice President of the United States.
1890s Maine began to develop hydroelectric power on its rivers.
1909 Maine passed a law the outlawed the sale of hydroelectric power outside of the state to attract new businesses to the state.
1941-1945 During World War II the factories in Maine produced shoes and uniforms for the military.
1940s Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican, became the first woman to be elected to both houses of Congress.
1950s Some United States Air Force bases were built in Maine.
1955 Maine formed a Department of Economic Development. It helped to bring new industries to Maine during the 1960s.
1969 Maine implemented its first state income taxes.
1980 The United States government paid the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Maliseet Indians $81 ½ million as a payment for the land that had been seized from them during the 1700s and 1800s.
1989 In Deblois the first power plant in the United States to produce electric power from peat began operation.
1990s Tourism began expanding in Maine helping to bring more economic growth.
Works Cited
Paul B. Frederic and Richard H. Condon. "Maine." Worldbookonline.com.