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Tennessee Timeline History
1000 A.D.: The first native peoples arrive in the Smoky Mountain area. They
would later become known as the Cherokee Indian Nation
1540: Spanish explorer Hernando De Sota comes ashore near present-day
Memphis
1673: Explorers, James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, travel the
Tennessee River Valley
1682: The land is officially claimed for France by Robert Cavelier,
sieur de LaSalle
1750s-60s: England, France and Spain all fight for control of the
land, but the British prevail
1763: After the Treaty of Paris, the British are granted all land east
of the Mississippi by France
1769: Ignoring British control, settlers from the east begin to arrive
1779: Jonesboro becomes the first chartered town, and the oldest
permanent settlement in the state
1780: Fort Nashborough zzzNashville: is founded
1796: The American Revolutionary War is over, skirmishes with local
Indians are ending, and Tennessee finally becomes the 16th U.S. State
1809: Meriwether Lewis zzzof Lewis and Clark fame:, dies of a gunshot
wound
1812: The strongest earthquake in U.S. history occurs. The Mississippi
Rivers zzzflows backward:, subsequently forming the Reelfort Lake area
1812-14: The War of 1812 is fought, and Andrew Jackson is one of the
heroes
1829: Andrew Jackson is elected President of the United States
1838: The Cherokee Indians were forced out of the state, and their
journey to new lands in Oklahoma would be called the "Journey of Tears," as
thousands zzzfrom many southern states: died along the way
1861: The Civil War begins, and next to Virginia, more of its bloody
battles were fought on Tennessee soil, than in any other state
1865: The war ends, and Andrew Johnson becomes U.S. President
1887: Alvin York, a hero of World War I, is born
1925: John Scopes is convicted of teaching evolution during the
infamous "Monkey Trial"
1933: The Tennessee Valley Authority zzzTVA: put thousands to work
building dams
1939: The Grand Ole Opry broadcasts on radio
1942: The development of the first atomic bomb zzzcalled the Manhattan
Project: begins at Oak Ridge
1963: Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"
1968: Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis
1976: Alex Haley wins the Pulitzer Prize for "Roots"
1977: Elvis Presley dies in Memphis
1982: The World's Fair held in Knoxville
1982: Graceland Mansion opens to public
1991: The National Civil Rights Museum opens in opens in Memphis
1996: Tennessee Bicentennial
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