This timeline shares historical events from England to its extension - Colonial British America. The colonies, arranged here by the first cases to occur to the last case in the colonies, are set up against each other so viewers can see just how events correlate with one another. Press the magnifying glass (-) to shrink the timeline so more years are represented at any given time. Press the magnifying glass (+) to expand the timeline so only a few years or decades are shown at any given time. Press the back arrow button below the magnifying glass (-) button to return to the first timeline entry.
Timelines are incredibly beneficial and this ome contributes temporal context for this project. In terms of witchcraft, this timeline showcases a few things. First, looking at the beginning of the timeline, one can see that England's timeline begins with the Bubonic Plague of 1349 and extends to the British colonies in America. Events in the colonies are occurring as a response from events in England. The next noticeable trend showcased in the timeline is that for 60 years the colonies experience case after case dealing with witchcraft. Of course there are lulls and places with gaps, but for the most part, major colonies with strict established religions experience numerous witchcraft cases, particularly Connecticut and Massachusetts. Now, the most noticeable occurence in this timeline is the end of the witchcraft cases. The last case in the colonies occurred in Virginia beginning in 1698 and ending in 1706. The witchcraft cases seem to die off as suddenly as they started. The cases are not dragged out throughout the eighteenth century and the ideas of witches and their danger became obsolete in the late colonial period. The stereotypical witch began and ended as crazy old crones, this timeline shows that in between those stereotypes the Colonial American witch was regular women who were perceived as acting with malice against their community.