1607: The first permanent English settlement in what is now the state of Virginia in the United States is established in Jamestown.

Today: The United States, which was formally established after winning its independence from England and organizing its formal government through the Constitution in the late eighteenth century, has grown into one of the most powerful nations in the world.

1633: Galileo Galilei is ordered by the Inquisition to stand trial in Rome for "grave suspicion of heresy," as he has discussed in his writing Copernicus's theories, which the church deemed heretical. He is convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and his book Dialogue is ordered to be burned.

Today: Copernicus's theories have long been accepted and in 1992, a papal commission, brought together at Pope John Paul II's request in 1979, finally acknowledged the Vatican's error in condemning Galileo.