July 4, 2026 marks the United States' semiquincentennial: 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was ushered into the annals of history, giving birth to this great nation. To celebrate the anniversary, I created this interactive map of 250 events—one for each year from 1776 to 2025—that, together, tell the story of America so far.
This is by no means an attempt to judge the 250 most important events in American history, though I did strive to include landmark events whenever possible. I had two core criteria:
Each event must have a specific day and location within U.S. territory attached to it; and
Each U.S. state, as well as the District of Columbia and our Atlantic and Pacific territories, must be represented.
You can use the timeline slider to rewind through the centuries, or search for a specific year to see its event.