BRITISH COLONIES

ROANOKE ISLAND TTTThe first great mystery of our history… SSSSpooky…

1587  121 COLONISTS LED BY JOHN WHITE  GRANDAUGHTER- VIRGINIA DARE IS BORN  RETURN TO ENGLAND- LEAVING 115  SPANISH ARMADA  RETURNS IN 1590

CCCCROATOAN CCCCRO

THE FIRST PERMANENT BRITISH SETTLEMENT  JAMESTOWN IN THE VIRGINIA COLONY.  WHEN??????????  1607

WHY?  TO MAKE MONEY  THE VIRGINIA COMPANY OF LONDON WAS A JOINT-STOCK COMPANY  THE STOCK HOLDERS PUT UP THE MONEY FOR THE NEW COLONY FOR ONE REASON---- PROFIT!

Late 1606  VA Co. sends out 3 ships Spring 1607  land at mouth of Chesapeake Bay.  Attacked by Indians and move on. May 24, 1607  about 100 colonists [all men] land at Jamestown, along banks of James River England Plants the Jamestown “Seedling”

Chesapeake Bay Geographic/environmental problems??

In 1607  104 men and boys arrived in Virginia and sailed up the JAMES RIVER.  They were hiding from the Spanish.  They settled in a very unsuitable spot…the middle of a swampy area.  It had bad water…and…

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Jamestown Settlement, 1607

When the colonists arrived  They immediately started looking for something that would make them rich…  GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD  INSTEAD OF…  PLANTING CROPS  BUILDING STRONG HOUSES  HUNTING GAME

Jamestown Fort & Settlement Map

Jamestown Housing

 40 people died on the voyage to the New World  another ship from England lost its leaders and supplies in a shipwreck off Bermuda. Settlers died by the dozens! “Gentlemen” colonists would not work themselves.  Game in forests & fish in river uncaught. Settlers wasted time looking for gold instead of hunting or farming. The Jamestown Nightmare

NO GOLD  THEY NEVER FOUND GOLD  THE COLONY ALMOST DIED OUT- SICKNESS AND STARVATION

High Mortality Rates The “Starving Time”: 1607: 104 colonists By spring, 1608: 38 survived 1609: 300 more immigrants By spring, 1610: 60 survived 1610 – 1624: 10,000 immigrants 1624 population: 1,200 Adult life expectancy: 40 years Death of children before age 5: 80%

Captain John Smith: The Right Man for the Job?? There was no talk…but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold…

SMITH- LAW  YOU DON’T WORK---YOU DON’T EAT!  IF YOU TRY TO EAT WITHOUT WORKING--- WE WILL HANG YOU!

PocahontasPocahontas A 1616 engraving Pocahontas “saves” Captain John Smith

Chief Powhatan Powhatan Confederacy  Powhatan dominated a few dozen small tribes in the James River area when the English arrived.  The English called all Indians in the area Powhatans.  Powhatan probably saw the English as allies in his struggles to control other Indian tribes in the region.

Powhatan Indian Village

Relations between Indians & settlers grew worse.  General mistrust because of different cultures & languages.  English raided Indian food supplies during the starving times  First Anglo-Powhatan War  De La Warr had orders to make war on the Indians.  Raided villages, burned houses, took supplies, burned cornfields. Culture Clash in the Chesapeake

Jamestown Fort & Settlement (Computer Generated)

Powhatan Uprising of 1622

Jamestown Settlement

John Rolfe What finally made the colony prosperous??

Tobacco Plant Virginia’s gold and silver. -- John Rolfe, 1612

TOBACCO-CASH CROP  PEOPLE IN JAMESTOWN GREW TOBACCO EVERYWHERE AND ANYWHERE…EVEN DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREETS.  THE COLONISTS NOW NEEDED TWO THINGS: MORE LAND LABOR- SOMEONE TO WORK IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS. LABOR- SOMEONE TO WORK IN THE TOBACCO FIELDS.

Indentured Servitude Headright System:  Each Virginian got 50 acres for each person whose passage they paid. Indenture Contract:  5-7 years.  Promised “freedom dues” [land, £]  Forbidden to marry.  : only 1 in 10 outlived their indentured contracts!

Why was 1619 a pivotal year for the Chesapeake settlement?

Virginia House of Burgesses FIRST ELECTED LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY- MADE LAWS FOR THE COLONY STILL OPERATING TODAY- GENERAL ASSEMBLY

ALSO IN 1619  THE FIRST AFRICANS ARRIVED IN JAMESTOWN.  THEY WERE BROUGHT BY A DUTCH SHIP.  SOME WERE TREATED AS INDENTURED SERVANTS.  SOME WERE TREATED AS SLAVES.

DIFFERENCE  INDENTURED SERVANTS WORKED FOR A CERTAIN NUMBER OF YEARS AND THEN WERE GIVEN THEIR FREEDOM…  SLAVES WERE KEPT FOR LIFE.

The “Middle Passage” RUM FROM NEW ENGLAND TO AFRICA SLAVES FROM AFRICA TO CARIBBEAN SUGAR FROM CARIBBEAN ISLANDS TO NEW ENGLAND

MIDDLE PASSAGE  NEW ENGLAND RUM RUM AFRICA AFRICA SLAVES SLAVES CARIBBEAN ISLANDS SUGAR TRIANGLE TRADE

The Atlantic Slave Trade OF THE 10 MILLION SLAVES TAKEN OUT OF AFRICA- 400,000 WENT TO NORTH AMERICA

VIRGINIA AND THE OTHER SOUTHERN COLONIES  SWITCHED FROM INDENTURED SERVANTS TO ALL SLAVE LABOR IN THE 1680S.  WHY? SLAVES WERE MORE EXPENSIVE…  BECAUSE OF ALL THE TROUBLE CAUSED BY A GROUP OF EX- INDENTURED SERVANTS…

NATHANIEL BACON WAS ANGRY WITH THE GOVERNOR OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY HE LED A GROUP OF HIS NEIGHBORS ON A RAMPAGE!

Rebels attacked Indians, whether they were friendly or not to whites. Governor Berkeley driven from Jamestown. They burned the capital.  Rebels went on a rampage of plundering. Bacon suddenly died of DIARHIA and fever. Berkeley brutally crushed the rebellion and hanged 20 rebels. Bacon’s Rebellion

FROM THEN ON  SOUTHERN COLONIES USED SLAVE LABOR…SLAVES COST MORE…BUT WERE EASIER TO CONTROL!

VIRGINIA WAS THE FIRST BRITISH COLONY  IN 1619, ANOTHER GROUP OF COLONISTS WOULD ARRIVE IN THE NEW WORLD.