Virginia & Maryland

Reorganization of the London Co. Virginia Company (1609) Stock options for “adventurers” Indentured servitude The “Starving time” ( ) A chance meeting Deciding to stay…

Jamestown and its Governors John Smith returns to England Governor Lord De La Warr Harsh labor requirements Harsh penalties Land incentives Private ownership New relationship with the natives

Jamestown Colonization Pattern:

River Settlement Pattern  Large plantations [>100 acres].  Widely spread apart [>5 miles]. Social/Economic PROBLEMS???

Why Was There Such High Mortality? POPULATION:  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%

WidowarchyWidowarchy High mortality among husbands and fathers left many women in the Chesapeake colonies with unusual autonomy and wealth!

Virginia Begins to Thrive Tobacco is King John Rolfe Headright system (1618) Expansion of Plantations Craftsmen come to the colony

John Rolfe

King James deplores tobacco

English Tobacco Label

Tobacco and Land Growing tobacco leached the soil of nutrients requiring the settlers to seek more land. This expansion along the banks of the James River resulted in the displacement of Virginia Indians from their homelands and led to conflict between the two cultures.

Early Colonial Tobacco — Virginia produces 20,000 pounds of tobacco — Despite losing nearly one-third of its colonists in an Indian attack, Virginia produces 60,000 pounds of tobacco — Virginia produces 500,000 pounds of tobacco — Virginia produces 1,500,000 pounds of tobacco.

Tobacco Prices: Why did tobacco prices decline so precipitously?

Labor Problems Labor shortages Enslaving Indians Importing white servants Beginnings of the African slave trade The Virginia Assembly of 1619 House of Burgesses

Headright System 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!

First African Slaves Arrive in Jamestown (1619) Dutch slave ship Blown off course—accidentally arrives in Jamestown 1 st slaves treated like indentured servants Evidence of freedoms and privileges that WILL NOT exist later

Chief Powhatan

The clash of co-existence Matrilineal vs. Patrilineal societies The role of the “white father” Concept of land “ownership” The miscommunication of the treaty process Powhatan Indian video

The Powhatans The Powhatan paramount chiefdom consisted of approximately 30 named tribes with a population of about 14,000 people, and was named Tsenacomoco, which may have meant “our place.” The Powhatans had a sustained society with a structured government, economy, religion, language and intricate social institutions.

The clash of co-existence The Powhatan Confederacy The Ransom of Pocahontas Opechancanough The Massacre of 1622 Retaliation against the Powhatan Jamestown becomes a royal colony 1624

Pocahontas- “Lady Rebecca”

Opechancanough

Pocahontas and John Rolfe

Take Five Discuss the relationship between the Powhatan Indians and the English settlers s 1690s

Agricultural Exchange Learning to farm “American” style New crops—The Three Sisters Corn (maize or “greene wheat”), beans, pumpkins or squash etc…

Churches at Jamestown Throughout the 17 th century the colonists constructed several churches at Jamestown. At one point in Jamestown’s history, it was mandatory that the settlers attend church twice on Sundays or suffer severe punishment.

The Colony Grows Jamestown expanded from a small fort into the social, economic, political, and religious center of the colony. Jamestown served as the seat of Virginia’s government for 92 years, until the capital moved to Williamsburg in 1699.

Images of New Towne Structures The first brick home was built in In the second half of the 17 th century some Jamestown families lived in brick Row Houses. This row of 3 houses was occupied at least from 1650 through Row Houses