1. Early English Settlements

2. What events led to war between Spain and England? King Philip II of Spain wanted to put a Catholic ruler on the throne of England instead of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. King Philip did not like the fact that Queen Elizabeth honored the pirate Sir Francis Drake instead of punishing him.

3. What event lead to England becoming the worlds greatest naval power? The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1604.

4. What happened to England’s first attempt to settle in North America? In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert was searching for a good place to establish a colony but died before finding one. Where did England establish its first colony? Sir Walter Raleigh established a colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of present day North Carolina.

5. What happened to this colony? John White, the leader of the group left to go to England to get supplies. When he returned three years later the members of the colony had left and no one has ever found them.

6. What is a charter? A charter gave groups of merchants the right to organize settlements in an area. What group of merchants were given a charter to “make habitation…into that part of America, commonly called Virginia.”? The Virginia Company of London was given a charter to “ make habitation…into that part of America, commonly called Virginia.”

7. What is a joint-stock company? In a joint-stock company, investors bought stock or part ownership in the company in return for a share of the profits. What did the Virginia Company expect these settlers to do once they were in America? The Virginia Company expected the settlers to look for gold and establish a trade in fish and fur.

8. What did they name the river that they sailed on from the Chesapeake Bay? When the settlers left the Chesapeake Bay they sailed on a river that they named,The James River. Why did they name the new settlement Jamestown? The settlers named their new settlement Jamestwon after the king James of England.

9. Pros  Built on a peninsula so it was easy to defend.  It was close to water so cargo could be easily loaded and unloaded.  The swampy land was full of mosquitoes that carried disease.  There was not a lot of good farmland. Cons

10. What were some other problems with the colony? Many of the settlers did not want to work because they were not used to hard labor. Instead of growing food for the winter, many looked for gold and silver. Many died of disease and hunger. At the end of one year how many settlers had survived the winter? By the spring of 1608 only 38 of the 144 settlers remained.

11. What leader of the colony is credited with saving the colony? Captain John Smith is given credit for saving the Jamestown Colony that first year. What measures did he take to make sure the colony survived? Smith made the colonist work instead of hunting for gold. He explored the area and got corn from the Indians.

12. What events lead up to the starving-time? 400 new colonists came to Jamestown in August of 1609. Two months after the new settlers came John Smith left. When John Smith left to go back to England, the colonist quit working and did not grow enough food for the winter. Fighting broke out between the settlers and the Indians.

13. What crop is credited with financially saving the colony? Learning how to grow tobacco saved the colony from financial ruin. Who leaned how to grow tobacco? John Rolfe learned how to grow tobacco using seeds from the West Indies. What event lead to better relations with the Indians? When John Rolfe married Pocahontas, the daughter of a local chief, relations between the Indians and colonists grew better.

14. What was a headright? A headright was a plot of 50 acres of land given to anyone who had paid their own way to the colony.

15. When the Virginia Company allowed the Virginia colony to govern itself what type of government was set up? Ten towns in the colony were allowed to send two representatives called burgesses to an assembly. They could only make laws for the colony.

16. Why did the Virginia company send 90 women to the colony? In 1619 the Virginia Company sent women to the colony believing that the plantation system would never be established without families. What must a colonist do if he wanted to marry one of these women. If a colonist wanted to marry one of these women he had to pay 120 pounds of tobacco.

17. What group of people showed up in 1619? In 1619 a Dutch ship brought the first African slaves to be purchased in the United States. Who was William Tucker? William Tucker was the first free- born African American in America. In the 1660’s slavery became a recognized institution in Virginia.

18. What events lead to Virginia becoming a royal colony? Virginia became a royal colony because the Virginia Company was going broke. The colony also suffered an Indian attack. What is the difference between a charter and royal colony. A charter colony is run by the merchants who were granted the charter. A royal colony is run by the king.