3.1: The First English Colonies

Objective:

• Learn about the founding of the first English settlements

• Compare Roanoke, Sagadahoc, & Jamestown

• Understand why Jamestown survived and the long-term impact this had on the U.S.

Why did the English begin establishing colonies in 1588?

Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I(By kind permission of the Marquess of Tavistock and Trustees of the Bedford Estate)

Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I(By kind permission of the Marquess of Tavistock and Trustees of the Bedford Estate)

Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

What is the Roanoke mystery?

http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/4198/html/0000.html

What was the purpose of joint-stock companies?

Map: Early Chesapeake Settlement

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Jamestown• Disastrous start– Disease, starvation and thoughts of gold– Investors wanted quick return– Only 38 of 150 survived

• John Smith– Took control of the settlement

• Work or get out

– Help of the Powhatan – Turned colony around

• Accident

• More Colonists sent to Jamestown– Reaction of the Powhatan

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Evidence of “Starving Time”

National Geographic, Published May 1, 2013

Archaeologists have discovered the first physical evidence of cannibalism by desperate English colonists driven by hunger during the Starving Time of 1609-1610 at Jamestown, Virginia (map)—the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

“There are five historical accounts written by or about Jamestown colonists that reference cannibalism, but this is the first time it’s been proven, said William Kelso, director of archeology at Historic Jamestown.“This is a very rare find,” said James Horn, vice president of research for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. “It is the only artifactual evidence of cannibalism by Europeans at any European colony—Spanish, French, English, or Dutch—throughout the colonial period from about 1500 to 1800.”Portions of the butchered skull and shinbone of a 14-year-old girl from England, dubbed “Jane” by researchers, were unearthed by Jamestown archaeologists last year. They found the remains about 2.5 feet (0.8 meters) down in a 17th century trash deposit in the cellar of a building built in 1608 inside the James Fort site.”

What was John Smith’s contribution to Jamestown?

How might US history be different without him?

Fate of Jamestown• After starving time, colonists wanted to leave• John Smith gets colony through “starving time”• More colonists arrive from England and save

Jamestown from collapse• Colony is still not making a profit,

– No gold has been found – There is not much trade with the Powhatan Indians

due to warfare between the colonists and the tribe

• The discovery of tobacco, AKA “Brown Gold” changes the fate of the colony and makes it profitable

Virginia House of Burgesses• Why was it created?

• Why is it important to US History?

Indentured Indentured ServantsServants

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Who were indentured servants?

What were their lives like?

Why were they important to the colony?

Once they decide to grow tobacco, who will do the work?

1st system of labor was the Headright system– Need for labor, anyone who came to the colonies got 50 acres

2nd system of labor was Indentured servants– Work as servants for 4-7 years in exchange for cost of coming to colonies– Roughly 1/3 die within 3 years from diseases like malaria

3rd system of labor was African laborers – First Africans arrived in Jamestown1619

• Initially treated as Indentured servants

– Africans are more expensive because they are more resistant to disease – Eventually, slavery replaces indentured servitude

– WHY? (Hint: look at Bacon’s Rebellion)

Nathaniel Bacon

Nathaniel Bacon came to Virginia as a gentleman in the 1670s, but his resentment of the economic and political domination of the colony by a small group of planters transformed him into a backwoods rebel. In 1676, Bacon led an army of discontented farmers, servants, and slaves against the powerful coastal planters--and almost won. In this stained glass window, discovered and restored in the twentieth century, Bacon's social class and his commanding presence are both evident.

(The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities at Bacon's Castle, Library of Virginia)

Nathaniel Bacon

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