VS.3 a,b,c Jamestown Study Guide
You will need to know the following items for the test:
 Why did Great Britain start a colony in America? – Economic venture
(money) , wanted to gain wealth and power, wanted to find gold and silver
 Who financed (or paid for) Jamestown? - Virginia Company of London
Important dates
 1606 – Charter was granted to VA company
 1607 – Arrived in Jamestown – first permanent settlement
Three ships that came to Jamestown
 Susan Constant
 Discovery
 Godspeed
Jamestown was a peninsula in 1607. Today it is an island.
People to know
 John Smith – strong leader, “If you do not work, you do not eat.”
 Christopher Newport – in charge of settlers when they left England on ships
 Powhatan Indians – Indians who helped the colonists survive, traded with
the colonists
 Chief Powhatan – Chief of many tribes who taught the colonists survival
skills
 Pocahontas – daughter of Chief Powhatan, served as a contact between
native people and settlers
 King James I – granted the charter to the VA company
Hardships in Jamestown
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Starvation
Lacked farming and building skills
Salty, brackish water
Mosquitoes, diseases, malaria
Indian attack
Survival in Jamestown
 Strong leadership of John Smith
 Powhatan trade and taught the settlers how to grow corn and tobacco
 Supply ships
 Pocahontas
Trade in Jamestown
 Powhatan traded to English – food, animal skins,
 English traded to Powhatan – copper, pots, tools
Reasons why colonists choose to settle at Jamestown
 Good source of water, deep enough for their boats
 No Powhatan were living there
 Easy to defend from attack by sea
Reasons why Jamestown was a poor site to settle
 Poor drinking water
 Did not ask Powhatan permission to settle at Jamestown
 It was swampy, with mosquitoes that carried disease