Sarah Heath
Dr. Miller
ENG 203-50
4 December 2015
The Generall Historie and Jamestown: Two Approaches to the Presentation of Early America
The Generall Historie, written by John Smith, and the Jamestown Settlement have both
attempted to re-create life in Virginia in the early 1600s. The Generall Historie is a firsthand
account of what John Smith experienced when he came to America. According to the Jamestown
website, the Jamestown Settlement is living history that gives people the ability to “relieve the
experience of America's first permanent English colony ("Jamestown Settlement…")”. Both The
Generall Historie and the Jamestown Settlement have different approaches as to how they are
presenting information about early Virginia, specifically the relationship between the indigenous
people and the colonists.
First of all, The Generall Historie is set at the beginning of America. At the start of the
assigned readings, John Smith writes that this is the year 1606 and it is the sixth voyage to the
colonies. He starts of by explaining different aspects of Virginia, such as temperature, land,
water, and inhabitants (Smith 21). He is writing this journal to send back to England, so the
majority of the journal is just describing Virginia and its inhabitants. When describing the
indigenous people, Smith focused solely the males who could fight. He only talks about how
many fighting men are near each river. At the Pamavnkee River, he says that there are “60 men
for warres” and twenty five miles lower is Werawocomoco which has “40 able men.” In the next
paragraph, Smith states that there is a river named Payankatanke, which has “about 50 or 60
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serviceable men (Smith 23).” It is interesting as to how he solely mentions men, specifically able
men, when referring to the amount of inhabitants at each river. He rarely talks about men that are
unable to fight, women, or children at these sites. The way he is judging the population based on
able men makes it seem like the natives are armed and ready to fight on the spot. Overall, in
these few sections of the reading, he focuses on the men who can fight, even going as far as to
call them “Savages (Smith 25).” Essentially, John Smith is describing the indigenous people as
vicious and barbaric, which in turn sets the tone of Virginia as vicious and barbaric.
Moreover, the site that corresponds with John Smith’s The Generall Historie is
Jamestown. There is both an indoor museum and outdoor interpretation of what life was
supposedly like during early colonization in America. There were several different maps that
showed the disappearance of Native American villages and the development of colonies in the
New World. It was terrifying to see that in such a short period of time, the majority of the Native
American villages were replaced with colonies. Unfortunately, it was raining the day of the field
trip, so it was difficult to tour the outside to the full extent. However, it was still possible to go
on the re-creation of the ships that sailed over to Jamestown in 1607. On the ship, the focus was
again on the hardships that the colonists faced on their journey to America. The colonist on the
ship explained the fact that the offices downstairs were usually flooded because of the ship’s
poor design. The sleeping arrangements were horrible because they usually just had a small hole
in the wall with scratchy blankets and pillows. Also, the ship was generally very crowded and
therefore disease could spread easily throughout the ship. All in all, the inside part of the
museum portrayed the colonists as violent because they were taking over so many villages in
such a relatively short time period; meanwhile, the tour of the ship displayed the hardships of the
colonists, gaining sympathy from those on the tour.
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Overall, John Smith’s The Generall Historie portrayed Native Americans as vicious
people who are ready to fight at any time, while the Jamestown Settlement’s exhibits showed the
vicious side of the colonists. The Jamestown Settlement’s exhibits are challenging Smith’s
characterization of Native Americans by the several maps placed throughout the museum. They
displayed the time lapse of colonization taking over Native American villages. In the exhibits, it
seems like the colonists are the savage ones as opposed to the Native Americans in The Generall
Historie. Although they have their difference views, both the book and the exhibits did a very
good job on gaining sympathy from either the readers or those on the tour. The Generall Historie
made the Native Americans seem like savages and showed the hardships of the colonists which
then made readers feel sympathetic for the colonists. The ships at the Jamestown Settlement
showed how difficult it was to travel over to America, making those on the tour feel bad for the
colonists. Additionally, the Jamestown Settlement exhibits showed the destruction of the Native
American villages, which in turn caused those on the tour to feel sympathy for the Native
Americans.
Furthermore, the difference between The Generall Historie’s perception of the colonists
and Native Americans and that of the Jamestown Settlement is most likely due to a series of
reasons. One reason is the time difference between the release of The Generall Historie and the
construction of the Jamestown Settlement. The Generall Historie was released in 1624, whereas
the Jamestown Settlement exhibits were constructed in 1957 (“Chronology of Jamestown
Commemorations”). After almost 350 years, Americans realized that Native Americans were not
the savage ones and it was not fair for the colonists to come in and take away their homes.
Additionally, The Generall Historie was written by one man and it just the opinion of said one
man. Everyone has different opinions and just because John Smith said that Native Americans
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were savages, it does not mean that they actually were. John Smith was known for his
exaggerations and therefore, it is difficult to trust everything he says to be the definitive truth. In
conclusion, both the literature and the site are a somewhat similar representation of early
America; however, one portrays the colonists as savages and the other portrays the Native
Americans as the savages.
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Works Cited
"Chronology of Jamestown Commemorations." Historic Jamestowne. National Park Service U.S.
Department of the Interior, 15 Apr. 1999. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
"Jamestown Settlement, Ships, Fort, Powhatan Indian Village." History Is Fun & Yorktown
Victory Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Smith, John. The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles. London:
I.D and I.H for Michael Sparkes. 1624. Web.