English
Exploration
Mr. Searcy
• England was in no position to challenge Spain through
most of the 1500s.
• Were actually Spain’s allies for most of the century
• Much of century was plagued by religious in-fighting
between Protestants and Catholics after the establishment
of the Church of England by Henry VIII in the 1530s.
English Protestant Reformation
The Rise of England
• The establishment of Queen Elizabeth to the throne in 1558 ended
the religious fighting and led to Protestant domination in England.
Also led to increased rivalry with Catholic Spain.
• Only true challenge was from Catholics in Ireland who resented
Protestant rule and asked for Spanish help. Help didn’t come and the
Irish rebels were crushed by the Queen’s forces. Led to hostility
between English soldier and Irish “natives”.
• Elizabeth began financing and supporting English pirates who
attacked Spanish ships and settlements, intent on stealing as much
gold as they could.
• The most famous pirate was Sir Francis Drake. He raided Spanish
ships and settlements, netting profits of over 4,600%. The Spanish
chased him all over the sea but Elizabeth knighted him for his
efforts..
Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Elizabeth I
• 1583: Sir Humphrey Gilbert attempted a colony on the
coast of Newfoundland. Died at sea. Failure.
• 1585: Sir Walter Raleigh: North Carolina’s Roanoke
Island off the coast of Virginia at the time. The Virgin
Queen. The settlement mysteriously vanished. Croatoan
Early Settlement Attempts
• While England was struggling to establish a foothold in the New
World, Spain was thriving.
• Philip II of Spain created an “Invincible Armada” to invade and
conquer Protestant England.
• 1588: 130 Spanish ships crossed the English Channel for a
showdown.
• The Spanish ships were too large, and were crippled by the smaller,
faster moving English ships.
• The Protestant wind: Devastating storm that scattered the Spanish
fleet.
• Marked the beginning of the end of the Spanish stronghold in the
New world. Eventually lost Holland and Caribbean holdings.
Overreached their power.
Spanish Armada
• Victory over the Spanish Armada helped secure
England’s dominance in the North Atlantic.
• England was prime for a conquest of the New World
• Capital
• Strong leadership
• Strong Navy
• Religious unity
• Nationalism
Signed a peace treaty with Spain and 1604
England’s new power
• Unemployment and Loss of land.
• Enclosing-led to loss of land for poor people
Woolen Economic Depression in 1500s. Hit puritan area
hardest. Led to homelessness.
Inheritance of land went to the eldest son.
Led to younger sons seeking opportunity and adventure.
A growing population seeking opportunity and land elsewhere.
Problems in England
• 1606: Joint stock company called the Virginia Company
of London received a charter from King James I of
England for a settlement in the New World.
• Joint stock companies were created to make a quick profit
and then dissolve.
• Sought gold and a passage to the Indies.
• Holder sought quick profit versus a strong lasting colony.
• Charter guaranteed settlers the same rights as
Englishmen, a staple in future liberties for settlers.
Jamestown
• Set sail in 1606. Landed in the Chesapeake Bay where they were
attacked by Indians.
• Settled on the James River. Thick with malaria. Settled in May 24,
1607. Around 100 male settlers
• Many of the early settlers died of disease, malnutrition, and
starvation. Spent too much time looking for gold instead of finding
ways to survive. Many settlers were “gentlemen” unaccustomed to
living on their own.
• Captain John Smith kept the group together and started focusing on
survival instead of riches. Took over in 1608. “He who shall not
work, shall not eat.” He was taken hostage in 1607 by the Indian
chief Powhattan, but saved by daughter, Pocahontas. Ritual was a
way of showing Native power, but made Pocahontas a strong
intermediary between the settlers and the Powhattan tribe.
Jamestown
John Smith
• Starving Time: Winter of 1609-1610. Powhattan’s tribe
stopped helping the settlers. Ate dogs, cats, rats, and
mice. One man killed and ate his wife, executed. Only 60
of 400 settlers survived the winter.
• Spring of 1610: settlers were ready to leave. Met at James
River by a new governor, Lord De La Warr.
• Lord De La War established military discipline and took
military action against the Indians.
Jamestown
• Was under orders from Jamestown Company to wage war against
Powhatan’s tribe and all Indians.
• Raided Indian villages, burning them to the ground and stealing food
supplies. First Anglo-Powhatan War
• Led to a peace settlement in 1614 and the marriage of Pocahontas to
John Rolfe.
• Indians struck back in 1622 killing 347 settlers. Led to increased
warfare and the settlers pushing the Indians even further west.
• Second Anglo-Powhatan War: 1644. 1646 Peace settlement banished
Indians from the homeland and established, initially, the first
reservation system.
• By 1669, only around 2,000 Indians remained in Virginia. Only about
10% of population when settlers came in 1607.
• Disease, Disorganization, and Disposability led to native demise.
Lord De La Warr
• The Plantation Colonies
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Virginia
Maryland
The Carolinas
Georgia
Plantation Colonies
• Importance of Tobacco
• John Rolfe: 1616 he perfected methods of raising tobacco.
• Europe suddenly had a taste for the plant.
• Led to a tobacco boom in Virginia. Colonists became
focused on the one crop and more land. Expansion spread
thus crowding the Indians even more.
• Allowed a prosperous economic system in the New World
even though it was harsh on the land and depended on the
market price of one crop.
• New agricultural system also called for more labor.
Virginia
• 1619: Dutch brought 20 black Africans to Jamestown.
Earliest slaves in the colonies.
• By 1650 only 300 blacks in Virginia
• By 1700 blacks made up 14% of Virginia population.
Introduction of Slaves
• 1619: The London Company authorized the settlers to
summon an assembly for government purposes.
• First parliament to be established in the colonies.
• 1624: King James I revoked the charter of Virginia
making Virginia a royal colony under his direct control.
Didn’t trust the settlers.
House of Burgesses
• 4th English Colony established
• 1634: Lord Baltimore: From prominent English Catholic
Colony
• Established for wealth and create a refuge for English
Catholics.
Maryland
• Baltimore didn’t make the voyage, but set aside huge tracts of
land for family members.
• Wanted to create a feudal domain that was similar to England.
• Created a system of haves and have nots as Catholics received
large proprietorships while the poor protestants were resentful
backcountry farmers.
• Created wealth through tobacco.
• Much of labor came in the form of indentured servants. Young
white men who worked to pay off their passage to the new
world in order to gain land and opportunity.
• Slaves began being brought in the later 17th century
Maryland
• 1649: Act of Toleration passed by Lord Baltimore as a
way of securing Catholic religion while also tolerating all
Christians.
• Death penalty for those who denied the divinity of Jesus,
like Jews and atheists.
Act of Toleration
• England laid claim to the island in the mid 1600s.
• Became center of sugar production. Labor intensive
process that required slave labor. Large plantations were
created. By 1700 blacks made up around ¾ of the
population.
• Barbados slave code of 1661 gave owners complete
power over slaves. Allowed them to punish slaves in
severe manners.
• Some white settlers of the Indies settled in the Carolinas,
bring with them sugar agriculture and black slaves.
West Indies
• Created by King Charles II. Gave land to the Lords
Proprietors, eight of his court favorites. 1670
• Established colony to provide food for the West Indies.
• Strong ties to the West Indies. Established a profitable slave
trade in the colony. Used both Indians and Africans. Many of
these Indians were sent to the Indies for labor. Savannah
Indians helped the whites, but the settlers killed much of the
tribe when they decided to move to Pennsylvania where the
Quakers were creating a society of toleration.
• Rice cultivation started in the 1700s as African slaves trained
in the cultivation were brought to the Carolinas.
• Charleston became the economic and cultural center.
The Carolinas
• Inhabited by poor Virginians and religious outcasts.
• Created small tobacco farms without the need for slave
labor.
• Separated from South Carolina in 1712. Looked down
upon by it’s snobbish neighbors in S.C. and Va.
• Fought the Tuscarora tribe, push them north into the
Iroquois Confederation. Faced a stiff challenge from the
Cherokee in the west.
North Carolina
• Founded in 1733. Last of the colonies to be created.
• Had served as a buffer state from Spanish in Florida and French in
Louisiana.
• Name after King George II.
• Place for imprisoned debtors in England.
• James Oglethorpe led push. Called for prison reform after seeing his
friend die in debtors prison. Strong military leader and rich.
• Savannah was center of culture and economy.
• Religious toleration: Many missionaries came to convert Indians.
Catholics were not tolerated.
• John Wesley was early missionary. Returned to England to start
Methodist Church
Georgia
Lacked the economic prosperity of their neighbors. Climate
not quite as good, as well as soil.
Georgia