th th
Grade U.S.
U.S. History
1010
Grade
History
Unit 2: European
Unit 2: European
Colonization of the
Colonization of the
Americas
Americas
Note Packet 2-3
Note Packet 2-2
Coach
Styles
Coach Styles
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• By the beginning of the 17th century, England
was still militarily and commercially weak in
comparison to Spain and Portugal.
• With the fate of the “Lost Colony of Roanoke”
still a mystery, there were still no permanent
English colonies in America.
• However, Raleigh’s disaster didn’t shatter
English dreams of colonial expansion.
• Quite the contrary—the English would soon
surpass her European rivals and would come to
dominate expansion and settlement of the New
World.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• Three Primary Factors Contributing to the Success of
England in the New World:
1. The appearance of new business practices.
•
Joint-stock companies (def): Form of business
organization in which a group of investors pool their funds
to raise money for a large project.
•
•
Advantages of joint stock companies:
A) Company did not dissolve with the death of the primary
owner (and thus was permanent)
B) Featured limited liability (stockholder can only lose the
amount invested, as opposed to previous business forms in
which stockholders were held liable for all the company’s
debts)
C) Allowed a rising class of middle-class merchants to
increasingly support overseas ventures.
•
•
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
2. A climate receptive to economic and political
risk-taking
• Entrepreneurship, invention, technical creativity,
and innovation were embraced.
• Entrepreneur (def): One willing to risk his own
capital (money) in search of profits.
3. English respect for property rights
• The right to keep the gains of hard work and
sacrifice led provided the incentive to be
productive and zealous.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the
King of Scotland, James Stuart, came to the throne.
• In 1605, two joint-stock companies (subsidiaries of
the Virginia Company) were granted a charter by
King James I to establish colonies in the land
claimed by Sir Walter Raleigh:
1. The London Company was granted a charter to
colonize southern Virginia (reaching from modernday North Carolina to New York—referred to as the
Chesapeake region).
2. The Plymouth Company was granted a charter to
colonize northern Virginia (modern-day New
England).
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• The London Company moved swiftly to recruit a contingent
of 144 settlers to establish a trading colony designed to
extract wealth for shipment back to England.
• These men and boys boarded 3 ships: 1) Susan Constant
2) Discovery 3) Godspeed
• Most of the colonists had no idea what awaited them.
• Thirty-nine of the settlers died on the 4-month voyage
from England to Virginia.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• In April of 1607, 26 yr. old Captain John Smith piloted the
ships 50 miles up the James River (well removed from the sight
of passing Spanish vessels).
• The site was well-suited for a defensive position, but was situated on
a malarial swamp surrounded by thick forests that would prove
difficult to clear.
• May 24, 1607: The first permanent English settlement was
established at Jamestown.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• The triangle-shaped “James Forte,” as Jamestown
was called, featured firing parapets at each corner
and contained fewer than two-dozen buildings.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
JAMESTOWN RESIDENCES
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
JAMESTOWN CHURCH: 1611
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• Though the positioning of the fort made the defense of it possible,
stocking the fort with provisions was far more difficult.
• Few of the first Jamestown settlers had knowledge of
farming and even fewer wanted to do any physical labor.
• Initial attempts at communal sharing of food and supplies
was a dismal failure.
• The first years at Jamestown was known to the colonists as
“Starving Time.”
• Within months of arriving at Jamestown, half of the colony was dead
or had fled to the mercies of the local Indians…but it got worse…
• In desperate need of food, the surviving colonists resorted
to acts of cannibalism and even looted the fresh graves of
their own number, as well as those of local Indians.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• The “Starving Time”:
•
1607: 105 colonists
•
By spring, 1608: 38 survived
•
1609: 300 more immigrants
arrive
•
By spring, 1610: 60 survived
•
1610 – 1624: 10,000
immigrants
•
1624 population: 1,200
•
Adult life expectancy: 40 years
•
Death of children before age 5:
80%
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• Disease also decimated the Jamestown colony.
• Malnutrition lowered the colonist’s immunity and
they had no resistance to the New World diseases.
• Eventually, a deep water well provided clean water
to the settlers—but initially, they drank from shallow
wells in the fort or straight from the James River
(where garbage and sewage also collected).
• Low summertime water levels and nearby swamps
harbored disease-carrying mosquitoes
• Malaria, Typhoid fever, dysentery, and salt
intoxication took an extremely heavy toll on the
colonists.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• It began to seem inevitable that Jamestown share the
same fate as the “lost colony” of Roanoke.
• Thanks to the efforts of Captain John Smith, the
Jamestown colony was saved.
• Smith imposed military discipline and order and
issued the famous biblical edict, “He who will not
work will not eat.”
• Martial law (def): Emergency rule by military
officials.
• Smith discarded the ineffectual sharing system and
replaced it with incentives for hard work, including
the private ownership of land.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• The planting of maize
(Indian corn) went a long
way toward solving the food
shortages.
• Acre for acre, maize produces
more grain than any other
cereal crop.
• Pumpkins, squash, yams, and
beans were also cultivated.
• Smith also organized raids on
Indian villages—this brought
immediate returns of food
and animals, but fostered
long-term retribution from
the Indians, who harassed
the colonists when they
ventured outside of their
walls.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• The Algonquin Indian tribes of the Chesapeake
region were dominated by the powerful chief
Wahunsonacock—referred to as Chief Powhatan
by the colonists.
• The English called all Indians of the area
“Powhatans.”
• Powhatan Confederacy (def): Powerful group of
Algonquin Indian tribes that dominated eastern
Virginia when the Jamestown colony was
founded.
• Although each of these tribes had its own chief,
they all paid homage to Chief Powhatan.
Powhatan Confederacy
CHIEF POWHATAN AND POWHATAN VILLAGE
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• Relations between the
colonists and the
“Powhatans” were always
strained.
• Simply by refusing to share
their food, the Powhatans
could have wiped out the
struggling colony at will.
• Yet they did not do so, although
they repeatedly threatened
war.
• Though Smith had negotiated
favorably with the Powhatans,
both sides continuously played
“balance of power” politics.
John Smith and Powhatan
Legend of John Smith and Pocahontas
“At last they brought Captain Smith to
Powhatan, their emperor. At Captain Smith’s
entrance before the king, all the people gave a
great shout. The queen was appointed to bring
him water to wash his hands, and another
brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a
towel, on which to dry them. Having feasted
him after the best barbarous manner they
could, a long conversation was held. At last two
great stones were brought to Powhatan. Then
as many as could lay hands on Captain Smith
dragged him to the stones, and laid his head on
them, and were ready with their clubs to beat
out his brains. At this instant, Pocahontas, the
king’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could
prevail, got his head in her arms and laid her
head down upon his to save him from death.
Thereupon, the emperor was contented to have
him live.” From A History of the Settlement of Virginia, by Thomas Studley and John Smith
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• In an effort to intimidate Chief Powhatan into keeping peaceful
relations with the English, in 1613 Captain Samuel Argall
kidnapped his daughter, Pocahontas (Matoaka), and took her to
Jamestown as a hostage.
• Fascinated by the English, the “Indian Princess” quickly learned their
language and customs and rapidly evolved from hostage to
ambassador.
• A year later, in 1614, Pocahontas married tobacco planter, John
Rolfe.
• The union brought 8 years of peace between the Powhatans
and the English—a period that was crucial to the survival and
growth of the colony.
• Rolfe took Pocahontas on a voyage back to England, where she was a
favorite of London society and the royal court.
• On March 22, 1617, she died from an illness at the age of 22.
A. James Engraved Portrait
Official Portrait
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• John Rolfe made a
significant contribution to
the success of the
Jamestown colony by
curing tobacco in 1612.
Tobacco Prices: 1618-1710
• A great fondness had
developed in Europe for the
tobacco plant and America
found its first significant export
crop.
• Tobacco was America’s first
cash crop and was a
tremendous aid to
Jamestown’s survival and
growth.
Why did tobacco prices drop so sharply?
• 1618 — Virginia produces 20,000 pounds of
tobacco.
• 1622 — Despite losing nearly one-third of
its colonists in an Indian attack,
Virginia produces 60,000 pounds of
tobacco.
• 1627 — Virginia produces
500,000 pounds
of tobacco.
• 1629 — Virginia produces
1,500,000 pounds
of tobacco.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
• The prospect of growing wealthy from the cultivation of
tobacco attracted more settlers.
• Landowners brought workers from England, many coming
as indentured servants (def): People who agreed to work
for a period of three to seven years in exchange for food,
shelter, and the cost of the voyage from England.
• Indentured servants made up a large portion of the population of the
Chesapeake region, especially during the seventeenth century, when
they accounted for 80 to 90 percent of European immigrants.
• In 1619, the first Africans came to Jamestown, though it is
uncertain whether they came as indentured servants or as
slaves.
• By 1624, more than 5,500 English and other Europeans had migrated
to the Jamestown colony.
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
•
After 8 years of peace, relations between the Powhatans and the
English deteriorated.
•
Following the death of Chief Powhatan, his older brother,
Opechanough, became the new chief.
•
In 1622, the Powhatans attacked the colonists, killing 347 (including
John Rolfe).
Powhatan Uprising of 1622
Unit 2: European Colonization of the Americas, N.P. 2-3
•
•
The Virginia Company called for a “perpetual war”
against the Indians.
Raids reduced the Indian population and drove them
further westward.
•
1644-1646: Second Anglo-Powhatan War fought as the
final effort of the Indians to defeat the English, but the
Powhatans are again defeated.
•
Peace Treaty of 1646—TWO PRIMARY OUTCOMES:
1. Removed the Indians from their original land
2. Formally separated Indian and English settlement areas
•
To what must have been the great surprise of anyone who could
have witnesses the first precarious year at Jamestown, the colony
survived and prospered, and the world—New and Old—would
never be the same.