The British Arrive The Founding of Jamestown, Virginia 1607

Background By 1558, the Spaniards had built a massive empire in the New World, and the French were hunting in the Mississippi River Valley.

Background The British were too busy fighting over religion to worry themselves over the New World.

Elizabeth I of England Some stability came when Elizabeth I took the throne in England became a Protestant country.

The World reacts to Elizabeth With a chick on the throne, the other powers in Europe feel as though they can mess with the British

King Philip II of Spain Philip asked Elizabeth to marry him multiple times. She kept playing along, but never committed Philip wanted to unite the kingdoms of Britain and Spain into one large empire. Hey, baby! Hey, Baby

After years of waiting, Philip finally realized the Elizabeth had no intentions of marrying him.

Furious, Philip decides the best way to a woman’s heart is through the end of a loaded cannon. In 1588, Philip II sends the Spanish Armada to invade England. There were over 200 ships in his fleet.

Um... We’re like so totally screwed. The Spanish galleons were the largest ships in the world, carrying more guns than any other design, and they had more ships than any other navy. British frigates were smaller in size, with nearly half the firepower. They had minimal supplies and only 130 ships in their fleet. vs

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588

What? How? En route, the Spanish lost some ships to violent storms British commander, Sir Francis Drake (a pirate) used Britain’s smaller, faster ships to out maneuver the Spanish, and those little ships proved quite hard to shoot. Spanish ships could only shoot from their flanks, British ships had guns posted on all sides. GE

Eat that, Spain!! With new found confidence, The British returned to the seas, now the undisputed rulers of the waves.

The first colony: Roanoke The British built their first colony on Roanoke Island in modern-day South Carolina in The war with Spain delayed resupplying the colony And we still don’t know what happened...

The first permanent colony After Elizabeth’s death, The Virginia Company, named for the “Virgin Queen,” settled more than 100 colonists in Chesapeake Bay. In 1607, they established Jamestown (named for Elizabeth’s brother, the new King James I.) The settlers began immediately looking for gold, hoping to cash in on the success of the Spanish, ignoring important things... Like food. By the following January, only 38 colonists were still alive. GE

John Smith takes over John Smith, a professional soldier, took control of Jamestown in = Smith installed rules and built a protective wall around Jamestown to defend against native raids.

Open the Floodgates... The success of Jamestown leads the way for the British to move to North America by the thousands.