European Colonies in America: The English in Virginia Chapter 2, Section 2

The Lost Colony of Roanoke Roanoke Island was founded in 1587 by the English They wanted to create a self sufficient colony in the New World The colony ended up falling to ruins mysteriously No trace of the colony was ever found and no one knows what happened to it

Why did the English want to come? The English wanted to come to the New World for many reasons ▫There were economic problems in England ▫Farmers were unemployed and struggling ▫Land became scarce

Joint-Stock Companies The London Company and the Plymouth Company were joint-stock companies They were businesses that people invested in to make a profit These companies governed and maintained the colonies Investors in joint-stock companies got most of the profit from the colonies

Jamestown Colony The first English colony to survive (Roanoke was first but didn’t survive) Started by the London Company (later the Virginia Company) in 1606 Location was a problem – low, swampy area filled with malaria carrying mosquitoes, inside of a Native American territory ▫Settlers ended up dying of malaria and dysentery ▫People were too weak to work ▫Some were more concerned with looking for gold than growing food In 2 years, more than half the original settlers died

The Starving Time In 1607, 120 colonizers set up camp Then came the “Starving Time” and only 38 settlers were still alive The Powhatans brought food and rescued the starving settlers A year later more settlers came and again, they quickly ran out of provisions

The Starving Time “One [member] of our colony murdered his wife, ripped the child out of her womb and threw it into the river, and after chopped the mother in pieces and salted her for his food…” “So great was our famine, that a savage we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and ate him…”

Indentured Servitude Indentured servitude was introduced in Jamestown in 1609 ▫People from England agreed to work in the new colony for 4-7 years in return for free ship passage to the New World

Growing Tobacco Tobacco made Jamestown profitable John Rolfe was the first English settler to grow tobacco in Jamestown The tobacco was grown in Jamestown and then shipped and sold to England for profit

Conflicts with Native Americans Relations with settlers and natives worsened The English were taking over more and more land, for tobacco production, which the natives thought was theirs

Virginia Begins to Strive Virginia started to grow Women started to travel to Virginia to marry the colonists to keep Virginia growing House of Burgesses (1619) – the first representative government in the US ▫Members could only be white land owners ▫They were able to raise taxes and make laws

Colonial Workers Majority of workers were indentured servants ▫They worked for a contracted number of years and in turn were given food, shelter, and a paid journey ▫When their contract was up they were supposed to be given their freedom with tools or land August 1619 – Dutch ship landed in Virginia with 20 Africans ▫At first, many were considered indentured servants ▫Late 1600s – indentured servitude fell off because it was much cheaper to use slaves

Conflicts Among Settlers Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) ▫Nathaniel Bacon rebelled against Virginia’s governor, Sir William Berkley ▫Berkley wanted good relations with natives to protect the fur trade while Bacon’s slave overseer was killed in an Indian attack ▫Bacon then formed a small army of indentured servants and burned Jamestown Because of the rebellion more frontier land was opened to settlers Landowners also began to rely on slave labor in fear of uprisings of indentured servants