An English Colony on the Chesapeake King James I eyed North America as a possible location for English colonies that could be as profitable as the Spanish colonies Treaty of Tordesillas – A treaty signed between Spain & Portugal The Virginia Company – English investors who financed colonies in North America

Chesapeake Colonies in the 17th century

Jamestown Settlement Englishmen arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on April 26, 1607 Were cautious of Native American and Spanish attacks Powhatan’s people defended Virginia as their own Settlers confronted hardships such as starvation and harsh weather

This painting of the English settlement at Jamestown in the early 17th century illustrates the precarious relations between European settlers and indigenous peoples Note the heavy palisades and numerous cannons deployed within the fort, as well as the imposing figure of the native chief Powhatan depicted outside the settlement walls

This engraving, published in 1612, was copied from an original drawing John White made in 1585 when he visited the village of Secotan on the coast of North Carolina The drawing provides a schematic view of daily life in the village, which may have resembled one of Powhatan’s settlements

In 1612, John Smith published a detailed map that showed not only geographic features of early Virginia but also the limits of exploration (indicated by small crosses), locations of houses of he Indian “kings” (indicated by red boxes), and “original houses” of indigenous people (indicated by dots)

In 1612, John Smith published this list of the English equivalents of words used by Powhatan’s people, almost the only record of the coastal Algonquian language that exists

This was an advertisement for the Jamestown settlers Virginia imported thousands of indentured servants to labor in the tobacco fields, but the colony also advertised in 1631 for settlers like those pictured here The notice features men and women in the Chesapeake region

Cooperation & Conflict Between Natives & Newcomers The Virginia Company boasted that the settlers bought from the Indians “the pearls of earth [corn] and [sold] to them the pearls of heaven [Christianity]” Powhatan’s people regarded the English with suspicion but concluded that they would make better allies than enemies The trade that supplied the Indians with European conveniences: food

Why were the settlers unable to feed themselves for more than a decade Why were the settlers unable to feed themselves for more than a decade? Too sick to be productive members of the colony & few farmers came to Virginia in the early years Growing enough corn to feed the English boosted the workload of Indian women and altered age old patterns of village life Before 1622, the colonist depended on the natives to stay alive, after 1622, the natives were considered their personal enemies

From Private Company to Royal Government In 1624, King James revoked the charter of the Virginia Company and made Virginia a royal colony The king appointed the governor of Virginia and his council Despite high mortality rates in the colonies, new settlers still came to Virginia

A Tobacco Society After fruitless experimentation, it became clear that English settlers could make a fortune in Virginia by growing tobacco During the 16th century tobacco was sent to Europe where it was an expensive luxury Tobacco was a demanding crop that required close attention and great deal of hand labor year-round

The print suggests the labor demands of tobacco by showing 22 individuals, all but two of them actively at work with the crop The woman, hand and hand with a man in the left foreground, may be on her way to work on the harvested leaves, but it is more likely that she and the man are overseeing the labor of their servant employees

A Servant Labor System High poverty in England and the colonist need for labor formed the basic context for the creation of a servant labor system About 80% of the immigrants to the Chesapeake during the 17th century were indentured servants Servants meant more hands to grow more tobacco

About 3 out of 4 servants were men between the ages of 15 and 25 when they arrived in the Chesapeake Women were almost as rare as skilled craftsmen in the Chesapeake and more ardently desired Women remained a small minority of the Chesapeake population until late in the 17th century Only about one servant in four was a woman

Slave Labor Emerges in the Chesapeake By 1700, more than 8 out of 10 people in the southern colonies of English North America lived in the Chesapeake 1 out of 8 people in the region was a black person from Africa Slaves promised a perpetual labor force, since children of slave mothers inherited the status of slavery