English Colonization- Jamestown (Part 1) Coach Kuntz United States History

Where Did They Come From, Where Did They Go Where Did They Come From, Where Did They Go? Where in the World Did Roanoke Go? -In 1585, Queen Elizabeth I of England gave Sir Walter Raleigh permission to establish an English colony in the Americas. He sent 100 settlers and established the colony of Roanoke in present day North Carolina. -Some of the colonists returned to England in 1586 because of they were starving and they were fighting Native Americans, but a small group stayed behind. -In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh sent John White back to Roanoke. When he arrived everyone was missing. The only trace of the people was the word “CROATON” carved into a tree. -Roanoke, the first English colony in the Americas, failed.

The English Try Again- Jamestown -In 1606, King James I of England gave the Virginia Company of London a charter to set up a colony in North America. -Charter- a legal document that gives certain rights to a person or company -In 1607, 105 colonists (All men) sailed into the Chesapeake Bay and landed in Virginia. They started building homes on the bank of the James River. They named this settlement Jamestown. -The colonists came to Jamestown to get rich!

The Problems Add Up 1. The land in Jamestown was swampy, mosquito infested, and lacked good drinking water. 2. Many colonists wasted their time hunting for gold rather than growing food. John Smith set up rules that forced the colonists to work if they wanted to eat. Everyone was forced to work. During the winter of 1609, of the 500 colonists, only 60 survived. This was known as the “Starving Time” 3. The English quickly made enemies of the Native Americans

“Now all of us at James Town, beginning to feel that sharp prick of hunger which no man truly describe but he which has tasted the bitterness thereof, a world of miseries ensued as the sequel will express unto you, in so much that some to satisfy their hunger have robbed the store for the which I caused them to be executed. Then having fed upon horses and other beasts as long as they lasted, we were glad to make shift with vermin as dogs, cats, rats, and mice. All was fish that came to net to satisfy cruel hunger as to eat boots, shoes, or any other leather some could come by, and, those being spent and devoured, some were enforced to search the woods and to feed upon serpents and snakes and to dig the earth for wild and unknown roots, where many of our men were cut off of and slain by the savages. And now famine beginning to look ghastly and pale in every face that nothing was spared to maintain life and to do those things which seem incredible as to dig up dead corpses out of graves and to eat them…” -George Percy President of the Jamestown Colony

The Problems Add Up (Cont.) -Originally, the Native Americans around Jamestown known as the Algonquians, agreed to supply the colonists with corn. -When the Native Americans were unable to provide food, the colonists used force to take the food from them. -John Rolfe, one of the English settlers, tried to ease tensions between the settlers and Native Americans by marrying Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan (the Native American chief) Sorry Disney… John Smith did not marry Pocahontas.

Things Get Better… -In 1612, John Rolfe successfully began growing tobacco in the Jamestown colony. The colonists finally found a way to become rich! By 1620, England was importing around 30,000 pounds of tobacco from the colony. -In 1619, the Virginia Company sent 100 women to the colonies. They quickly married and started families. -By 1622, the colony had grown and was home to 1,400 people. -Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

Review -What was the first, failed colony of the English in North America? -What is a charter? -What was Jamestown and who founded it? -What problems were faced early on by the settlers of Jamestown? -Did the English at Jamestown have a good relationship with Native Americans? -What were the starving times? -Which crop helped to save the Jamestown colony? -How else did the Jamestown colony improve in the years after the “Starving Time”?