British Colonial America Chapter 5 – 17 th century Chapter 6 – 18 th century
England – The Great Migration Slow beginning (little activity prior to 1600) –Cabots: Find Northwest Passage –Martin Frobisher – 3 voyages in 1570s –Elizabethan Sea Dogs (1558 – 1603)
Map of sea voyages
Early English Migration Map
England – The Great Migration Slow beginning (little activity prior to 1600) –Cabots: Find Northwest Passage –Martin Frobisher – 3 voyages in 1570s –Elizabethan Sea Dogs (1558 – 1603) Yet, by 1650 – 50,000 english migrants –Caribbean –Chesapeake Bay (Jamestown) –New England Why?
Reasons for migration: 1.England is overpopulated 2.Expand to new markets – e.g., wool 3.Precious metals – gold!! 4.New source of olive oil, wine, etc?? 5.Route to the Indies 6.Protestant Zeal –These were motives all the way; thru 1770s
English Colonial System French/Spanish – centralized; governed from New World capitals England – 13 separate colonies –Great differences –Many disputes – e.g., boundaries
Chapter 5 – Colonial Origins of Anglo America: Europeanization (1700 – 250,000 population) Chapter 6 – Colonial America in 18 th Century: Americanization (1776 – 2,500,000 population)
Epicenters Plymouth Rock
Colonial Organization (1606) Royal Charter – by King James Council – politicians and merchants who would recruit and define governmental structure Two bodies given the charge –Virginia Company of Plymouth (41 – 45 degrees) –Virginia Company of London (34 – 38 degrees) –Latitude between – either one
Map of Virginia Companies latitude of influence
Conditions of the Charters Inland for 100 miles All rights of trade with natives Exploitation of precious metals (1/5 to crown) Consideration to the Natives –Offered true religion –Offered peaceful governance –All their lands passed to the two companies (Note: ignored claims of France and Spain)
Jamestown April, ships James River (50 miles)
Jamestown - early history (London Group)early history Bad site – low and swampy Death and misery Trading post –Male populationMale population –Working for the company : change to permanent colony –Profitable product –System of landholding
National Geog Exhibit
Factor #1 - King TobaccoKing Tobacco Indigenous to new world Indies better variety – John Rolfe John Rolfe Ubiquitous! Ugh! –One-crop economy –Dependent on England for supplies –Soil depletion –Labor intensive
Not everybody liked it!! "Smoking is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless." -- James I of England, "A Counterblaste to Tobacco."
Factor # 2 – Private Property Headright system 50 acres/head Capt. Adam ThroughgoodCapt. Adam Throughgood – this guy accumulated 1105 headrights over 20 years!! Result Plantation economy – large and dispersed; NOT towns 1650 – Jamestown had 30 houses Today
Factor #3 – Sex! 1620 – very few women; active program to “import” unmarried women Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Plantation Economy Rivers as far as navigable – fall linefall line Landings for ocean- going vessels All planters had direct line to England In Between – forest primeval and the “hill country”
Jamestown Population Mixed population – reflected classes of English society 30% - rural middle class; paid their own way Majority – poor tenants, laborers, and un- employed artisans: Redundant Population
Map - Atlantic Slave Trade
Slavery Tobacco culture – labor intensive and large land-holding Indentured labor unreliable, lacked permanence, also thirsted for their own land; flow from England reduced Virginia and Maryland population growth in (35,000 to 88,000) African Slaves : 12,000 slaves to Chesapeake
1700 – your text By the end of the century (1700) there was distinct evidence of regional homogeneity within the Chesapeake. The commitment to a tobacco plantation and slave system, with its consequent class structure, was widespread. Life was overwhelmingly rural, agrarian, dispersed, and decentralized.
Map – Chesapeake Growth