English Exploration
Henry VIII Wants to find
“Northwest Passage” to Asia
Fails But: claims land in
North America
King James VI: grants land to settlers: early 1600s
Henry VIII
English Colonization in North America Slow colonization but
sped up in 1600s Roanoke: failed colony Jamestown: first
permanent settlement The 13 colonies develop
Jamestown: A Joint-Stock Company Settlement Joint-stock company lets investors
share risk, profits of business Buy stock Get charter from King to establish colony
help fund colonies in America: Jamestown
•
Late 1606 VA Co. sends out 3 ships
Spring 1607 land at mouth of Chesapeake Bay.
Attacked by Indians and move on.
May 24, 1607 about 100 colonists [all men] land at Jamestown, along banks of James River
Easily defended position, but swarming with disease-causing mosquitoes.
England Plants the Jamestown “Seedling”
England Plants the Jamestown “Seedling”
Jamestown Settlement, 1609
Jamestown Settlement, 1609
Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay
Geographic/environmental problems??
Jamestown Fort & Settlement Map
Jamestown Fort & Settlement Map
Jamestown HousingJamestown Housing
Jamestown SettlementJamestown Settlement
Jamestown Chapel, 1611
Jamestown Chapel, 1611
Settlers died by the dozens!
“Gentlemen” colonists would not work themselves.
Game in forests & fish in river uncaught.
Settlers wasted time looking for gold instead of hunting or farming.
Conflict with Native Americans: Powhatan tribe
The Jamestown Nightmare
The Jamestown Nightmare
PocahontasPocahontas
Captain John Smith
Pocahontas “saves” Captain John Smith
High Mortality RatesHigh Mortality RatesThe “Starving Time”:
1607: 104 colonists
By spring, 1608: 38 survived
1609: 500 more immigrants
By spring, 1610: 60 survived
1610 – 1624: 10,000 immigrants
1624 population: 1,200
Adult life expectancy: 40 years
Death of children before age 5: 80%
What saves the Jamestown settlement?
Tobacco PlantTobacco Plant
Virginia’s gold and silver. -- John Rolfe, 1612
Need more workers!
Indentured ServitudeIndentured Servitude
Headright System: Each Virginian got 50 acres for
each person whose passage they paid.
Indenture Contract: 5-7 years.
Promised “freedom dues” [land, money]
Forbidden to marry.
1610-1614: only 1 in 10 outlived their indentured contracts!
Early Colonial TobaccoEarly Colonial Tobacco1618 — Virginia produces 20,000 pounds of tobacco.
1622 — Despite losing nearly one-third of its colonists in an Indian attack, Virginia produces 60,000 pounds of tobacco.
1627 — Virginia produces 500,000 pounds of tobacco.
1629 — Virginia produces 1,500,000 pounds of tobacco.
Tobacco’s effect on Virginia’s economy:
Vital role in putting VA on a firm economic footing.
Ruinous to soil when continuously planted.
Chained VA’s economy to a single crop.
Tobacco promoted the use of the plantation system.
Need for cheap, abundant labor: SLAVES!!!.
Virginia: “Child of Tobacco”Virginia: “Child of Tobacco”
17c Populationin the Chesapeake
17c Populationin the Chesapeake
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
1607 1630 1650 1670 1690
White
Black
WHY this large increase in black popul.??
New England Colonies, 1650
New England Colonies, 1650
1620 102 people
Land at Plymouth, MA
Pilgrims: separate from Church of England
Looking for freedom of religion
Early struggles similar to Jamestown
Pilgrims and The Mayflower
Pilgrims and The Mayflower
The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620
The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620
The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620
The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620Written and signed before the Pilgrims disembarked from the ship.
Not a constitution, but an agreement to form a crude govt. and submit to majority rule.
Signed by 41 adult males.
Led to adult male settlers meeting in assemblies to make laws in town meetings.
The MA Bay ColonyThe MA Bay Colony1629 Puritans: non-Separatists got a royal charter to form the MA Bay Co.
Wanted to escape attacks by conservatives in the Church of England.
They didn’t want to leave the Church, just its “impurities.”
Many families, farmed mostly.
Established Boston
Colonists only willing to come to MD if they received land.
Colonists who did come received modest farms dispersed around the Chesapeake area.
Maryland: A Colony for Catholics
Maryland: A Colony for Catholics
Colonization of Maryland
Colonization of Maryland
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The QuakersThe QuakersCalled Quakers because they “quaked” during intense religious practices.
Key Leader: William Penn
They offended religious & secular leaders in England.
Refused to pay taxes to support the Church of England.
They met without paid clergy
Believed all were children of God EQUALITY!
1760
Urban Population Growth
1650 - 1775
Urban Population Growth
1650 - 1775
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