ENGLISH COLONIZATIONM. Carter/ American Pageant Chapter 2

WHEN AND WHY?

• Late 1500s• Ambitions of Queen Elizabeth• Competition and rivalry with Spain• Money $$$• Expansion of Protestantism

ROANOKE COLONY

• Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempt at colonizing

• 1585• Failed when the colony

disappeared• An attempt to block

Spanish colonization of North America and claim land for England

DOMINANCE OF THE SEA

• England defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588• What significance does this one event have on the

history of America? Would our history have been different if the British had not won the battle of the seas?

ENGLAND AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY(16-17TH)

• Increasing population• Decreasing availability

of farmland• Depressing economy• Homeless,

unemployed, wanderers of the land

• What were the primogeniture laws?

• What impact did they have on English society?

• What were joint-stock companies?

• How did they work?

JAMESTOWN: THE FACTS

• 1607• Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock

company• A business venture; they sought profit• Site chosen for its defensible position along the

James River• Named James Town after King James I

JAMESTOWN: 1625

JAMESTOWN: THE FACTS

• Problems faced: – Disease: malaria carried by mosquitoes– Lack of food = starvation– Lack of clean water = cholera, typhoid, dysentery – Lack of shelter– Laziness

• Most early settlers to Jamestown were men of means and were unused to manual labor. Also, they were interested in gold and profit, not growing crops or building shelter.

JAMESTOWN: THE FACTS

• Strained relationship with Algonquin• Early friendship with Chief Powhatan• Jamestown colonists took advantage of

friendliness- became too dependent upon the food crops of the Algonquin.

• Eventual demise of the Algonquin and other surrounding tribes due to the “three Ds: disease, disorganization, and disposability.” (Kennedy 33)

THE “STARVING TIME”

• Winter of 1609-1610• Jamestown ran out of supplies• Algonquin refused to trade with them• Colonists raided for food• Ate anything they could find• Some instances of cannibalism• Approx. 60 colonists remained by spring

JAMESTOWN: TODAY

IMPACT OF EUROPEAN COLONIZATION ON NATIVE AMERICAN POPULATIONS

• Disease

• Trade

Decreased populations or loss of culture

Competition between tribes •Hunting ground•Technology (i.e. guns)

Increased violence

Increasingly dependent upon European trade

TOBACCO

• John Rolfe• Early 17th C.• Tobacco was in high

demand in Europe- because of this farmers in VA continued to make a profit into the late 17th C.

1619

• House of Burgesses• Self-government

• 1st shipload of African slaves arrived in VA

MARYLAND

• A proprietary colony• Lord Baltimore• Mid-17th century• A haven for Catholics- looking for refuge• Goal: Tolerance of Catholics• Act of Toleration- tolerance toward Christians, not

toward other religious belief systems

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS

• Sugar plantations• Slave labor (Africans)• Enacted the Barbados

slave codes – denied basic human rights to slaves- in an effort to maintain complete control over the labor force

RESTORATION COLONIES

• The Carolinas and Georgia• Became colonies after the restoration of a king to

the thrown (Charles II replaced Oliver Cromwell)• South Carolina = Indian slave trade• Rice was cultivated in the coastal lowlands of

Carolina and led to the need for Africans- experienced in growing rice

• Charles Town (Charleston)- biggest S. port

GEORGIA

• James Oglethorpe• Penal colony- emptied debtors’ prisons into

Georgia• Buffer between Spanish Florida and the British

colonies

SOUTHERN COLONIES

• From Maryland to Georgia, these colonies shared a few things in common:– Agricultural base– Close ties with England– Mostly Protestant (specifically, Anglican)– Used slave labor or indentured servants (labor

intensive)– Profit-based society– Problems with natives as their plantations spread

westward encroaching on native land