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Why did the Why did the King of King of England England want an want an American American colony?colony?

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Some European countries, including England, were in competition to increase their wealth and power by expanding their empires to America.

SOL VS.3England wanted to establish an American colony to increase her wealth and power.

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England hoped to find England hoped to find gold and silver in gold and silver in America, as the Spanish America, as the Spanish had done in Mexico and had done in Mexico and South America.South America.

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Why did the Jamestown settlers come to America?

Each dot on this map of England shows a place where a Jamestown settler came from. Historians have read the 400-year-old records of Jamestown to find where the settlers came from.

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Jamestown was founded in 1607 Jamestown was founded in 1607 as an economic venture.as an economic venture.

What are these people doing? Where are they? What year is it?

SOL VS.3An American settlement would

furnish raw materials that could not be grown or obtained in

England.

What raw materials do you see here?

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An American settlement would open new markets for trade.

SOL VS.3An American An American settlement settlement

would open would open new markets new markets

for trade.for trade.

•England needed rawraw materialsmaterials, such as lumber and tobacco.

•Virginia needed manufacturedmanufactured goodsgoods, such as furniture, tools, needles, and muskets.

Sewing with needles from

England

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Jamestown was established (started) by the VirginiaVirginia Company of Company of LondonLondon as an economic venture. The Virginia Company hoped to make a huge profit on their investment.

Coat of arms of the Virginia Company of London

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Seal of the Virginia Company

The Virginia Company was a group of people who got others to invest their money.

SOL VS.3After the Jamestown settlement made money, the investors were supposed to get a profit from their money.

SOL VS.3 Jamestown was Jamestown was the first permanent the first permanent English settlement English settlement

in America.in America.

SOL VS.3Where is Jamestown located?

Jamestown

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When the settlers When the settlers chose the location in chose the location in 1607, Jamestown was 1607, Jamestown was located on a narrow located on a narrow peninsula bordered peninsula bordered on three sides by the on three sides by the James River.James River.

the James River

the peninsula

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Today, Jamestown is located on an island in the James River.

This is an aerial view of part of Jamestown fort.

SOL VS.3Why did the settlers choose the site at Jamestown?

This is one of the very first maps of Virginia. Can you find the Chesapeake Bay?

SOL VS.3The location could be easily defended from attack by sea. The English feared a sea attack by the Spanish.

SOL VS.3The water along the shore was deep enough for ships to dock.

harbor

SOL VS.3The English believed they had a good supply of fresh water.

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What was the importance of the charters of What was the importance of the charters of the Virginia Company of London to the the Virginia Company of London to the Jamestown settlement?Jamestown settlement?

SOL VS.3The King of England granted charters to the Virginia Company of London.

The King of England granted charters to the Virginia Company of London.

London in the 1600s

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The charters gave the Virginia Company the right to establish a settlement in North America.

The charters gave the Virginia Company the right to establish a settlement in North America.

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The first charter of the Virginia Company of London established companies to begin colonies in the New World.

SOL VS.3The charters extended English rights to the colonists.

The Houses of

Parliament, where

English laws were made

The Capitol at Williamsburg, where the House of Burgesses met to make Virginia’s laws

SOL VS.3As Jamestown grew, the system of government evolved.

SOL VS.3What was this system of government called?

Houses in Jamestown looked like English houses.

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In 1619, the governor of Virginia called a meeting of the Virginia Assembly. The Assembly included two citizen representatives, called “burgesses.”

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The burgesses came from each of the divisions of Virginia.

SOL VS.3The Assembly also included the governor’s council and the governor.

John Smith was an early governor of Virginia.

SOL VS.3At that time, only adult men were At that time, only adult men were considered citizens.considered citizens.

SOL VS.3By the 1640s, the burgesses became a separate legislative body, called the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Patrick Henry speaks in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

SOL VS.3 The government of The government of the Virginia colony the Virginia colony

was based on the was based on the English model of a English model of a

representativerepresentative government.government.

This is the church in Jamestown where the House of Burgesses first met.

SOL VS.3The House of Burgesses was modeled after the English Parliament.

SOL VS.3The House of Burgesses was the first elected legislative body in America, giving settlers the opportunity to control their own government.

The House of Burgesses was the first elected legislative body in America, giving settlers the opportunity to control their own government.

This is an old engraving showing colonial Virginia men voting.

SOL VS.3 Today it is called the General Assembly and is the oldest legislative body in the western hemisphere.

An 1800s drawing of the General Assembly building in Richmond

SOL VS.3The House of Burgesses became the Virginia General Assembly, which continues to this day.

the state capitol building in Richmond, where the Virginia General Assembly meets to make our laws

SOL VS.3Jamestown became a more Jamestown became a more diverse colony by 1620.diverse colony by 1620.

SOL VS.3What was the impact of the arrival of women on the Jamestown settlement?

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In 1620, the Virginia Company of London sent a ship with 90 young women to Jamestown. A man who wanted to marry one of these women, had to pay 120 pounds of tobacco to the ship’s captain for her trip to Jamestown.

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The arrival of The arrival of women in 1620 women in 1620 made it possible made it possible for the settlers to for the settlers to establish families establish families and a more and a more permanent permanent settlement at settlement at Jamestown.Jamestown.

1600s drawings of children at play

SOL VS.3What was the impact of the arrival of Africans on the Jamestown settlement?

African Americans re-enact slaves listening to a slave preacher on a plantation.

SOL VS.3 Africans arrived in Jamestown against their will. It is believed that they arrived as baptized Christians and therefore were labeled indentured servants for a period of 5 to 7 years.

SOL VS.3But Virginia planters soon saw that they would need a cheap supply of labor for a long time.

Tidewater plantations were expanding because people could make so much moneymoney from tobacco.

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The arrival of Africans made it The arrival of Africans made it possible to expand the tobacco possible to expand the tobacco

economy.economy.

SOL VS.3How did the Powhatan people and the English settlers interact?

This is a 1600s drawing of Powhatan Indians smoking fish over a fire.

SOL VS.3 The Powhatan people and the English settlers at Jamestown established trading relationships and for a while had positive interactions.

1600s drawing of a Powhatan village

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Captain John Captain John Smith initiated Smith initiated (started) trading (started) trading relationships relationships with the with the Powhatans.Powhatans.

SOL VS.3The Powhatans traded food, furs, and The Powhatans traded food, furs, and leather with the English in exchange leather with the English in exchange

for tools, pots, guns, and other goods.for tools, pots, guns, and other goods.

Powhatan shelter and cooking fire at Jamestown

SOL VS.3 The Powhatan people contributed to the survival of the Jamestown settlers in several ways.

Cooking pot found at Jamestown

Powhatan style reed and grass shelter

1600s drawing of a Powhatan warrior

Modern drawing of a Powhatan man

SOL VS.3 Pocahontas, daughter of Chief

Powhatan, believed the English and

American Indians (First Americans)

could live in harmony.

different portraits of Pocahontas

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Pocahontas began a friendship with the colonists that helped them survive.

Powhatan Indian

building a dugout canoe

SOL VS.3 The Powhatans introduced new

crops to the English,

including corn and tobacco.

SOL VS.3Why did the relationship

between the Jamestown

settlers andthe Powhatans

change?

Powhatan shelter at Jamestown

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The Powhatan people realized the English settlement would continue to grow.

blacksmith at work in

Jamestown

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The Powhatans saw the colonists as invaders that would take over their land.

The Powhatans saw the colonists as invaders that would take over their land.

cannon at Jamestown fort

armour from the 1600s

SOL VS.3 So we see that from 1607,

Jamestown, the first permanent

English settlement in America,

changed forever how Virginia looked and worked.

William and Mary College in the 1600s

SOL VS.3 The English brought with them English

laws and customs, which were influenced

by their relationship with the Powhatans.

SOL VS.3The English also began the terrible institution of slavery in Virginia, which lasted a long time, because of its dependence on a tobacco economy.

SOL VS.3But Virginia grew into a culture But Virginia grew into a culture very different from that of very different from that of England, because of the influence England, because of the influence of Africans and the Powhatan.of Africans and the Powhatan.

SOL VS.3How does your life today show the influence of the English, the Africans, and the Powhatan?

Let us always be grateful for the lives of those who went before us.