U.S. History

Chapter 4: The English Colonies

Section 1: The Virginia Colony

Settlement in Jamestown

• 1605: Merchants ask permission to establish colony in North America

• 1606: King James I grants request

• Joint-stock company formed

King James I

Settlement in Jamestown

• April 26, 1607: three ships land on Virginia coast

• Sail into Chesapeake Bay & 40 miles up James river

Location of Jamestown

Settlement in Jamestown

•Men poorly prepared

•Bad location

•2/3 of original colonists dead by winter

Settlement in Jamestown

•Capt. John Smith—made colonists plant food crops and build sturdy housing

Captain John Smith

Settlement in Jamestown

http://www.virtualjamestown.org/quicktime/jamestown_fort.html

Powhatan Confederacy

• Powhatan: alliance of Algonquian Indians

• Aided colonists by teaching them how to grow food

Depiction of Powhatan from map by John Smith

Powhatan Confederacy

•1609: 400 new settlers arrive at Jamestown

•John Smith returns to England

•Winter 1609: “Starving Time”

Powhatan Confederacy

• Jamestown failing to make a profit

•1612: John Rolfe introduces tobacco to Virginia

Tobacco Plant

War in Virginia• 1614: John Rolfe

marries Pocahontas

• 1617: Pocahontas dies

• 1618: Wahunsonacock dies

Pocahontas

War in Virginia• Colonists desire

Powhatan land for tobacco farming

• 1622: Powhatan leader killed

• Opechancanough leads attack that kills 350 settlers

Opechancanough from Smith's “General History of Virginia”

War in Virginia

•Colonists burn Indian villages

•Fighting continues for 20 years

•1624: Virginia becomes a royal colony

Daily Life in Virginia

•Tobacco farmers begin to establish plantations

•Headright system—gave 50 acres of land to colonists who paid their own way to Virginia

Daily Life in Virginia

•Disease

•Men outnumbered women 7:1

•Families provided necessities for themselves

Labor in Virginia• High death rates

lead to labor shortages

• Indentured Servents—agreed to work in exchange for passage to America

Indentured Servant Contract

Labor in Virginia

•1619: Dutch bring Africans to Virginia

•Some Africans were indentured servants, others were slaves

• Indentured servants cheaper initially

Bacon’s Rebellion

•Colonists angry with governor

•Complaints about high taxes and lack of available farmland

•Poor begin faming on Native American lands

Bacon’s Rebellion

• 1676: Nathaniel Bacon & a group of indentured servants lead an attack on peaceful Native Americans

• Bacon & followers attacked & burned Jamestown

Nathaniel Bacon

Bacon’s Rebellion

•Bacon dies of fever

•23 rebels hung

•Difficult relations with Native Americans

•Increased use of slaves

Recapping!

1. Why were people in England interested in founding Jamestown, and when was the colony established?

2. How did Jamestown colonists interact with local American Indians?

3. How did the English plantation system begin

4. What role did indentured servants and enslaved Africans play in Virginia’s economy?