American History Part 1- U1 L1
In the Beginning
Objectives
Describe how Jamestown was settled, why the colony struggled, and how it survived.
Explain the relationship of Indians and settlers in the Southern Colonies.
Discuss the settlement of Maryland, the Carolina's, and Georgia.
And So It Begins....
Since the area was not colonized by Spain and France, England established colonies along the southern Atlantic coast. The first two English colonies in the 1580's in Roanoke failed, but in 1607 Jamestown was founded by a group of wealthy London merchants called the Virginia Company.
By 1732, England had five colonies in southern North America.
Early Days of Jamestown
•Located on the Chesapeake Bay, the colony had fertile land and navigable rivers.
•Nearby swamps gave some protection to the colony from Indians but also bred mosquitoes that spread malaria.
•At first, colonists suffered from disease and hunger.
•Many early colonists refused to farm and instead searched for gold and silver.
War!
Jamestown colonists built a fort soon after they arrived. The thirty Indian tribes living in the area had a powerful leader, Chief Powhatan, who tried only to avoid confrontation and to contain the colonists. But war broke out in 1609.
Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas, was captured by the English. She later was married
to Englishman John Rolfe after her capture by the English.
Powhatan reluctantly made peace after four wearying years of war.
Tobacco
Led by John Rolfe, the colonists learned to grow tobacco, which was very popular in Europe.
By 1640, the Chesapeake area was the principal supplier of tobacco to Europe.
The Virginia Company
In 1619, the Virginia Company offered free land in Virginia to people in England and the population of the colony grew.
•Called the headright system, anyone who paid their own or someone else’s way to Virginia received 50 acres of land, free.
•Wealthy people amassed large plantations under this system.
•This system of free land took more land from the Indians.
England established more Southern colonies in the 1600's and 1700's.
Maryland
Things To Remember:
Maryland primarily grew tobacco.
Proprietary colony founded in 1632
Owned and governed by Lord Baltimore
Allowed slavery
Founded as colonial refuge for Catholics
The Carolina's
Things To Remember:
The Carolina's were mostly tobacco and rice plantations.
Proprietary colony founded in 1670 by Lords Proprietors
In 1691 it was divided into North and South Carolina
In 1729 both became royal colonies
Allowed slavery
Georgia
The proprietary colony was established to prevent the expansion of Spain’s Florida colony.
Mostly settled by poor English traders, craft workers, and debtors.
Slavery not allowed.
Changes that later occurred in the Georgia Colony:
Settlers protested the strict rules.
The colony became a royal colony in 1752.
Laws against slavery were abolished.
Maryland
Founder: George Calvert
Founding Year: 1634
Reason for Founding: Religious freedom for Catholics
North and South Carolina
Founder: Group of proprietors
Founding Year: 1653 (NC) and 1670 (SC)
Reason for Founding: Trade and profits
Georgia
Founder: James Oglethorpe
Founding Year: 1733
Reason for Founding: Debtor colony, and buffer for Spanish colonies.
cindy.stockman in the portal
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