England Colonizes America

1
England Colonizes America

• Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth Colonies

2
Roanoke Colony

• Seeing that Englands enemy Spain had grown rich
  from American colonies, English explorer, Sir
  Walter Raleigh and his friend Richard Hakluyt
  persuaded Queen Elizabeth to establish English
  colonies on the American East coast as a base for
  privateering. Raleigh hoped to capture Spanish
  ships sailing for Europe full of riches.
• In 1585 seven ships set sail with 100 men across
  the Atlantic to settle on the island of Roanoke.

3

• The ships that had brought the colonists to
  Virginia, returned to Britain to get them
  supplies.
• The colonists were not well prepared and not
  particularly wise. They depended upon the local
  Indians for their food but kept antagonizing them
  killed their chief while raiding their villages
  for food.
• Unfortunately the supply ships in England were
  delayed and when Sir Francis Drake landed at
  Roanoke after destroying the Spanish colony of
  St. Augustine, (Florida) the entire colony
  returned with Drake to England.

4

• Drake left behind 15 men until a new batch of
  colonists could return. They were never seen
  again.
• In 1587 Raleigh asked John White to return with a
  new batch of settlers. This time men, women, and
  children went along too. They had intended to
  settle in a new colony farther north but , low on
  provisions, settled again at Roanoke to use what
  was left by the first colony. It was in Roanoke
  that one of the women gave birth to Virginia
  Dare the first English citizen born in America
  and granddaughter of John White.
• When supplies ran low White went to England but
  couldnt return quickly because they were
  preparing for war with Spain. It took him 3
  years to return with supplies.

5
The Lost Colony

• The 90 men, 17 women and 9 children, left behind
  in 1587 were now missing when White returned in
  1590.
• White searched the colony and found no evidence
  of what happened. Only the word "CROATOAN carved
  onto a wooden post.
• With storms coming the ships crew wouldnt stay
  longer and White sadly returned to England.
• Both the English and the Spanish searched for
  clues to the colony's disappearance for many
  years, the mystery has never been solved.

6
Jamestown Colony

• In June of 1606, King James I granted a charter
  to a group of London businessmen called the
  Virginia Company to establish an English
  settlement in America.
• In December 1606 ships with 108 settlers sailed
  from London instructed to find gold and a water
  route to Asia.
• On May 14, 1607, the Virginia Company explorers
  landed on Jamestown and established the Virginia
  colony on the banks of the James River.

7

• They built a fort far enough inland that Spanish
  ships could not fire their cannon at them and the
  deep river could anchor their ships. the area was
  plagued with malaria-carrying mosquitos and
  terrible winters.
• More than half of the original 144 men and boys,
  had died after only six months.
• Three years later, only 60 remained (some
  returned to England).
• The colonists had spent all their time looking
  for gold and not farming. The colony was running
  out of food. The winter of 1609-1610 was called
  the "starving tyme.

8

• The government council of 13 men kept arguing
  with each other. By 1608 the colony was near
  failure.
• With starvation a real and immediate problem,
  Captain John Smith made the colonists work to
  earn food and some trade with the local Powhatan
  indians helped.
• The native Americans helped the colonists but
  often were threatened or forced to. They became
  angry with the colonists greed and were a
  constant threat to the colonists.

9

• Temporary peace was established when Pocahontas,
  the daughter of Powhatan, the Chief of the
  Powhatan Indian confederation, married a colonist
  named John Rolfe.

10

• They never did find any gold or silver, but John
  Rolfe introduced the idea of growing tobacco as a
  cash crop. Smoking tobacco was becoming
  fashionable in Europe and the tobacco trade was
  very profitable.
• The colony finally became self-supporting within
  10 years.
• The first African slaves were sold in Virginia in
  the same year as the first meeting of the House
  of Burgesses, 1619. The first issue of The
  Virginia Assembly was the regulation of tobacco
  production

11
Plymouth Colony

• In 1620 over 100 English religious separatists
  boarded the Mayflower and journeyed to North
  America to establish a colony. They searched not
  for gold or riches, only for religious freedom
  from the official church of England.
• Originally they had intended to settle in
  Virginia but were blown off course and landed
  near Cape Cod in present day Massachusetts.
• Exhausted from the voyage they decided to travel
  no more and settle where they had landed.

12

• The 41 men abourd the ship decided to establish
  rules for their colony from the very beginning.
• They agreed to consult one another about the laws
  that would govern the colony and they pledged to
  work together to make it succeed.
• The agreement they signed is called The
  Mayflower Compact.

13

• The English built their town in 1620 on the site
  of an abandoned Wampanoag indian town Many of the
  Wampanoag died from a plague that was probably
  carried by European fishermen and traders.
• Unprepared and without time to build good winter
  shelter almost half of the colonists died from
  disease or starvation during their first winter.
• The neighboring Indians aided the settlers in the
  spring after Samoset, a Pemaquid indian who had
  learned English from fishermen and traders
  visited the colony.

14

• Samoset introduced the colonists to the local
  Wampanoag Indians who sent Squanto to aid them.
• Squanto had been kidnapped, freed, kidnapped
  again and enslaved by the Spanish and eventually
  escaped. He knew English and could interpret and
  help the colonists.
• Squanto taught the colonists to grow native
  plants such as corn, beans, pumpkins, and taught
  them to catch eels in the river.

15

• In October of 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their
  first harvest with feasting and games, as was the
  custom in England, as well as prayer.  The
  celebration served to boost the morale of the 50
  remaining colonists and also to impress their
  allies. Among the Native People attending were
  Massasoit and 90 Wampanoag men.
• This day of Thanksgiving lasted 3 days.
• This celebration was later adopted by the United
  States and is now a Federal Holiday. In 1941
  Congress permanently fixed the date on the fourth
  Thursday of November.