Colonizing America

Armada

• a fleet of war ships

Roanoke Island

• Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempted English settlement off of present day North Carolina

• Location of the first European baby born in the Americas named Virginia Dare

• Deserted with only clue to whereabouts of settlers being the word “Croatoan” carved into a gatepost

• Now known as the “Lost Colony”

Charter

• a document that gives the holder the right to organize settlements in an area.

Joint-Stock Company

• a company in which investors buy stock in the company in return for a share of its future profits

Jamestown

• First permanent European settlement in the Americas

• Named for King John I• Near mosquito infested swampland• Lack of good farmland

John Smith

• Experienced hunter and soldier • Got settlers to work • Set up trade with local tribe to get corn• Return to England began the “starving time”

Chief Powhatan

• Leader of the Powhatan tribe• Father of Pocahontas

John Rolfe

• Learned to grow tobacco using seeds from India

• Jamestown colonists were able to make money for their investors from tobacco

Pocahontas

• Daughter of the Powhatan chief• Married John Rolfe• Moved back to England with her husband

Headright

• 50 acres of land given to new colonists

House of Burgesses

• A church in Jamestown where burgesses met to discuss local laws

• the beginning of self government in America

William Tucker

• the first African American born in American colonies

Persecute

• to treat someone harshly because of their beliefs or practices

Dissent

• To disagree or oppose an opinion

Puritans

• People who wanted to reform the Anglican Church

Separatists

• People who wanted to break away from the Anglican Church and create their own church

Pilgrims

• Separatists who made the journey to North America for what they believed to be religious purposes on the Mayflower

Mayflower Compact

• A formal document that provided a plan for law and order to the Plymouth colony

• Declared the Pilgrims loyalty to England

Squanto and Samoset

• Native Americans who became friends with the Pilgrims and taught them how to grow crops and also helped them set up a treaty with the Wampanoag

• Samoset knew English from being kidnapped and brought to England when he was young

Great Migration

• During the 1630’s over 15,000 Puritans moved to Massachusetts to avoid religious persecution

Toleration

• acceptance of different beliefs

King Philip’s War

• Put an end to the Native American power in New England and allowed the colonists to expand without conflict

• King Philip is what the settlers called, Chief Metacomet, the Wampanoag leader

Dutch Colony

• Between northern and southern English colony

• Called New Amsterdam• On Manhattan Island• Dutch West India Company bought Manhattan

Island from the Manhates tribe for a small amount of goods

• Became a major location for trade in America

Patroon

• a landowner in the Dutch colonies who ruled like a king over large areas of land

Duke of York

• Changed New Amsterdam to New York

Proprietary Colony

• a colony in which the owner, or proprietor, owned all the land and controlled the government

• New Amsterdam (New York) was a proprietary colony

William Penn

• Was a Quaker• Founded Pennsylvania • Founded Philadelphia “city of brotherly love”

Quakers

• a religious group who believed that everyone had and “inner light” that could guide them to salvation and that everyone was equal

Pacifists

• people who refuse to use force or fight in wars

Holy Experiment

• According to William Penn; a chance to put Quaker ideals of toleration and equality into practice

Seven Year Passengers

• Criminals from England and prisoners from Scotland and Ireland were sent to the colonies with a chance to work for their release

Indentured Servants

• laborers who agreed to work without pay for a certain period of time in exchange for passage to America

Mason Dixon Line

• The border line between Pennsylvania and Maryland mapped out by British astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.

Act of Toleration

• granted Protestants and Catholics the right to worship freely

Nathanial Bacon

• Governor of Virginia called him “The greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia”

Bacon’s Rebellion

• Nathaniel Bacon led his men into Jamestown and burned down the capital, forcing the governor out.

• Showed that settlers were not going to be limited to just the coastline.

Constitution

• a formal plan for government

Georgia

• the last British colony established in America• established as a colony where debtors and

poor people could make a fresh start

Tenant Farmers

• farmer who works land owned by another and pays rent either in cash or crops