CH. 7 LESSON 3 & 4

The Jamestown and Plymouth Colonies

Online Story Site

http://jamestown.invioni.com/real_index.html

Jamestown

Merchants and land owners started a business called the Virginia Company of London

Set up the company to start a colony in Virginia

Sold shares of ownership, or stock

Any profits the company made would be divided among those who bought the stock

Goal of Expedition: To make MONEY

Jamestown Cont.

Settled in Chesapeake Bay after sailing down a river, named it James river after King James I

Built houses, a church and a fort

Life was much more difficult than imagined

Difficulties at Jamestown

Water was salty and unsafe to drink

Mosquitoes carried deadly diseases, a problem with swampy lands

Constant attacks

Lazy “gentlemen” did not work to plant crops, had expected to find gold like Spanish

By winter, nearly half of the colonists had died

John Smith

A natural story teller, and a natural leader

Became disgusted with colonists, forced them to work

“He that will not work, will not eat.”Forced colonists to build houses, plant

crops, raise livestockMade him unpopular, but kept them aliveStory of Pocahontas

PocahontasPocahontas

John Smith cont.

Smith led trading with the areas Native American tribes

Strong LeaderHurt in a gunpowder accident and had to

return to EnglandColony suffered without himThe winter of 1609 – 1610 was “The Starving

Time”“If we were lucky, our food was a can of

barley, split among five men each day.”

The Adventures of John Smith

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/InteractiveAdventures/John-smith

New Virginians

Colony barley survived the winter

1614 John Rolfe found a solution…tobacco

Tobacco became a cash crop: a crop that is sold for money

King James I, “Tobacco is a stinking weed.”

Grew it anyways, rejuvenated spirit

“Peace of Pocahontas”

John Rolfe married Pocahontas

Marriage helped keep peace between English and Powhatan people

Lasted 8 years

Pocahontas became “celebrity” in England

Died of Small Pox right before return to Virginia

Africans Arrive in Jamestown

Tobacco was growing everywhere, needed workers

Many newcomers were indentured servants

Indentured Servants: people who could not afford the trip, borrowed money, and agreed to work 5-7 years to pay off debt

Virginia’s gold

and silver.

-- John Rolfe, 1612

Early Colonial TobaccoEarly Colonial Tobacco

1618 — Virginia produces 20,000 pounds of tobacco.

1622 — Despite losing nearly one-third of its colonists in an Indian attack, Virginia produces 60,000 pounds of tobacco.

1627 — Virginia produces 500,000 pounds of tobacco.

1629 — Virginia produces 1,500,000 pounds of tobacco.

Tobacco Prices: 1618-1710Tobacco Prices: 1618-1710

Why did tobacco

prices decline so

precipitously?

17c Population17c Population

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

1607 1630 1650 1670 1690

White

Black

WHY this large increase in black population??

First Africans were indentured servants, early population included both free and indentured AA’s

Christians could not be enslaved by English law

Eventually all African Americans were forced to work

The “Middle Passage”The “Middle Passage”

The Atlantic Slave TradeThe Atlantic Slave Trade

1619

Women are brought to colonies

House of Burgesses met for the first time Made laws for the colony Members were white men who owned land Not always fair, but first step towards developing own govt. Burgesses (citizen or freeman)

More conflict with Native Americans

1924: King James I took back over

Virtual Jamestown

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

Virtual Map of Settlement

http://www.virtualjamestown.org/jamestown_development/settlement_v2.html