The First English Settlements

1. The First English Settlements • First English settlements established in late 1500’s on Roanoke Island (North Carolina). • Ships arrive in 1590 to find settlement abandoned. Known as the “Lost Colony”. • In 1607, a new attempt of a English settlement begins in Jamestown, Virginia. • Wealthy investors formed the Virginia Company of London to fund the expedition. • King James I grants charter to group.

2. Jamestown struggles to survive… • Jamestown Island was close to water, infested with mosquitoes (causing malaria) and did not have a large number of animals. • Most men were “gentlemen” or laborers, not farmers. They became overly dependent on trade with natives for food. • In addition, more time was spent looking for gold than planting crops.

3. “The Starving Time” • Powhatan Confederacy refused to trade with colony, essentially crippling it. • The forced starvation was an attempt to get the colonists to leave Virginia. • During the winter of 1609-1610, all but 60 of the roughly 500 original colonists died. • “Powhatan Wars” were a series of battles between colonists and natives. By 1646, Powhatan nation was decimated and broken up.

4. Trade and Government • Tobacco is successfully grown in Jamestown; becomes major export. • The House of Burgesses: Assembly of elected representatives • Representative government: type of government where elected officials represent the interests of the people. • Type of government that exists in the United States.

5. The Pilgrims and the Plymouth Colony • King George VIII of England made himself the head of the Church of England. • Separatists: Those who wished to practice Christianity on their own. Often were persecuted. • To find religious freedom, roughly 35 “Pilgrims” join 70 ordinary citizens, those looking for fortune in Virginia, aboard the Mayflower. • William Bradford would serve as governor of the Plymouth colony.

6. How did they end up in Plymouth, MA? • Possible answers: • Navigation error • Storms blew them off course • The Dutch bribed the captain of the Mayflower to sail north, and not near New Amsterdam. • The “Pilgrim” leaders intentionallysail north to Massachusetts in an apparent hijacking. • The “Pilgrims” had no set destination.

7. Settlement in Plymouth • Much of the land was already ready for settlement because it had been cleared by Native Americans and now was mostly empty because of the plague. • The “pilgrims” also took what they could find from houses and robbed graves. • Squanto, of the extinct Pauxet nation, showed the “Pilgrims” where to plant, where to fish, and also was their translator.

8. The “First” Thanksgiving • The “Pilgrims” DID NOT introduce the tradition. • Native Americans had late-harvest celebrations for centuries. • “They (Pilgrims) served pumpkins, turkeys, corn and squash”. “The Indians had never seen such a feast!” • All of these items were native to the Americas and NOT Europe. These were introduced by Native Americans and not the Pilgrims.

9. Facts about “Thanksgiving” • It was not a national holiday until 1863. Designated by President Abraham Lincoln. • Pilgrims were not even associated with the holidays until the 1890’s. • No one even used the term “Pilgrim” until the 1870’s!!