APUSH - English Colonization & Jamestown

English colonization of North America

English colonization expanded greatly in the late 1500s and early 1600s because of the desire for wealth, land, religion, power, and competition with Spain.

Motives for English colonization

Wealth and profit, spreading Protestantism, gaining land and power, competing with Spain, finding adventure, and creating opportunities for people in England.

Gold, God, and Glory

Gold = wealth; God = religion; Glory = national power, prestige, and competition.

Queen Elizabeth I

Protestant queen of England beginning in 1558 who supported exploration, Protestantism, and competition against Catholic Spain.

Spanish Armada

Spain's attempt to invade England in 1588; England defeated the Spanish Armada.

Importance of the Spanish Armada's defeat

It weakened Spain's dominance and increased English confidence, nationalism, exploration, and desire to build an overseas empire.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert

Led the first English attempt at colonization in the New World at Newfoundland; the attempt failed and Gilbert died.

First English attempt at colonization

Newfoundland, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert; it failed.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Humphrey Gilbert's half-brother who organized English expeditions to the area of present-day North Carolina and Virginia.

Roanoke

The second major English attempt at colonization, located in present-day North Carolina and led by Sir Walter Raleigh.

John White

Artist who documented the plants, animals, Native peoples, and landscapes of Roanoke; he later became governor of the colony.

Virginia Dare

Granddaughter of John White and commonly remembered as the first English child born in the New World; born at Roanoke in 1587.

Lost Colony of Roanoke

The Roanoke colonists disappeared after John White returned to England for supplies; exactly what happened remains unknown.

CROATOAN

The word found at Roanoke when John White returned; it contributed to theories that the colonists joined or lived among Native peoples.

Three English attempts at colonization

Newfoundland → Roanoke → Jamestown.

Jamestown

English settlement founded in 1607 in present-day Virginia; it became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Virginia Company

A joint-stock company that financed Jamestown and wanted to make a profit from the New World.

Joint-stock company

A company in which investors pool their money to finance an expensive venture and share in its potential profits.

Why was Jamestown founded?

The Virginia Company wanted to make a profit by finding valuable resources, establishing trade, and developing profitable products.

Jamestown's location

It was useful for defense but unhealthy because of stagnant water, mosquitoes, disease, poor sanitation, and waste.

Gentlemen of Jamestown

Many early Jamestown settlers were wealthy men who expected to find wealth and were not prepared to perform the hard agricultural labor necessary for survival.

Captain John Smith

A leader of Jamestown who helped the colony survive by requiring colonists to work and produce food.

"He who shall not work shall not eat"

John Smith's policy requiring Jamestown colonists to work for the colony's survival.

Why did Jamestown nearly fail?

Colonists focused too much on finding gold instead of farming, building shelters, and preparing enough food; disease, poor conditions, and Native conflict also contributed.

Starving Time

The extremely difficult winter of 1609–1610 at Jamestown when food shortages, disease, drought, and conflict caused many colonists to die.

Lord De La Warr

Leader who took control after the Starving Time and imposed a strict military regime while forcing colonists to remain at Jamestown.

John Rolfe

English colonist who helped Jamestown become profitable by successfully cultivating tobacco.

Tobacco's importance to Jamestown

Tobacco became a profitable cash crop, attracting settlers, encouraging plantation agriculture, and increasing the demand for labor.

How did tobacco change Jamestown?

It transformed Jamestown from a struggling colony into a profitable settlement and encouraged economic growth, expansion, and plantation agriculture.

Cash crop

A crop grown mainly for sale and profit rather than for the farmer's own consumption.

Major southern cash crops

Tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Cotton in the colonial period

Cotton existed but was not yet the dominant southern cash crop; it became much more important after Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1793.

Native American population decline

European diseases caused enormous Native American population losses, weakening and disrupting Native societies.

Largest disruptor of Native American life

Disease, especially epidemic diseases such as smallpox.

Why were European diseases so devastating to Native Americans?

Many Native Americans had little or no previous exposure to European diseases, so they lacked acquired immunity and suffered massive population losses.

Pocahontas

A daughter of Powhatan who became an important figure in the relationship between the Powhatan people and the English.

Powhatan

A powerful Native leader whose political organization included many communities in the Virginia region; he was Pocahontas's father.

John Smith and Pocahontas

John Smith claimed that Pocahontas saved him, but the story is disputed and historians compare English accounts with Native oral traditions.

John Rolfe and Pocahontas

Pocahontas later married John Rolfe, and they had a son named Thomas Rolfe.

House of Burgesses

An elected representative assembly established in Virginia in 1619; it became an important example of representative government in the English colonies.

Virginia becomes a royal colony

King James I revoked the Virginia Company's charter, causing Virginia to become a royal colony controlled by the English monarchy.

Royal colony

A colony controlled directly by the English monarch, usually through a royal governor.

1619

Important year associated with the House of Burgesses and the arrival of Africans in the English Virginia colonies.

Arrival of Africans in 1619

A group of African captives were brought to Virginia in 1619 after being taken from a Portuguese slave ship; this became an important part of the development of slavery in the English colonies.

White Lion

English privateer ship that brought approximately 20–30 African captives to Virginia in 1619.

Treasurer

Another English privateer ship involved in bringing African captives to Virginia in 1619.

Point Comfort

The Virginia location now associated with Fort Monroe/Hampton where the 1619 African captives arrived; they did not land directly at Jamestown.