The indentured servant system in the Chesapeake

The seventeenth century spans the 1600s up to 1699 (ends in 1700). Focus: average daily life of colonists in different regions during this century, starting with the Chesapeake.
Chesapeake = Maryland and Virginia, located in the upper half of the Southern colonies.
Plan for the course: start with the Chesapeake, then move to the North later, and then other regions.
Important theme: push-pull factors that brought people to Virginia/Maryland and the evolving social, economic, and political structures that emerged there.

Enclosure movement: nobility fenced off land formerly farmed by many smallholders.
- Consequence: many small farmers lost their land and livelihoods; widespread displacement of rural people.
- What did disenfranchised rural people do? They often migrated to cities, particularly London, seeking work.
Urban shift and hardship in London
- Urbanization led to crowded cities with slums and shanties, poor housing, rapid disease spread, and rising crime.
- Slums and poverty became common as city populations grew without proportional urban infrastructure.
Population pressures beyond Britain
- Mentions a population bulge in India during this era, contributing to labor and empire dynamics on a global scale.
Long-term significance for colonization: displacement and poverty in England helped push thousands to seek opportunities overseas, including land in the Chesapeake.

Geography and resources
- The Chesapeake offered land and economic opportunity, especially for those who could secure land through labor contracts.
Economic system that facilitated land acquisition: indentured servitude and headright-style arrangements
- Indentured servants could obtain land after completing a contract, creating a pathway to land ownership for some.
Demographic context in England that fed colonization
- A large number of rural poor and landless men sought new livelihoods in the colonies, where land was available for those who could endure long-term labor conditions.