Vocabulary: Jamestown and the Southern Colonies

Jamestown and the Early Attempts

Promoters: wealthy gentlemen from southwestern England (including Sir Walter Raleigh) sought to solve England’s population and poverty problems through a joint‑stock venture to establish a colony with gold, silver, and plantation crops to generate wealth.
Early failures: Roanoke attempted in the 1580s; ships struggled to land supplies; infertile soil; first colonists returned or vanished.
Jamestown founded: in 1607, Chesapeake Bay settlement at Jamestown, chosen for defense but plagued by disease and hunger.
Powhatan and land conflicts: Powhatan Confederacy (24{,}000 Indians) led by Powhatan; sought to trade for metal weapons but English sought Indian lands; tension escalated.
Early survival challenges: swamps brought mosquitoes and disease; hunger; between 1607 and 1622 about 10{,}000 people came, but only 20\% survived by 1622.
Powhatan diplomacy: Pocahontas captured in 1613, married John Rolfe; peace followed until Powhatan’s death in 1618; Opechancanough continued resistance.

Location benefits: Chesapeake offered fertile land, harbors, and navigable waterways (e.g., James River).
Tobacco as cash crop: led by John Rolfe, tobacco cultivated in 1616; European demand grew; taxation by King James helped crown revenue.
Tobacco growth: exports rose from 200{,}000 pounds in 1624 to over 1.5\times 10^{6} pounds in 1640; Virginia becomes the principal European tobacco supplier; attracted more immigrants.
Land and settlement growth: headright system (starting 1619) granted 50 acres to those paying for passage; enabled large plantations and helped grow Virginia’s population.
Political reforms: House of Burgesses established in 1619; first representative body in colonial America; male landowners elected Burgesses to represent settlements.

Joint‑stock and charter: promoters formed a joint‑stock company; investors shared profits and losses.
Crown takeover and colony types: in 1624 the Crown took Virginia, making it the first royal colony; distinguishing royal vs proprietary colonies in the English empire.
Population trends: by 1607 colonists numbered around 105; by 1622 about 1{,}240; by 1644 around 7{,}600.
Disease and warfare: ongoing conflict with Powhatan; Algonquian Indians faced population decline due to new diseases and displacement.

Powhatan leadership: sought to contain English expansion and trade; English refusal to recognize Indian land rights fueled conflict.
1644 war: heavy fighting killed hundreds of colonists and thousands of Indians; disease and war reduced Algonquin population from 24{,}000 to approx. 2{,}000 by 1670; survivors confined to frontier areas.
Bacon’s Rebellion (late 1670s): poor farmers challenged colonial government; attack on Indians and Jamestown; demonstrated growing discontent with elite control and frontier security dynamics.

Maryland (1632): proprietary colony granted to Lord Baltimore as refuge for Catholics; Protestant immigration later surpassed Catholic population; tensions between groups.
The Carolinas (1670): founded north and south of present‑day Georgia; Lords Proprietor governed from England; Charles Town established as major settlement.
1691 North Carolina split from the original territory; 1729 both colonies came under Crown control; governors appointed by the Crown and assemblies elected locally.
Georgia (1732): James Oglethorpe led the Georgia Trustees; designed as a haven for English debtors; initial rules: no alcohol, no slavery, workers on small farms; later became a royal colony in 1752; capital Savannah established in 1733.

Oglethorpe’s governance: Georgia differed from other Southern colonies through restrictions on alcohol and slavery and emphasis on small farms rather than large plantations.
Savannah as capital: established 1733; served as Georgia’s colonial capital and a hub for settlement.
Frontier security: Georgia’s creation aimed to defend against Spanish Florida and to stabilize the southern frontier.

First English colony attempt: 1580s
Jamestown founded: 1607
Pocahontas’ capture and marriage: 1613
Powhatan death and leadership change: 1618
Tobacco cultivation begins: 1616
Headright system begins: 1619
Jamestown governance: House of Burgesses established: 1619
Virginia becomes a royal colony: 1624
Africans in Virginia: arrived as bonded laborers in 1619 (approx. 20 in number in that year)
Maryland founded: 1632
Georgia founded: 1732 (Savannah settled in 1733)
Georgia becomes royal: 1752