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Jamestown Primary Author: Jamie Morris The primary author is the individual who drafted the first version of this section; a section that could have been modified since it was originally published. Founding of Jamestown The colony of Jamestown began in the Spring of 1607 when the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery arrived from England to what is now the coast of Virginia. These settlers called the land "Jamestown" after King James I of England. This settlement became the first British settlement in America; ten years before the settlement of New England colonies. The sole purpose of this trip was to bring more wealth for James I, the London Virginia Company, and individual investors. England had been told by Spain that they would find mountains of gold and silver in the new land. This was not the case. There were no such riches in this new world. All these settlers got was hard work, sickness, and starvation. Native Americans Relations The Powhatan Confederacy had already established settlement long before the Spanish explorers and English settlers arrived to Jamestown. The natives had mixed feelings because of their previous experience with the Spanish people. The natives soon began to offer the settlers food. The settlers searched for wealth and neglected to grow crops. The colony became dependent on the Native American's corn. During the first two years, Captain John Smith was able to save the colony by establishing trade with the local Native Americas. However, the Native Americans soon realized that these English settlers were treating them the same way as the Spanish had by trying to enslave them and steal their food. Early Struggles The winter of 1609-1610 became known as the starving time. Due to a supply ship that wrecked in Bermuda, their poor relationship with the Native Americans, and their poor farming abilities, the colonist didn't have any food. The Native Americans realized that they could get rid of them by starving them so they attacked the Jamestown fort and killed their pigs and other animals. The colonists were so Reprinted from College History http://www.collegehistory.info/early/manuscripts/08-jamestown.html Last updated on 15 March 2015 Photo Caption: Jamestown ruins including the the tower of the old Jamestown Church which was built in 1639. The image is from Robert Sears' A Pictorial Sescription of the United States (1854). 1 hungry that they begin to eat their horses, cats, and dogs. Next they ate rats and mice. Some colonist even ate the leather of their shoes and boots. When there was nothing else to eat the settlers begin to eat the dead. The settlers who refused to eat the dead slowly died. Just when the colonists decided to abandon Jamestown in the Spring of 1610, ships with supplies and new settlers eager to find wealth in Virginia arrived from England. This group of new settlers arrived under the second charter issued by King James I. This charter provided for stronger leadership under a governor who served with a group of advisors and the introduction of a period of military law that carried harsh punishments for those who did not obey. Growth of the Economy John Rolfe, a survivor of the Sea Venture, introduced tobacco to Jamestown. This crop allowed the colony to become stable and successful. Early attempts to sell Jamestown tobacco didn't go well. Englishmen thought that the Caribbean tobacco was much better and less harsh. John Rolfe decided to grow the tobacco plants from the imported seeds from the West Indies. These plants produced a much smoother tobacco. Soon after the first shipment of tobacco grown from imported seeds was shipped to England, other settlers began to grow the crop. In the 1620s, tobacco was in such high demand that the settlers became greedy and neglected to grow other crops for food. Many of these settlers became instant millionaires. After several years of planting tobacco on the same land, the soil was destroyed. As a result of the poor soil, the colonists moved into newer territories to farm. First Slaves In America The first documented arrival of Africans took place in 1607. Although it has been commonly believed that a Dutch slave trader exchanged a cargo of Caribbean Africans for food, we now know that the first slaves had been captured by the Portuguese in Angola; slaves who had been captured from the Portuguese by pirates. These first Africans became indentured. Due to the need of a large amount of workers to farm the tobacco fields more Africans arrived. The practice of owning African slaves for life happened around the 1650s. The race-based slave system became fully developed in the 1680s. African slaves proved to be useful addition to the colony because they made it possible for the expansion of the economy. The slaves were auction off at Jamestown and became the property of white men. These African slaves were isolated from their families and forced to work and live under difficult conditions. Reprinted from College History http://www.collegehistory.info/early/manuscripts/08-jamestown.html Last updated on 15 March 2015 Photo Caption: Jamestown ruins including the the tower of the old Jamestown Church which was built in 1639. The image is from Robert Sears' A Pictorial Sescription of the United States (1854). 2 Bacon's Rebellion In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon organized a group of men to rebel and burn. The fire destroyed most of the houses, the church, and the statehouse. Some of the buildings were repaired and rebuild. The causes of Bacon's Rebellion were attributed to economic problems such as declining tobacco prices, competition from other southern states that grew tobacco, and restrictions in the England market. After the Bacon's rebellion, Jamestown's population declined rapidly due to majority of the people moving inland to establish farms and plantations. By 1699, the capital moved to Williamsburg and Jamestown no longer existed as a town. Works Consulted List Arney, June. "Jamestown History is Rewritten Archaeology: One Man's Refusal to Accept Conventional Thinking Results in Finding Traces of the First Settlement in Virginia, a Fort Long thought to have been Lost to the Ravages of the Time and the James River." The Sun (27 Nov. 1997),Final: News 2.A. ProQuest Newstand. Web. 7 Feb. 2015. Bernhard, Virginia. A Tale of Two Colonies: What really Happened in Virginia and Bermuda. Columbia Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 2011. Google Book Search. Web. 8 Feb 2015. Bernhard, Virginia. "The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown: The Sea Venture Castaways and the Fate of America." Journal of South History, 76.1 (Feb. 2010):125-127. Ebsco Host Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb. 2015. Bridenbaugh, Carl. Jamestown: 1544-1699. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Print. Ciniva Web Agency. "Jamestown settlement and Yorktown Victory Center: History of Jamestown". Jamestown settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. Nd. Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. Clark, Jane. "Jamestown Looks to Past and the Future" The Present is Unearthing 400 Years of History." USA Today (12 May 2006), Final: Life D.5. ProQuest Newstand. Web. 6 Feb. 2015. Drewett, Peter. Field Archaeology: An Introduction. Oxon: Routledge, 2012. Google Book Search. Web .14 Feb.2015. Reprinted from College History http://www.collegehistory.info/early/manuscripts/08-jamestown.html Last updated on 15 March 2015 Photo Caption: Jamestown ruins including the the tower of the old Jamestown Church which was built in 1639. The image is from Robert Sears' A Pictorial Sescription of the United States (1854). 3 Evans, Kasey. "Temperate Revenge: Religion, Profit, and Retaliation in 1622 Jamestown." Literacy Criticism ,54.1 (Spring.2012): 34, 155-188. Ebsco Host Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb.2015 Grob, Gerald N. The Deadly Truth: A History of Disease in America. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2009. Google Books Search. Web. 8 Feb.2015 Hashaw, Tim. The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown. Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2007. Print. Huey Lois. American Archaeology: Uncovers the Earliest English Colonies. New York: Canvendish Marshall,2009.Google book Search. Web. 8 Feb. 2015 Jarus, Owen. "Live Science: Jamestown Facts and History." Live Science. 31 Jul 2013. National Park Service. Web. 27 Jan. 2015. Kelso, William M. "Jamestown Rediscovery: An Introduction." Post Medieval Archaeology, 40.1 (2006): 28-32. Ebsco Host Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb. 2015 Livesy Karen E, Levin Dorthory E. Postcard History Series: Jamestown. Charlestown Arcadia Publishing, 2011. Google Book Search. Web. 4 Feb. 2015. Nicholls, Mark. "Colonial Williamsburg: Things which Seame Incredible: Cannibalism in Early Jamestown." Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Winter 2007. Members of Colonial Williamsburg Donor Societies. History Journey. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. Price, David A. Love and Hate In Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation. New York: Knope, Alfred, 2003. Print. Rein,Lisa. "The Washington Post: Mystery of VA's First Slave Unlocked 400 Years Later." The Washington Post. 3 Sept 2006. Non Profit. Journal. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. US history.org. "The Growth of the Tobacco Trade: The Growth of the Tobacco Trade." 2014. Independence Hall Association Philadelphia. Web. 27. Jan 2015 Werthbaker,Thomas J. The Shaping of: Colonial Virginia. New York: Russell and Russell, 1958. Print. Reprinted from College History http://www.collegehistory.info/early/manuscripts/08-jamestown.html Last updated on 15 March 2015 Photo Caption: Jamestown ruins including the the tower of the old Jamestown Church which was built in 1639. The image is from Robert Sears' A Pictorial Sescription of the United States (1854). 4