Virginia
In December 1606, the London Company in England sent 3 ships (the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed) to America. The men aboard the ships looked forward to finding wealth - gold and silver - in America. Five months after leaving England, in April of 1607, the ships landed in Virginia at the Chesapeake Bay. They sailed inland on the James River, and off the shores of the river, the Englishmen found a place to settle. They named the settlement Jamestown (after the new king of England, King James I). |
During their first year in Jamestown, the English colonists faced many problems...
(Click the play button in the lower lefthand corner and listen to George tell you about the problems that he and the Virginia colonists faced during their first year in Jamestown.) |
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John Smith was the third council president of Jamestown. He was very strict with the colonists and forced them to work hard. He told them, "You must obay this for a law, that he that will not worke, shall not eate." In order to save the settlement from starvation, Captain Smith set up a trade system with Cheif Powhatan and the Native Americans, giving them hatchets, copper, and tools in exchange for corn, beans, and food to feed the starving settlers. Additionally, the Powhatan Native Americans taught Captain Smith how to hunt and fish, so that the English settlers could learn to feed themselves. One Native American in specific, Pocahontas (daughter of Cheif Powhatan), helped John Smith in his relations with the tribe. |
In 1609, the London Company sent indentured servants to Virginia. In exchange for a free passage to America, the indentured servants agreed to work 5-7 years of upaid labor. At the end of their service, the indentured servants recieved 100 acres of land and their "freedom dues," which consisted of clothing, tools, and often, a gun.
In 1619, the first African slaves arrived in Jamestown on a Dutch ship. From then on, Slavery was an important source of labor in Virginia and the southern colonies. Almost all colonists made a living by farming. Most had small farms, but the wealthy had plantations - a large farm where one crop is grown - where indentured servants and African slaves worked. Important crops in Virginia included rice, indigo, and tobacco, a very profitable crop established in the colony by settler John Rolfe.
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In 1619, the House of Burgesses was established in the government of Virginia. It was the first representative government in the European colonies, where colonists were able to make laws for themselves.
The Virginia colony also had a governor chosen by the king, named William Berkeley. As for education, the children of wealthy white men usually recieved private schooling in their own home. Most children of poor white men worked extensively on the family farm, and were rarely able to go to school to recieve a formal education. The majority of the colonists in the Virginia colony were Anglican, a religious sect of Christianity under the Church of England. |
When you're done reading about the Virginia colony, click here to see a quick slideshow video of pictures from Williamsburg, Virginia - the replication of a colonial village in Virginia today! |