Blog #2 The Planting of English America

Blog #2 The Planting of English America

Learning Objectives

·         1. State the factors that led England to begin colonization

·          2. Describe the development of the Jamestown colony from its disastrous beginnings to its later prosperity

·         3. Describe the cultural and social change that Indian communities underwent in response to English colonization

                      In 1588 the Spanish Armada lost to British forces, paving a New path for Britain into the New World, but the New world brought about new opportunities and conflicts. Spain’s defeat meant British success in the Americas; regardless, the ecosystem was not the same and was home to Indians.

Britain utilized its rivalry with Spain in order to colonize the New World with ease, after years of tension. In spite of Spain controlling Central and South America of the New World there was a copious amount of land left within North America, the Spanish had Santa Fe, the French Quebec, and the British Jamestown. Tension between Spain and England only heightened when Pirate Francis Drake, who stole Spanish ships for gold, was knighted on his ship by Elizabeth I. Seeking revenge, the Spanish sent an Armada to attack Britain but were defeated in 1588, allowing British crossing through the Atlantic Ocean. As the British swarmed into the Americas; held  a positive effect on the country of Britain; the government was strengthened, religious unity, the Golden age of literature, and a sense of nationalism created, in  1604 Spain and Britain signed a peace treaty. The enclosure policy menat less jobs for labors; whereas, primogeniture only allowed first born sons to inherit all of their father’s land leaving younger sons in poverty pushing laborers and younger sons into North America.

            Despite Jamestown being the first settlement by the British in the North America, colonists managed to overcome its conflict with the land. Jamestown was founded in 1606 when King James I chartered the Virginia company to make a settlement in the New world, the Virginia company guaranteed settlers the same rights as Englishmen in Britain. Of the hundred English settlers only sixty survived; however, the swampy site honed poor drinking water and mosquitos that caused malaria and yellow fever, there were no women, and men looked for gold instead of properly establishing themselves. John Smith took control of the town and created the “no work, no food” policy enforcing discipline and authority amongst the colonists. Colonists began raiding Indian food supplies erupting in war: the First Anglo-Powhatan War ending with John Rolfe, a Jamestown colonist, marrying Pocahontas. Together Rolfe and Pocahontas created a different flavor of tobacco; sweet tobacco, which became Jamestown’s cash crop and was highly sought after by Europeans.

            The colonization of the New World by British settlers created a negative effect for Chesapeake Indians, who initially desired to be allies with the settlers. Indians believed that humans co-existed with nature, while the majority of the Old World, believed that according to the book of Genesis; god had given land to humans to be used. 17^th century Jamestown colonists, raided local Indian food supplies, engendering the First Anglo-Powhatan War. During the war chief Powhatan kidnapped Smith and held a mock execution where Smith was saved by Powhatan’s daughter as a sign of a friendly alliance, the first Anglo-Powahatan war was ended in 1614 when colonist John Rolfe married Pocahontas. But when the Jamestown sweet tobacco industry grew, so did the amount of tobacco began to take burden on the land as the soil was destroyed, and in 1622 the Indians led a series of attacks which resulted in the deaths of 347 settlers. In 1644 the Second Anglo-Powhatan War took place and culminated in 1646 with the Chesapeake Indians banished from their ancestral lands.

            After the defeat of the Spanish Armada the British rode on the rays of discovery, while their colonization in the New World allowed the sun to rise behind Britain at the expense of Indians who were banished from their homes.