What were the goals for the earliest english colonization efforts? [choose all that apply]

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  • What were the goals for the earliest english colonization efforts? [choose all that apply]

    Overview When the London Company sent out its first expedition to begin colonizing Virginia on December 20, 1606, it was by no means the first European attempt to exploit North America.

    • What were the goals for the earliest english colonization efforts? [choose all that apply]

    • What were the goals for the earliest english colonization efforts? [choose all that apply]

      Evolution of the Virginia Colony, 1611-1624 Almost from the start, investors in the Virginia Company in England were unhappy with the accomplishments of their Jamestown colonists. They therefore sought a new charter, which the king granted in May 1609.

      • What were the goals for the earliest english colonization efforts? [choose all that apply]

        Virginia's Early Relations with Native Americans Those living in the area where Jamestown was settled must have had mixed feelings about the arrival of the English in 1607. One of their first reactions was hostility based on their previous experience with Spanish explorers along their coastline.

        • What were the goals for the earliest english colonization efforts? [choose all that apply]

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        Traveling aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, 104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 at a place they named Jamestown. This was the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

        Thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. With these two colonies, English settlement in North America was born.

        LOCATION OF THE SETTLEMENTS

        Jamestown offered anchorage and a good defensive position. Warm climate and fertile soil allowed large plantations to prosper.

        Plymouth provided good anchorage and an excellent harbor. Cold climate and thin, rocky soil limited farm size. New Englanders turned to lumbering, shipbuilding, fishing and trade.

        REASONS FOR THE COLONIES

        Economic motives prompted colonization in Virginia. The Virginia Company of London, organized in 1606, sponsored the Virginia Colony. Organizers of the company wanted to expand English trade and obtain a wider market for English manufactured goods. They naturally hoped for financial profit from their investment in shares of company stock.

        Freedom from religious persecution motivated the Pilgrims to leave England and settle in Holland, where there was more religious freedom. However, after a number of years the Pilgrims felt that their children were being corrupted by the liberal Dutch lifestyle and were losing their English heritage. News of the English Colony in Virginia motivated them to leave Holland and settle in the New World.

        EARLY SETBACKS

        Inexperience, unwillingness to work, and the lack of wilderness survival skills led to bickering, disagreements, and inaction at Jamestown. Poor Indian relations, disease, and the initial absence of the family unit compounded the problems.

        Cooperation and hard work were part of the Pilgrim's lifestyle. Nevertheless, they too were plagued with hunger, disease, and environmental hazards.

        RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES

        The settlers at Jamestown were members of the Anglican faith, the official Church of England.

        The Pilgrims were dissenters from the Church of England and established the Puritan or Congregational Church.

        GOVERNMENT

        In 1619, the first representative legislative assembly in the New World met at the Jamestown church. It was here that our American heritage of representative government was born. Since New England was outside the jurisdiction of Virginia's government, the Pilgrims established a self-governing agreement of their own, the "Mayflower Compact."

        NATIVE AMERICANS

        The Virginia colonists settled in the territory of a strong Indian empire or chiefdom. English relations with the Powhatan Indians were unstable from the beginning. Vast differences in culture, philosophies, and the English desire for dominance were obstacles too great to overcome. After the Indian uprising in 1622, the colonists gave up attempts to christianize and live peacefully with the Powhatans.

        Prior to the Pilgrims' arrival, an epidemic wiped out the majority of the New England Indians. Several survivors befriended and assisted the colonists. Good relations ended in 1636 when the Massachusetts Bay Puritans declared war on the Pequot Tribe and Plymouth was dragged into the conflict.

        LEGENDS

        Who married Pocahontas? Some erroneously believe John Smith did. In actuality, she married John Rolfe, an Englishman who started the tobacco industry in Virginia. The John Smith connection stems from Smith's later writings relating an incidence of Pocahontas saving his life.

        According to Longfellow's epic, The Courtship of Miles Standish, John Alden proposed to Priscilla Mullins on behalf of Standish and she replied, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" Priscilla did in fact marry John Alden at Plymouth. The records do not mention Standish ever courting Priscilla.

        THANKSGIVING

        On December 4, 1619 settlers stepped ashore at Berkeley Hundred along the James River and, in accordance with the proprietor's instruction that "the day of our ship's arrival ... shall be yearly and perpetually kept as a day of thanksgiving," celebrated the first official Thanksgiving Day.

        In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims held a celebration to give thanks to God for his bounty and blessings. This occasion was the origin of the traditional Thanksgiving as we know it today.

        CONCLUSION

        The growth and development of these two English colonies, though geographically separated, contributed much to our present American heritage of law, religion, government, custom and language. As Governor Bradford of Plymouth stated,

        "Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shown unto many, yea, in some sort, to our whole Nation."

        The charter of the Virginia Company stated,

        "Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the giver of all goodness, for every plantation which our father hath not planted shall be rooted out."

        BIBLIOGRAPHY

        Bradford, William. Bradford's History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.

        Breen, T. H. Puritans and Adventurers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

        Hatch, Charles. The First 17 Years. Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957.

        Jennings, Francis. The Invasion of America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.

        Robbins, Roland W. Pilgrim John Alden's Progress. Plymouth, Massachusetts: Pilgrim Society, 1969.

        Author: Nancy Fisher
        Park Ranger
        1985

        1st Revision
        John Short, Park Ranger
        1994

        2nd Revision
        Jen Loux, William and Mary Intern
        November 1995

        What were the reasons for the English colonization of America?

        Like the other European countries, England was motivated in part by the lure of both riches and the Northwest Passage. In 1606, King James I granted a charter to colonize Virginia to the Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock company of investors who believed there was a profit to be made.

        Who funded England's first attempt at colonization?

        England first explores and tries to establish a colony at Roanoke Island in 1584, which is an island in the NC Outer Banks. Queen Elizabeth of England gave him a charter to explore and set up a permanent colony in North America. Raleigh invested his own money to pay for trying to establish a colony at Roanoke Island.

        Which of the following was a goal for the English in gaining New Amsterdam and New Netherland from the Dutch?

        aimed to wrest control of world trade from the Dutch.

        What were the primary problems faced by the Roanoke Island colonist?

        Access to food and deadly conflicts with Native Americans were the two main problems the Roanoke Colony faced. There were actually two attempts to colonize Roanoke. The first was in 1584 and the last was in 1587.