Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Virginia was colonized on May 14th, 1607, when Jamestown was established.
While there had been other attempts to colonize Virginia ( see Ajacán and Roanoke ), none of them became permanent, and they eventually failed.
Virginia was colonized by a group of gentlemen, artisans, and laborers, all led by Captain John Smith. They were instructed to use Virginia as profit; to convert any native peoples, to get a path to the Orient, to find gold, and if gold wasn't found, to mine the other resources there.
Jamestown, in its earlier years, was ruled by King James, back in England.
In 1618, it was recommended that two burgesses from each settlement were to be elected, and by 1619, Jamestown was self-governing. The first representative assembly met on July 30th, 1619.
In 1607, the first colonizers set foot in Virginia, under orders from a group of entrepreneurs known as "The Virginia Company". Their goal was to make Virginia a profit colony, but Virginia was not the best place for this.
For starters, Virginia was in a 7 year drought. The James River is also a tidal river, which means it ebbs and flows with the tide. This slow movement spawns bacteria and other germs, and since Virginia is a swamp, there's mosquitoes.
Combine this with the fact that colonists dumped their waste into the river, and you have terribly unsanitary conditions.
Previous attempts to colonize Virginia had already been made by the Spanish and English. All had failed before.
The Spanish established Ajacán in 1570 as a mission, which failed when the leader, Don Luís, killed everyone there except for one child.
Roanoke is the more famous of colonization failures. It was deemed a failure in 1587 and was dubbed "The Lost Colony". It is still a mystery as to what exactly happened to the settlers there.
John White discovers the deserted colony.
Picture from Northwind Picture Archives.
The First Anglo-Powhatan War ( there's two ) started the same time The Starving Time did, but the war carried onto about 1614. This all really started when the colonists challenged Powhatan's authority. As a result, in October, 32 colonists were ambushed, and their leader was captured and skinned alive with mussel shells. Ouch.
After May 24th, when the colonists got a new leader ( named Governor de la Warr ), things started turning in favour of the English, but no one really won this war at all. It ended very anticlimactically and with Pocahontas ( Powhatan's daughter ) marrying John Rolfe, who later turned tobacco into a cash crop.
The Englishmen terribly strained their relationships with the Powhatans, starting two events: The Starving Time, and the Anglo-Powhatan War.
Both were started when Powhatan, leader of the Powhatans, declared siege on Jamestown and cut the colonists off from any means of obtaining food.
The Starving Time started in November and ended in May. During that time, colonists ate anything: horses, cats, dogs, snakes, mice, shoes, boots, leather, and possibly each other.
This is breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Jamestown.
With the last Anglo-Powhatan War, no one really won it because it ended in a stalemate of sorts.
This war got kick started with all the plantations in Virginia due to the popularity of tobacco. This war lasted a lot longer than the first one: it went from 1622 to 1632.
In the end, however, the English won this war.
( Also: the first slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619, however, most of the workers at the time were white indentured servants or convict workers. )
In about 1705, Virginia passed an act known as the "An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves”. This act essentially allowed for murder of slaves in certain scenarios without consequence.
Now, jump forward almost 60 years, to February 10th, 1763. Britain, France, and Spain sign the Peace of Paris, putting an end to the French and Indian War, known otherwise as the Seven Years' War.
On March 22nd, 1765, the Stamp Act is passed, and this is essentially what leads the colonies to declare independence from Britain. While the law is repealed by March 18th of the next year, Patrick Henry is already drafting the Virginia Constitution and Declaration of Independence by April 19th. The colonies soon declare independence by July 4th, 1776.
Jamestown saw the first slaves brought onto American shores, which had a significant impact on Virginia's tobacco industry, and later, the South's agricultural industry, as a massive workforce was required to work the plantations.
Virginia was also the first colony established in the USA, which opened the way for other colonies to form.
Also, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington were all from Virginia.
Virginia was a Southern Colony. Southern Colonies generally relied on cash crops to live , like tobacco, cotton, and sugarcane.
The Middle Colonies could grow crops like the South, though they relied on wheat and corn. They also did lumbering and ship building like the North. In a sense, the Middle Colonies were a mixture.
The New England Colonies had rocky soil, making their land unusable for agriculture. Because of this, they relied on ship building, lumbering, fishing, and trapping.
"1.1 The founding of Virginia." The founding of Virginia. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2014. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/2029>.
"Colonial Virginia." Encyclopedia Virginia:. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2014. <http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Colonial_Virginia#start_entry>
"First Anglo-Powhatan War (1609â1614)." Encyclopedia Virginia: Anglo-Powhatan War, First (1609–1614). N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2014. <http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/First_Anglo-Powhatan_War_1609-1614#start_entry>
"History of Jamestown -- Jamestown Rediscovery." History of Jamestown -- Jamestown Rediscovery. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2014. <http://www.apva.org/history/>.
"Colonial Virginia." Colonial Virginia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2014. <http://www.usahistory.info/southern/Virginia.html>
"Jamestown 1607 Democracy." Jamestown 1607 Democracy. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2014. <http://www.jamestown1607.org/democracy_v2.asp>
"The Southern Colonies." ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2014. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/5.asp>.
"The Starving Time." Encyclopedia Virginia: Starving Time, The. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2014. <http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Starving_Time_The>