England and the Americas

Honors U.S. History

Funding the Expeditions

• Spanish way – Funded by the Monarchy, profits go to the Monarchy

• English way – Funded by joint-stock companies (investors)– Initially not controlled by the Monarchy

Mercantilism

• Global wealth is limited• Key is to acquire and keep valuable

metals– Gold– Silver

• Colonies can provide a steady stream of materials to the main nation

• Main nation provides manufactured goods to the colonies for purchase

The Lost Colony

• Sir Walter Raleigh established a settlement in North Carolina (1587)– Roanoke Island– 1590 – The colony and the

settlers are completely gone

– Nobody knows for certain what happened to them

• Likely killed by local Indians

Jamestown

• Earliest permanent English colony in the United States (1607)

• Formed by the Virginia Company• Intended to find gold and silver• Not prepared or equipped to build their own homes or

grow their own crops• Initially traded with the Indians

– Eventually started raiding each other

• 1610 – 60 of the original 500 settlers were still alive– 1609 – 1610: “The Starving Time”– “He who does not work, does not eat”

• Captain John Smith removed from control

From Private Colony to Royal

• King James I takes over the colony– Too many people dying– Too many battles with the Indians

• The House of Burgesses – First body of government in the land– Eventually becomes too elite and excludes

small farmers

No Gold or Silver but…

• 1612 – John Rolfe plants tobacco for the first time– Previously a luxury controlled by the Spanish– Highly addictive, creating a huge market

• Problem – Getting people to cultivate it• Problem – Coming to Virginia is expensive• Problem – You can’t enslave the Natives• Solution – Indentured Servitude for 4-7 years in

exchange for passage across• Problem – A new class of poor mistreated

farmers

What About the Indians?

• Powhatan Confederacy – Taught the settlers how to develop tobacco

• Tobacco depletes the soil– Settlers required lots of

land that the Indians occupied

• John Rolfe marries Pocahontas (1614) to smooth alliance

• 1644 – Confederacy destroyed by English