The English Begin
To Settle in America
Roanoke Colony – The Lost Colony
Atlantic Coast circa 1584
Outer Banks
(Virginia / N. Carolina Border)
Roanoke: Then and Now
Roanoke Timeline
• 1584 – Walter Raleigh sends scouts across the
Atlantic to look for a suitable place to
– Roanoke Island is the agreed upon spot
• 1585 – 100 Settlers from England sail to colonize
Roanoke island
– Settlers meet early Native Americans
– Lots of early problems, provisions, shelter, etc
• 1586 – Sir Francis Drake picks up several
disenchanted settlers and returns them to
England. He leaves a small group behind
Roanoke Timeline
• 1587 – A second contingent of 115 settlers arrive
from England to shore up the settlement and find no
sign of the earlier settlers
– 1st English baby – VIRGINIA DARE – is born at Roanoke
• Late 1587 – Ships sail for England to fetch more
supplies
• 1588 – Battle of the Spanish Armada delays return
to Roanoke
• 1590 – English return to Roanoke and find NOBODY
left. The English abandon the Settlement
The Baptism of Virginia Dare:
The 1st English Child born in America
Theories about what happened to the
Roanoke Settlers?
• Victims of hostile Native Indians who
massacred them all
• The settlers left the island and perished on the
mainland
• The Spanish came upon them and massacred
them all
• Starving and unable to survive, the settlers
were integrated into local tribes, and went
“Native”
Jamestown – The 1st
Successful Colony
in North America
The Virginia Company Charter
• In 1606 a group of merchants looking to prosper
from the bounty of the New World formed the
Virginia Company
• Applied and received a charter from King James I
• 105 men and boys left England in December of
1606 Bound for the New world
3 Ships Depart England: 12/6/1606
Susan Constant, Godspeed, Discovery
Jamestown 1607
Land Ho! April 1607
Roanoke
Jamestown 1607
1607 -- The Fort
Colonists and Native Americans:
An Uneasy Alliance
By the Fall of 1607, 50% of the
Settlers are Dead.
Captain John Smith, a member
of the leadership Council,
decides to ask the Powhatan
Indians for help.
He travels to their Settlement
and spends four days with
them.
Legend says that Powhatan
Princess Pocahontas saves his
life and secures help for the
Settlers from her father the
Chief.
1607: Pocahontas Saves Captain John Smith
Historiography:
Understanding The Myth of Pocahontas
• The Roots of the Pocahontas Legend
– Primary and Secondary Source Examination
• Pocahontas in the Popular Imagination
– Competing Video Clips
Winter of 1610: The Starving Time
Jamestown
Population
Shrinks
From
approximately
350 settlers to
60
1610-1614 Jamestown Colonists
depended on New Settlers and
Resupply Ships to Survive
1611: New Settler John Rolfe
Introduces Tobacco to Jamestown
1611- 1614:
Tobacco Cultivation at Jamestown Ensures
Colony’s Survival and Economic Future
Pocahontas Marries John Rolfe in 1614:
A Lasting Peace Between the Powhatan and the
English Settlers Develops
1619: The Jamestown Assembly is Established
as The First Local Government in America
1619 -- The Settlement at its high point
First Africans in America were bought by Dutch in 1619 to
Provide Labor for Tobacco Cultivation
1624 – The Royal Take over by King James
• Ongoing and
Increasing Indian
hostilities and attacks
• Financial troubles
• King James cancelled
the charter and took
the colony over as a
Royal Colony of
England