Introduction to English

Settlement at Jamestown

Victoria Pang
Unit 1
United States History
About John Smith
In 1606, a young Englishmen who had fought heroically in
a war against the Turks.
Smith, as an adventurer, approached the members of the
Virginia Company about starting a new colony in North
America.
Smiths leadership allowed for the small English
settlement to survive and profit through the production of
tobacco.
Who and Why?
Who: The English founded their first permanent
settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia in
1607.
Why: The English colonies in Virginia are important
because they would develop into the present states of
the Southern United States.
English Colonial Beginnings
Spanish colonies in North America were funded by rulers, but
English colonies were funded by joint-stock companies.
A joint-stock company is when several investors pool their
wealth in the success of a particular colony that they hope will
yield a profit.
Companies, like the Virginia Company, received a charter
from the government promising that they would take care of
the colony.
In 1606, King James I granted the Virginia Company charter.
Jamestown, the first colony, was named after the king.
Disease in Jamestown
Thus we lived for the space of five months in miserable
distressour men night and day groaning in every corner of the
fort, most pitiful to hear. If there were any conscience in men, it
would make their hearts to bleed to hear the pitiful murmurings
and outcries of our sick men for relief, every night and day for
the space of six weeks: some departing out of the World, many
times three or four in a night; in the morning their bodies being
trailed out of their cabins like dogs, to be buried.
-A Jamestown colonist quoted in A New World.

[Colonists became sick from the water, then of hunger, since many
had never labored to catch or plant food before.]
Native American Encounters
In the winter, John Smith declared himself the leader of
the 30 surviving colonists.
He led by: 1) forcing the colonists to farm, 2) requiring the
colonists to obey the law, and 3) persuading the native
Americans to provide food.
Smith sought out the assistance of the nearby Powhatan
people.