Successful European Colonies in the New World

Advisor: Kathleen A. Duval, Associate Professor of History, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
National Humanities Center Fellow. Copyright National Humanities Center, 2015

Glossary
timorous: fearful, shy
doleful: sad, mournful
vehement: intense, passionate
treachery: betrayal, disloyalty

Contextualizing Questions
1. What kind of text are we dealing
with?
2. When was it written?
3. Who wrote it?
4. For what audience was it
intended?
5. For what purpose was it written?

Text Analysis
Excerpt 1
1. What do Percys words here tell us about English reasons for founding
Jamestown?
England wanted resources that the colonies had. For them to have these
resources, there enemys would be very annoyed
2. What do you think he thought of the Spanish?
I think he saw the Spanish as enemies.

3. Judging from Percys statement, what role do the Indians who inhabit the
region play in the plans of the English?
The Indians had a role in it, but it wasnt mentioned.

Excerpt 2
4. What does this passage tell us about how well the English understand the
Indians?
The English really did not understand them, they didnt understand how they
would fight and they just thought that the burning fields were for planting.
5. Why would the English expect the Indians to attack them?
The English expected them to attack because they attacked before

Excerpt 3
6. How might you account for the hospitality shown the English by Powhatans son
only days after Indians attacked the settlers?
They wished to find out more information about the whites who were there
7. How might the tribes in the Powhatan Confederation interpret the fact that one
of Powhatans sons entertained the English?
They thought that the powhatans son was trying to get a relationship with the
English
8. What does this passage tell us about European perceptions of Indians and their
understanding of Indian culture?
They thought that the Indians were feeding them just to welcome them.

Excerpt 4
9. What does the scene in the Paspihe village an entertainment with much
welcome interrupted by an old Savages rant suggest about the Paspihes
response to the arrival of the English? Compare the Paspihes welcome with that
which the English received in the village of Kecoughtan (see paragraphs 3 and 4)
and in the Raphanna village.
No all the English were welcoming, they were weirded out but the general
wasnt.
10.
What does the response of the Rapahannas chief to the presence of the
English among the Paspihe suggest about relations between the two tribes?
The relationship was a rivalry relationship.
11.
Why might the Raphanna chief have been displeased that the English
visited the Paspihe village before visiting his?
The chief thought that it would give the village an advantage with his village.
12.
Why might it have been advantageous to Powhatan to permit rivalries
among the tribes in his confederation?
No leader in a tribe could be powerful enough to beat the powhatan if there was
a rivalries

Excerpt 5
13.
Why, after some Indians entertained the English cordially, would the
Apamatica confront them in a most warlike manner?
The confronted them in a war like manner because the English as enemies
because they thought that they were working with the tribe that were against
them.
14.
What do the Apamatica demand of the English?
They told them that they had to leave because they didnt know why they were
here

15.
What might the English have signaled through their signs of peace
that convinced the Apamatica to let them land?
They showed that they were willing to trade their things that they owned.

Excerpt 6
16.
How might the establishment of Jamestown in the Pasphies country affect
that tribes attitude toward the English?
They were wondering on their motive for trying to settle there.
17.
What does the alarm suggest about the Indians approach to the English
settlement?
The Indians arrival threatened the English

Excerpt 7
18.
How do these encounters with the Paspihae differ from the earlier
entertainment the Paspihae provided the settlers? (See paragraph 5.)
What might account for the difference?
They realized that the English were not going to leave, they were going to
stay for good.
19.
How do these encounters with the Paspihae differ from the settlers
encounters with the Rapahanna? (See paragraph 6.) What might account for the
difference?
These meetings felt like a war defensive poster and the encounter with
rapahanna was more of a trade.
20.
Why might the English suspect villainy on the part of the Paspihae?
They would suspect them because they were attacked before, they were worried
that within they would be attacked again.
21.
Why might the Paspihae werowance offer the English as much land as they
wanted? Can we be sure that he actually made that offer?
He offered them land so he can stall them, he made the offer, but the English
didnt really understand it.
22.
Why would an Indian be interested in stealing a hatchet? What might the
hatchet represent?
If they stole the hatchet then the Indians could present to the English, that he
pasphiahe were true warriors and the hatchet represent warrior

Excerpt 8
23.
How do you think the Indians might have interpreted the English cross
planting ceremony?
By the English crossing the English made it seem like if they were curious
24.
What implications does the ceremony hold for the Indians?
The ceremony represents the English with them trying to turn them into Christian
and they were trying to change the Indian culture

25.
Why might it have mattered to the Indians that the captain went onshore
alone?
Him going on shore did not represent an attack it was for more concerning
reason.
26.
How valuable would the gift of the hatchet be to the chief? What might it
suggest to him about the English and the potential of an alliance with them?
The chief would be grateful for it because what it represented was very valuable.
27.
What reasons might local tribes in the Powhatan Confederation have had
for befriending the English? Might they be seeking allies? Why would they need
allies?
They were always seeking allies for when they went against rival tribes, These
allies would be useful to them for military purposes.
28.
Why would local Indians be concerned that the English were planting?
The English would be concerned of the english planting because it would
decrease the territories of the Pasiphae
29.
What does the werowances reply tell you about debates that were going
on among the Indians who met the English?
This tell me that the debates were about that what kind of force they would think
the english would use.
30.
How does the werowances characterization of the site of Jamestown as
waste ground reflect upon the Paspihaes offer to give them as much as they
want?
Hey would help them out as long they dont ask for things that are valuable to
them.

Excerpt 9
31.
Compare the Englishmens relationship with the Rappahanna to their
relationship with the Pasphie.
They were trying to have a relationship with the english but it was harder than it
looked because it involved military stuff.

Excerpt 10
32.
Percy believed that the Indians spared Jamestown because God put a terror
into their hearts. What other reasons might they have had?
Other reasons they had were that it represented balanced between all the tribes,
and it would help If they could all be trading partners.
33.
Would you have predicted in 1607 that Jamestown would be a success?
Why or why not?
I dont think so because everyone was starving and they didnt really know there
environment and they had to learn how to survive on their own

34.
At several points, the colony almost failed, whether because of starvation
or sporadic war with the Indians. But ships with food and settlers arrived each
time the colony was nearly empty, and over time diseases that were previously
unknown in the Americas dramatically decreased the Indian population.
Jamestown was eventually abandoned, but the colony of Virginia thrived with the
adoption of tobacco agriculture and slavery. Why, on the whole, did Virginia
survive?
They were able to trick there environment and also they were able to adjust to it
later on.
35.
Would you call Jamestown a successful colony? Why or why not?
Yes because they accomplished many things for being the first english colony
and yes they did have a period where they were starving but they still made it
through.