England Rises to Power

Queen Elizabeth I made England the leader of Protestant states in Europe

Established a powerful navy (Sea Dogs)

Sir Francis Drake and others looted Spanish ships in an undeclared war on Spain

Defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 and elevated England to the status of European Superpower

Englands Colonial Era Begins

1578- Sir Humphrey Gilbert persuaded Elizabeth I to charter Englands first colonial venture

Failed attempt

1583- Sir Humphrey Gilbert attempts to colonize America again

Failed attempt- on the way back to England his ship sank and he died along with his crew

Englands Colonial Era Begins

1584-

Sir Walter Raleigh attempts to establish a colony in America at Roanoke Island

Attempt fails when settlers couldnt handle the cold winter and caught boat rides home with Sir Francis Drake

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

1587- Sir Walter Raleigh enlists the help of a joint-stock company to send another colonial expedition to Roanoke Island

Supply ships could not leave England in 1588 because of the war with Spain When they finally reached Roanoke in 1590, the colonists were gone (nobody knows where)

Reasons for English Colonies

The lure of gold and silver The Northwest Passage to Asia Challenge Spains claims in the New World Raw materials to supply the manufacturing houses of England

The Unknown Land

English

colonial investors had to sell America to the average English citizen through lies
The reality was

Hostile Indians Hideous and desolate wilderness Hard work and determination would be needed to make it successful

Jamestown, Virginia- 1607

1st permanent English settlement in America established in 1607 Virginia Company of London was granted land from what is now New Jersey to South Carolina Land was granted by King James I in 1606 Settlers sought out a deep water inlet

Chesapeake Bay- 32 miles up the James River

Jamestown, Virginia- 1607

Settlers built the town on a low-lying swamp Malaria-infested mosquitoes Dysentery-infected water wells No leader to direct the colony Constant Indian raids

Jamestown, Virginia

Captain John Smith

Stepped up to lead the colony Worked for peace with the Indians Divided the land among the colonists and instituted capitalistic idea of private ownership

Jamestown, Virginia- 1608-09

Virginia Company of London recruits new colonists to sail to America and join the Jamestonians John Smith is injured and returns to England to heal Colony begins to suffer without Smiths leadership

Jamestown, Virginia- 1609-1610

Starving

Time- Winter of 1609-10 where only 60 of the 500 settlers were left in the spring

Jamestown, Virginia- 1612

John

Rolfe introduces tobacco to the colony as a cash crop

Resulted

in the success of Jamestown and the expansion of the colonists throughout Virginia

Jamestown, Virginia- 1619

Jamestown colonists gain more freedoms from the company back in England

No longer under martial law Settlers allowed to elect public officials and establish the House of Burgesses Respectable women arrive for marriage to established settlers Slaves arrive from Africa (brought by the Dutch)

Jamestown, Virginia- 1619-1624

5,000 settlers arrive in Jamestown Indentured Servitude

Planters/settlers paid the way for other settlers to come to Virginia in exchange for years of forced labor until their debt was paid off

Jamestown, Virginia- 1622 Indian

attack pushes the colonists back to the original site of Jamestown

Jamestown, Virginia- 1624

King

James revokes the land charter and makes Virginia a royal colony (ruled by him through an appointed governor)

Elected assembly continues to exist and work with the governor