SPANISH NORTH AMERICA

1. SPANISH NORTH AMERICA • Spain originally claimed all of North America • Established oldest city in the U.S. • St. Augustine, FL • But never made any attempt to settle lands north of Florida Spanish fort at St. Augustine

2. COLONIAL COMPETITION • Spanish success in the New World stimulated three other nations to also get into the action • England, France, and the Netherlands • At first, they had to satisfy themselves with subsidizing pirates to plunder Spanish colonies and treasure ships • But as Spain became weaker, all three began to explore the possibilities of establishing their own colonies north of Florida

3. ELIZABETH I (1558-1603) • Became interested in New World colonies • Read A Discourse on Western Plantations • By Richard Hakluyt • Stressed military advantages England would receive if she colonized Atlantic coast of North America

4. FIRST ATTEMPT • Made by Sir Humphrey Gilbert • Tried to found colony on the coast of Newfoundland • Gave up shortly after he arrived because of weather • Landed in the middle of winter • Killed in shipwreck on the way home near Azores Islands

5. SIR WALTER RALEIGH • Gilbert’s half brother • Claimed all land north of Florida for Elizabeth • Named it Virginia • In honor of her nickname, the “Virgin Queen”

6. ROANOKE ISLAND • First attempt to found colony on Roanoke Island was immediate failure • Handpicked 118 men, women, and children for second attempt • Landed on island in 1587 • Told supply ship would arrive in 1588 • Raleigh ran out of money and supply ship was delayed until 1590 • All colonists had disappeared

7. JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES • Under James I, joint-stock companies were formed to finance colonial ventures • Business organizations in which a large number of investors pooled their resources and then shared profits in proportion to their investment • If venture failed, investors only lost their investment • They were not liable for entire debt of company • Joint-stock companies had been successful in financing trading expeditions to Russia and Middle East James I

8. THE VIRGINIA COMPANY • Created in 1606 to colonize land first claimed by Sir Walter Raleigh • Received no direct financial help from the British government • But needed government permission to conduct its mission • James I issued company a charter to found colony within a 100-mile area along coast of Virginia • Known as Jamestown

9. FIRST JAMESTOWN COLONISTS • 120 men left England in 3 ships for Virginia in December 1606 • Employees of Virginia Company who received food, clothing, tools, weapons, and percentage of eventual profits in exchange for settling and maintaining the colony • Colonists drawn from 3 groups of people • Down-on-their luck gentlemen • Pardoned prisoners • Unemployed urban craftsmen

10. DISASTER • Colonists given three missions • Convert Indians to Christianity • Find gold • Discover Northwest Passage • Failed in all three • In fact, Jamestown proved to be a deathtrap • Only 38 of the original 104 colonists survived the first year • 50% of replacement colonists died within a year of arriving • High death rates continued into the 1620s

11. PROBLEMS I • Location • Narrow thickly forested peninsula 57 miles up the James River from the Atlantic coast • Easy to moor and unload ocean-going ships right at the colony • Easy to defend • Also loaded with malaria-bearing mosquitoes • James River had 5 times the safe level of salt in it • River also polluted by colonists and was full of dysentery and typhoid germs

12. PROBLEMS II • Inadequate nutrition • Famine was a constant threat for the first 12 years • Worst point was reached in winter of 1609-10 • People ate dogs, cats, rats, snakes, leather, tree bark • Incidents of cannibalism

13. REASONS FOR FAMINE • The problem was not that food could not be grown in the region—it was that the colonists would not grow it • Virginia Company originally told them not to waste time farming and then withheld supplies when they didn’t find gold • Colonists had no farming experience at all

14. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH • Seized political control of Jamestown in 1608 • Imposed brutal military discipline • Saved colony from complete collapse • But was hated by the other colonists • Ultimately forced Virginia Company to develop a more systematic and permanent solution for the colony’s problems

15. SIR THOMAS DALE • In 1610, the Virginia Company appointed Sir Thomas Dale as governor and authorized him to put colony under martial law • And it was very harsh

16. DALE’S DICTATORSHIP • Every colonist given a military rank, place under the control of officers, and subjected to severe military discipline • Everyone forced to work a specific number of days at jobs assigned to them • Goof-offs and thieves were punished harshly • Correspondence was censored and no one could leave without Dale’s permission • Some colonists ran away to live with Indians • But they were always caught and executed

17. INDIAN RELATIONS • With some exceptions, most colonists viewed local Indians as sub-human and little better than animals • Big exception was marriage of colonist John Rolfe to Pocahantas, daughter of local chief Powhaten

18. WAR • Colonists raided Indian villages, kicked them off their land, and even murdered them when they resisted • Indians struck back in 1622 • Attacked Jamestown and killed 347 colonists • Began 20 years of on-and-off warfare • By 1644, surviving Indians were forced to move west

19. HOUSE OF BURGESSES • With end of Dale’s dictatorship, Virginia Company tried to make colony more attractive to new settlers • Repealed Dale’s harsh laws and created a representative assembly • Law making powers were limited and subject to approval by governor • But company did promise not to impose new rules without prior consent of Assembly • Assembly made up of governor, his advisors, and 22 elected colonists (burgesses) • Assembly called House of Burgesses

20. OTHER REFORMS • Women were recruited so that normal family life could develop in the colony • Company announced that any man in England would receive 50 acres in the colony for each servant he sent over • Also guaranteed that these servants would work for their masters in the colony for a specified period of time and then would be released and receive their own plot of free land • Allowed wealthy men to acquire land in colony without leaving England • Provided poor, unemployed people a way to go to the colony and start a new life • Indentured service system • One of the major mechanisms for the population of all of English North America

21. TOBACCO • Native to western hemisphere • Indians in Caribbean had taught Spanish how to grow it • Spanish began to export it to Europe • Europeans at first valued it as a medicine • But many began to smoke it for recreational reasons and Spanish tobacco growers became tremendously wealthy

22. JOHN ROLFE, TOBACCO PIONEER • Indians around Jamestown grew tobacco but it was inferior in quality to Spanish Caribbean tobacco and did not sell in Europe • John Rolfe obtained Caribbean tobacco seeds and tried planting them in Jamestown • Plants well suited to local climate and soil • Quality only slightly inferior to Caribbean tobacco • Jamestown now had a profitable export commodity

23. GROWTH OF TOBACCO PRODUCTION

24. TOBACCO AND POPULATION I • Settlers began to fan out from the original settlement, starting farms up and down the James and York rivers and deeper into the interior • Land was free • Labor was scarce • Tobacco growing used up land quickly due to sloppy and haphazard methods and lack of fertilization • Gave rise to plantations

25. TOBACCO AND POPULATION II • Once tobacco growing induced people to spread out over a larger area, they were no longer concentrated in unhealthy Jamestown settlement • Often ended up in healthier areas • Also lowered population density, which hindered spread of disease • Population of colony gradually grew as a result • Reached 30,000 people by 1670 • Still a dangerous place to live but it was no longer destined to be another Roanoke Island

26. ATTACK ON THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES • King Charles I dissolved the Virginia Company in 1624 and made Virginia a “royal colony” • Owned by the king and administered by governors appointed by him • Charles gave his governors the power to do whatever they wanted without consulting the House of Burgesses

27. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT • Royal governors found it impossible to get anything done without the cooperation of influential colonists • They were appointed to governor’s advisory council in order to gain their support and cooperation • Also began to convene meetings of the House of Burgesses to gain broad base of support • Two house colonial legislature gradually evolved • Upper house: advisory council • Lower house: elected House of Burgesses • Claimed right to approve all taxes before they were imposed on colony • In order to guarantee smooth running of colony Governors conceded this right • Charles ignored this violation of his orders due to his absorption with growing problems in England • Virginian settlers gained freedom to run their own local affairs with minimal interference from England