English Empire

1. English Empire Note in 1707 England and Scotland became unified and from then on known as Britain

2. Role of England • England weak, politically and economically in comparison to Spain. • Henry VII sponsored John Cabot’s voyages to Canada 1497 • lost interest when NW passage not discovered. • Lack of political will, and military capacity to challenge Spain before later 16thC

3. Ireland • Ireland conquered by Normans, but gradually England lost control. • Tudors show renewed interest. • Military expeditions during Elizabethan Age • led by soldiers & adventurers.

4. Followed up by colonizers • Seeking land holdings and use of Gaelic Irish as serfs, • frequent atrocities and brutality towards Irish • About 200,000 migrants from GB to Ireland 1600-1670

5. Ireland as a blueprint • Finance • Promotional literature • Attitudes towards native peoples • Individuals involved • e.g. • Richard Grenville, • Humphrey Gilbert, • Walter Raleigh.

6. Video Questions 1 • 1. Shift in seventeenth century Virginia away from indentured servant labor was accompanied by • increasing tobacco production. • slowing rates of population growth. • accelerating movement toward democracy. • using race as a dividing line among the poor.

7. Video Questions 2 • 2. Professor Karen Kupperman refers to property ownership in colonial Virginia as a "double-edged sword" because it • applied to both land and labor. • guaranteed both whites and blacks the right to vote. • Tended to destroy a sense of community. • Gave women a cause to complain about.

8. English Imperial Ambitions • Motivation: • Envy of Spanish Colonial treasure • Wealth helped Spain become most powerful nation; • English policy: • Break the Iberian monopoly on America • fear that American wealth, after Henry VIII's split with Rome (1534), could be used against them. • English sanctioned privateering operations. • Captured Spanish treasure ships bringing gold & silver from New World.

9. By 1580 increasingly dangerous to prey on Spanish shipping • American base needed. • American colonies also ease English reliance on southern Europe for citrus fruits, silks, and vines. • 1st patent to settle in America granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert • half brother to Walter Raleigh, • settle anywhere between Florida and Northern Canada

11. Early British Attempts • Initially England was not successful • Martin Frobsier • Searching for gold and a northwest passage • 3 failed journeys between 1576-1578

12. Humphrey Gilbert • Attempted to settle in Newfoundland – failed, Gilbert dies at sea • John Hawkins and Francis Drake • Successful in the Caribbean But as pirates not settlers • But by 1580 England still had no permanent settlement in Americas

13. Roanoke • 3 English voyages to settle North America in 1580s. • First landed at Roanoke Island, North Carolina on July 13th, 1584, • short lived military expedition • found that the land was suitable for both cultivation and defence, • returned home to England with 2 local Indians, Manteo & Wanchese.

14. Roanoke Island

15. 1585-6, 2nd English Voyage • Ralph Lane, discovered Chesapeake Bay • ideal as naval base. • Noted for the oil paintings of John White and the descriptions of Thomas Hariot. • But, young male adventurers, with ambitions of land and wealth, not ideal colonists.

16. Indian relations deteriorated, food supply from Indians cut off • Drake arrived summer 1586, seeking re-supply, ends up providing food for colonists, eventually agrees to return them to England

17. Third voyage 1587: different from previous ones • Colonists were farmers not soldiers • came in family groups. • Intended to be a permanent settlement, • self-sustaining and self-reproducing. • John White Governor, returned to England for more supplies • Leaving daughter and grand-daughter, Virginia Dare, at Roanoke.

18. Unable to return until 1590 • Due to Spanish Armada • When finally arrives, found settlement abandoned • colonists never seen again.

19. Importance of Roanoke • 3 voyages saw evolution of colonising thought • Roanoke seen as • A base for privateering, • Then a place where valuable raw materials could be shipped to England, • Third voyage aimed to settle permanently.

20. Lessons of Roanoke were clear: • no colony could exist without full support from mother country in terms of men and supplies • for at least the first few years • clear goals needed to give direction and purpose to the colonisation effort • good relations with the Indians were necessary • to learn the best survival techniques in the American wilderness.

21. Conclusions • Failure of Roanoke great setback for England imperial ambitions. • 1600 still no permanent English settlement in North America • Yet England had taste for colonization, saw it was practical, possible and still thought it worthwhile & potentially profitable.

22. After Roanoke • 20 year wait for colonisation to restart • Nothing possible until succession decided, too much uncertainty • James I (1603-25) ends war with Spain 1604. • Ends profits from privateering • Leads to reconsideration of colonisation • Importance of getting a charter, royal sanction/support • sets out claims, regardless of other powers • 1606 charters given to • Virginia Company of London and Virginia Company of Plymouth to settle between 34 and 45 degrees N latitude, (NC to Maine)

23. Grant to Virginia Co.

25. The Virginia Company • Made up of merchants and gentlemen • charter talks of trade and bringing Christianity to natives. • Needs colonists as • traders • potential soldiers to defend against Spanish • Offers free land for settlers • 144 young men to go on first voyage on board 3 ships (Godspeed, Discovery and Susan Constant) • Arrives Chesapeake bay April 26 1607 • Jamestown May 1607

26. James FortFirst Building in America by British

27. VA Problems of Authority • Virginia has crisis of authority • 1st two governors lose control quickly • only 38 of 144 original migrants still alive in Nov 1607. • Solved by John Smith • elected Gov in Dec 1608 • introduced system of Martial Law • moved colony inland • learned survival techniques from Indians

28. ‘The Starving Time’ • New fleet arrives June 1609, brings 900 new settlers. • Smith ousted, and returns to England • No effective leadership during harsh winter of 1609-10 • lack of planning – no food stockpiled • widespread starvation • some cannibalism.

29. Spring 1610 only 60 survivors • Decide to return to England • Prevented by arrival of new Governor Lord De La Warre • Laws Divine, Moral and Martial 1611 • Response of Virginia Co • House of Burgesses • First elected body in North America, July 1619 • Again before Pilgrims

30. Migrants • Before 1618 all migrants: • Male • Most under 25 • Free land offered • obvious draw to poor, as well as to younger sons of gentry, • i.e. those with little prospect of riches in England • Main motivation • economic, seeking fortune and status • See Virginia as temporary home

31. Importance of indentured labour • Main source of labour in Virginia before 1680 • People were ‘sold’ for number of years in return for passage. • Possibility of land at end of service. • Problems of flight • seen as form of slavery,

32. Suggestion religion had role in colonisation • Mentioned in charter • Used as recruitment tactic • But little attention paid by colonists once there. • Authority derived from either tradition (elders), law (officials) or charisma (dictators) • First church built in 1639 • 32 years after arrival • Rebuilt in 1907 on original spot

33. Indians • Problems with Indians major factor in Virginia development • Powhatan confederacy more powerful than English • Numbers approx 10,000 in 1620 • 1000 English in 1624 • Initial antagonism – disputes over property • Smith’s role – situation calms in 1610s • Rolfe marries Pocahontas

34. Powhatan sees English as potential allies vs interior tribes. • Irrelevant to broader region of Powhatan Empire • Never imagines they would be threat to him • Trades for weapons etc • Powhatan dies 1622

35. Succeeded by brother Opechancanough • more hostile to English • especially encroachment on lands • Role of tobacco in taking Indian lands • English authorities unable to prevent it

36. Achieves total surprise • Kills 347 whites • out of population of 1200. • Opechancanough thought English would leave • But attack cements negative image of Indians among English • makes their destruction easier to live with

37. Attack on Good Friday (March 22) 1622

38. Conclusions • Virginia in 1624 in turmoil • Politically unstable • e.g. Virginia Co loss of charter 1624 • Endured disease, war, death. • Only about 1000 whites in Virginia after 17yrs of colonisation • settlement still in balance • could easily still fail.

39. Economic Development • No economic purpose to early settlement • 1612 planting of Trinidadian tobacco by John Rolfe. • Rapid growth of production • 2,000 lbs in 1615 • 1.5m lbs 1629 • by 1620 meant single farmer with no extra labour could make £200/yr profit. • Also cause of instability.

41. Larger plantation owners were able to survive through • Expanding length of indenture • Increasing punishments for infractions of contract • Renting land • Selling other crops and • From money earned from positions in the local government • Wealthy landowners also closed up

42. Drop in profits led to a situation whereby • Indentured servants • Still the dominant labor force • Had little money or opportunity to set themselves up as plantation owners. • Creates a group of landless freemen

43. Into this problematic situation stepped Nathanial Bacon

44. From Virginia we head west to New Mexico and the Pueblo Revolt

46. Bacon • reputed to have been sent to America by his family in a hope that it would mature him and make him into a Man. • 29 year old Cambridge graduate • From wealthy English family, related by marriage to Virginia governor Sir William Berkley • Everything looked good • Bacon given a land grant and a seat on the council.

47. Problems mentioned earlier had many people who were outside the wealthy group looking for scapegoats for their situation • In July 1675 a group was found. • A group of Doeg Indians raided the plantation of Thomas Mathews. • Mathews plantation was on the outskirts of the area controlled by the English

48. Raid was not a random attack by “wild Indians” • But an attempt to get paid for goods that Mathews had obtained from the tribe. • Several Indians were killed in the attack as was the herdsman of Mathews plantation

49. In revenge the local colonists went after the Doeg Indians and killed ten or more • However, they also killed a number of Susquehannocks • a tribe that were at peace with and regularly traded with the English. • Governor Berkeley stepped in and attempted to restore order by ordering an investigation and set up a negation meeting between the English and the Susquehannocks

50. During this meeting the local militia killed the chiefs sent to negotiate • The Susquehannocks went on a series of retaliatory attacks along the James River • Bacon’s overseer was killed. • Governor Berkeley planned a series of forts to protect the outlying communities • These forts would be paid for out of taxes,