Information found by Darren
James Town
- Took over Natives land in late 15th and early 16th centuries
- December 20th, 1606, Virginia bound ships from London to establish colonies
- Arrived in Chesapeake Bay, April 1607
- 105 men (40 soldiers, 35 “Gentlemen”, and various Artisans and Labourers)
- Captain Newport needed to find a place for the colony to set up that was hidden from Spanish invaders and easy access to the ocean
- Sailed up a river they named The James and made James Town
- Colonists began to sicken and die (brought typhoid and dysentery)
- Not enough land had been cleared for crops
- Powhatan Natives were friendly and provided them with enough food to get by
- When first supplies and settlers arrived early 1608, only 35 original colonists remained
- John Smith saved James Town without a doubt
- He traded with the natives, but when they didn’t want to trade, he took what he needed
John Smith
- Born in 1580 in Willoughby, England
- Left home at age sixteen after father died
- Became actively involved with colonizing Virginia for profit
- Set sail on December 20, 1606
- Reached Virginia in April, 1607
- He became one of the seven leaders of the town
- Harsh winter, lack of fresh water, and the spread of disease made life extremely difficult for the settlers
- Attacks from natives didn’t help either
- December 1606, He and some companions ambushed by native deer hunters
- Brought him to camp and Powhatan, their chief
- Was part of a ritual, Pocahontas saved his life
- After four weeks of capture, John was released back to Jamestown guided by the natives
- He returned to chaos caused by lack of food, laziness, and a poor government.
- Left Jamestown to mark and map the Chesapeake Bay region in search of desperately needed food/supplies
- Was elected as president of the local council in Sept. 1608
- “He who does not work, will not eat.” Was a famous saying of his?
- Under his strong leadership, the town grew the very next year
- But tragically, Smith was injured by a gunpowder burn and had to return to England for treatment in Oct. 1609, never to come back to Virginia again
- Back in London, John Smith promoted further colonization of Virginia, but was unpopular with the Virginia Company
- Returned to the New World to visit Maine and Massachusetts Bay areas, named them New England in approval of Prince Charles
- Never aloud to return to New World again because of his sense of independence
- Spent rest of life writing books until his death in1631 at age 51
http://www.apva.org/history/jsmith.html - this is a link to a site with lots of information on John Smith.
13 Colonies the Native People (Powhatan)
Information found by Randy
The Information about the Settlers
-In 1607 the settlers came over to Jamestown
-The English people brought over diseases
-The English people were clearing land
-The English people arrived at Chesapeake Bay
-The English people neglected the planning of food, and looked for instant wealth
-They grew more dependent on us for food
-The colonies money slowly went away in the first two years
-After the English people took over Jamestown Captain John Smith saved it
-After a while the English people started a trade with us
-The English got the fruits of there labour
-Smith took what he wanted by force
-The colonists did a search and destroy raid on our settlements
-They burned our villages and their corn crops too
-Colonies captured my favourite daughter Pocahontas
-Reorganization of the colony under Sir Edwin Sandy’s, liberal land policies led to dispersion of English settlements along the James River
-That increased the cultivation of Tobacco required land, they cleaned out the forest to make room for the plants to grow
-The colonists first met Pocahontas when she was about 13 and I sent her to Jamestown
-many of the English people died of the disease that was arround Jamestown
-They called Jamestown after King James 1st
-About 100 and some people were sent over to Jamestown only about 38 lived on because of the disease
-Some of the settlers began to work on the land but did not own the land, but some people got grants of land from the Virginia Company
-When they went to make the fields they came more in contact with us because they were planting it on our land
-It left the English people having more chances to be attacked
Powhatan
-I am the leader of the Algonquian natives
-Opechancanough is my brother
-My real name is Wahunsenacawh
-I usually have chains of great pearls arround my neck covered with raccoon skins
-The cloak that I whore was made of deerskin and decorated with shell patterns
-My hair somewhat gray
-My beard so thin
-Hoped to take in the newcomers through hospitality and his offerings of food
-By 1609 I had realized that the English people were going to stay
-I was finally forced in a truce or many sorts
-I had over 100 wives
-My favourite daughters is Matoaka, better known by the nickname of Pocahontas
-I am a leader for about 4 or 5 tribes
-The village that we lived in was Tenakomakah
-I am a supreme ruler of most of the native tribes in the Chesapeake Bay area from north of the Mattaponi River
-My daughter died in 1617 from disease too but in England
-I died in April 1618 from disease in Virginia
-In early 1622 we struck, and killed 350 English people
The Information about the Natives and Their Land
-The river water not for drinking, and little hunting and little space for farming
-We have some mixed feeling about the English landing in our land in 1607
-The land was full of mosquitoes, brackish tidal, mayflies, chiggers, and ticks
-We attacked one of the English ships before it landed in 1607
-When the settlers came there was there about 13 000 to 14 000 natives
-Arround all of the villages there was rivers
-The Powhatan nations had over 30 tribes
-Each of the tribes had its own chief that paid tribute to Powhatan
-My people farmed and hunted the land
-My daughter saved John Smith's life because I was going to kill him
-In 1609 the English people attacked our tribe killing over 20 people
-We offer food to the English people as a traditional native thing
-Captain John Smith made us do all the hard work, and slavery
-After the English people invaded our land we started killing the settlers, killing their livestock, and burning crops that they planted
-Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614 that made a few years of peace
-The land arround Jamestown was swampy and there was lots of disease
-When the people came to clean our land they came in a lot of contact with us
-George Thorpe tired to convert us into Christians through education, but did not help
-Jamestown was saved from a warming from a Native Christian convert
-My daughter died in 1617 from disease too but in England
-Powhatan died in April 1618 from disease in Virginia
-When Pocahontas died all the peace they got from when she married John Rofle went away
-My brother led the natives in 1622
-They planned an attack on the English all over Virginia in 1622
-They had a war and then the English took over killing many people and making their empire way bigger
-Then in 1614 they did a final try to get the English off their land
-Then Opechancanough was captured by the English and shot
-Average winter daytime temperatures are 10 C (50 F) with nighttime's lows of 3 C (25-20 F)
-Chilling winds coming off the rivers can make wind chill temperatures much lower
-Summer temperatures range from daytime highs of 30 C (85-90 F) down to 20 C (60 F) at night
-Area is generally humid, especially during the summer months
-Until the industrial Revolution, all clothing was made by hand
-Garments were stitched by hand
-Styles of dress did not change from year to year
-The men came ashore in Elizabethan clothing, the familiar clothing worn by courtiers such as Sir Walter Raleigh
-Ladies' costumes were quite elaborate in that they were cut from hand-embroidered fabric, the skirt usually had one colour and the jacket another bright blue
-Ruffs were smaller
-Preacher
-Gentleman
-Carpenter
-Blacksmith
-Sailor
-Barber
-Bricklayer
-Mason
-Fabric designer
-Labourer
-Wood gathers
-Prospector
-Gunner
-Apothecary
-Doctor
-Craftsman
-Tobacco-Pipe-maker
-Tradesman
Links
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/colonial/indians/indians.html
http://www.apva.org/ngex/chief.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Powhatan
http://www.virtualjamestown.org/Powhat1.html
http://www.baydreaming.com/powhatan.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/powhatan-1 These sites have lots of information about Powhatan, his land, and the native people