European Settlers (John Smith)

 

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

 

 

 

Climate

 -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

 

 

Clothing

 -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

 

 

 

Jobs

 

-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