A look at the settlement of Jamestown and its hardships with a focus on the acts of cannibalism that have been brought to light recently. It has been adapted from another previous presentation.
3. King James I
Was king of Scotland beginning in 1567
Became king of England and Ireland in 1603
Son of Mary, Queen of Scots
James believed that colonies could prove profitable to
the Crown
Viewed North America as the most likely place for
settlements
Only one problem…
5. Virginia Company
Collection of businessmen and investors
Granted a charter by King James I in 1606
Charter was for 6 million acres (Vermont: 5.9 million
square acres, Massachusetts: 5 million)
Purpose: To establish colonies in North America that
would prove financially beneficial to the Crown
London and Plymouth Companies
6.
7. Plymouth Company
Colony is placed at the mouth of Kennebec River in
Maine, near present day Bath
Survives for one year before being abandoned
Area is ignored as a colonization target until 1620
8. Jamestown Settlement
First colonists arrive April 1607
104 men and boys
Combination of gentry, military men, craftsmen/
artisans, unskilled laborers
Upon arrival, secret orders from the Virginia Company
listing who was in charge were opened. Mix of gentry
and military men.
9.
10. Jamestown: After the Arrival
Attacked by Algonquian Indians, led by Powhatan, on
first night
Sought refuge onboard ships
Construction of a fort begins after a month
An Algonquian attack exposes vulnerabilities & leads
to construction of a second, stronger fort
Why did they settle at the Jamestown location?
1. Water depth (good for ships to access inland)
2. Defendable
11.
12. Jamestown: After the Arrival
(cont.)
Captain Newport returns to England for supplies one
week after fort is finished
The Colony started to slide towards extinction
Why?
13. Problems at Jamestown
Famine
Less than 50% of population was still alive less than six
months later
Lack of farmers
Lack of proper equipment
Disease
1. Typhoid (fever, usually caused by the ingestion of
food or water contaminated by the feces of an infected
person)
2. Dysentery (gastro infection that causes diarrhea
and more, lack of nourishment)
Indian attacks
14. Divine Intervention…or Pure Dumb
Luck?
Powhatan intervenes
January 1607: Captain Newport returns
Brings supplies AND 120 colonists
Only 38 members from the original group are still alive
(36.5%)
Colonists accidentally burn fort, spend winter months
living in the ruins
High death rate continues for decades
15. Jamestown (non)Survivability Rate
First colonists: 38 of 104
1609: Population declines from 600 to 60 in SIX
MONTHS.
WHAT HAPPENED?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGQ5lFck19
1619-1622: Virginia Company sends 3570 people to
Jamestown to join 700 already there. 3000 die.
1607-1625: Virginia Company sends 6000 people to
Virginia. By 1625, only 1200 remain.
20. John Smith: Savior of Jamestown
Adventurer (aka: mercenary)
Captured and sold as slave to Turkish nobleman
Escapes, returns to England. Joins Jamestown
expedition
Clashes with shipmates, clapped in irons, threatened
with execution
Named by Virginia Company to Jamestown Council
21. James Smith (cont.)
Explores and maps Virginia
Captured by Algonquians during exploring trip
Disappearance allows Captain Newport and another
colonist to assume control of colony
Summer 1608: Leaves settlement to further explore
Virginia
Reelected to the colony council in September
22. John Smith (cont.)
Captain Newport returns to England (Fall 1608)
Colony still struggling to survive
Smith emerges as leader of the settlement
Pressures Powhatan
No work, or food to eat
Newport returns in 1609 with supplies and colonists
Smith loses power struggle, departs colony October
1609, dies in 1631
23. John Rolfe
Departed England for Jamestown in May 1609
Onboard is his pregnant wife, Sara
Sea Venture was captained by Captain Newport.
John Smith’s angry letter to the Virginia Company
leads them to make their third supply mission their
biggest and best equipped
24. John Rolfe (cont.)
Rolfe and other survivors are shipwrecked for 9
months
Using the remains of the Sea Venture, the survivors
build two ships, Deliverance and Patience in May 1610
Rolfe’s wife and infant daughter die in Bermuda
25. John Rolfe (cont.)
Does not begin growing tobacco until 1611
By 1617, Virginia colony produces 20,000 pounds of
tobacco annually
In 1618, tobacco exports jump to 40,000 pounds
Rolfe marries Pocahontas in 1614
26. End of the Virginia Company
Rolfe’s marriage to Pocahontas results in uneasy peace
between Algonquian and the English settlers
Death of Powhatan in 1618 ends peace
1622: Slaughter of settlers by Indians. Loss of more
than 25% of the settlers results
Investigation by Crown places blame for deaths of
colonists on mismanagement
27. End of the Virginia Company(cont.)
Charter is revoked
Virginia colony survives. Why?
28.
29. Year
Colonial Tobacco Imports
to England
(includes Virginia from 1612
and Bermuda from 1615)
European Tobacco
Imports to England
1616 2,300 52,673
1617 19,388 50,906
1618 41,728 42,871
1623 134,607 66,877
1624 202,962 63,497
30. A Counterblaste to Tobacco
King James hated the use of tobacco by subjects.
Forbids use of it in his presence.
Issues a treatise in 1604
“A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose,
harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in
the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the
horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse.”
Due to its popularity and the ability to tax it, tobacco
continued to be a cash crop for the British