Pre Colonial Virginia Stephen

Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by the people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. The reasons for this distinct development were mostly based on the type on people from England who chose to settle in the two areas, and on the manner in which the areas were settled.

The group that made up the largest portion of the southern social ladder was the small farmers.

In the 1600’s those coming from the West Indies searching for land established a new colony south of Chesapeake. This colony was owned by the Lords Proprietors. To quickly populate the Carolina’s the Lords Proprietors offered large incentives attracting many colonists. These were things such as religious toleration, political representation, and large grants of land. With workers needed Carolina offered freedom dues; attracting many poor people that would work as indentured servants. As Carolina gained the common settlers and indentured servants the Lord Proprietors made sure to include great planters with large land grants and absolute power over their slaves. As the Lord Proprietors were in England they could not fully control Carolina. This was seen as men known as

The Virginia colony was founded by John Smith a english explorer and some other colonist in the year 1607. The colony was one of the first 13 colonies that was located on the atlantic coast of North america . The colony was named after Queen Elizabeth l. John Smith was also a solider, map maker and a trader. He was captured and taken in december of 1607 by a Powhatan hunting party. Later he was saved by chief powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas by coming in between him and a blow from her father.

Beginning 1625, the first colonies in America was established in the Chesapeake, New England, and Carolina region. More than 250,000 European settlers came over to the colonies, along with 300,000 West African slaves. The colonial societies would become the area for gold, god, and glory. Some of the colonies flourished while some struggled to survive.

Throughout the 17th century, the English faced many hardships. The settlers of Jamestown had faced misfortune of the new land such as disease and malnutrition, and failure of crops. Over time the English built their economic and social structure with perfecting crops, indentured slaves and building a new society that would spark others to explore.

Virginia had many failures and close calls, while Massachusetts had successful first settlements, smart decisions regarding food and planning made this possible. In 1607 colonist landed on the banks of Jamestown Virginia only to be greeted by disease causing mosquitoes. Did not had good leadership until John Smith and John Rolfe, while Massachusetts had John Winthrop who developed the settlement with success. The settlers of Virginia had The Jamestown Nightmare. Many people died looking for gold and not learning how to use the land for survival. The Gentlemen would not work themselves resulting in Settlers dyeing by the dozens. Because the laws of primogeniture, many young gentlemen in the English colonies had to make their own fortune. John Rolfe implemented, “If You Don’t Work…You Don’t Eat.” Massachusetts was started by John Winthrop. The differences in the settlements upbringings were not the only difference, their views on religion helped shape the economy of both settlements. Virginia and Massachusetts both realized that they needed to have a strong economy, but their views on religion versus profit differed and resulted in different systems. Massachusetts was a safe haven for Catholics; Massachusetts learned the best way to survive in the area was by watching and interacting with the natives. John Winthrop stated, “We shall be a city upon a hill.” This was going to be a holy city.

The first successful British colonization of the Americas was in the Chesapeake area and anchored by Jamestown which was founded in 1607. The original colonists nearly didn’t make it, as it was a very difficult life for them. Moreover, the colonists founded many

Africans were always seen as slaves rather than free people. It came to a point were generation from generation, people with African ancestry were legally enslaved for life. European colonists’ even committed to legalizing enslavement of hundreds and thousands of people, but it led to Africans being slaves based on race. Slavery was a big part in Virginia and South Carolina. The history of slavery in Virginia first appeared in 1619 where the Africans were indentured servants. As for South Carolina, majority of their population were African Americans. 65% of their population of about 18,000 people were African American slaves. Upon the social, economic and political development of slavery in Virginia and South Carolina, it impacted their race, class and gender.

Life in the American wilderness was brutal and short for the earliest Chesapeake settlers. Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid cut ten years off the life expectanct of immigrants from England. Half the people born in early Virginia and Maryland did not survive even twelve years, and few lived past their fifties, forties if they were women. The settlements only grew slowly, mostly from immigrants from England, and most of the immigrants were single men in their late teens and early twenties. There were barely any women and so they were fought for; eligible women did not remain single for long. Moreover, families were few as most men could not find wives and marriages were destroyed by deaths. Yet the Chesapeake colonies struggled on, becoming more

In the 1700s, the New England and the Chesapeake region, which were settled largely by people of English origin, had evolved into two distinct societies. The regions were founded under different climates and for different purposes. In addition, the two has political, economical, social, and religious differences. Due to these factors, the two regions formed their own societies and had different ways of colonial life. New England and the Chesapeake region were formed on different foundations, New England was formed for religious reasons while Chesapeake was formed for economic reasons.

Since water in the Chesapeake colonies was unhealthy, everyone was forced to rely on alcohol. From the 1690's onward, females initially made alcoholic beverages at home, as their husbands were focused on tobacco production. However, important changes would soon come to affect the availability and quality of alcohol substantially. During these changes, alcohol consumption was increased by male colonists’ advancements and was later decreased by laborers’ drunkenness.

The seventeenth century was filled primarily with efforts to colonize the New World. This led to many new colonies being formed. They all faced their own problems, and some were more successful than others. Virginia was no exception to this. While it may have eventually reached a point that it could be argued as the most successful colony, Virginia had its fair share of hardships and challenges to face.

The seventeenth century marked the start of great colonization and immigration to the New World that was North America. Mainly in on the eastern coast of what is now the United States, England established colonies on this new land to thrive socially and economically. The English government readily sent its citizens to America to exploit its abundant source of raw materials and the English people exponentially came to the colonies to start a new life for themselves and to thrive socially. In Virginia during the seventeenth century, the geographical attributes in this region allowed the establishment of the cash crop tobacco to rapidly transform the colony socially and economically. Particularly in the Chesapeake Bay, the goal of social and

In 1606, The Virginia Company was made to find gold and riches in the new lands. This company was made up of many Englishmen that wanted wealth and fame. So they left England and set out to go to the Americas. There were many rivalries and disagreements among the people of the ship, thus lead to trust issues. They were very confident that the Indian people there would help and give food to them. When the settlers arrived, they were too scared of the Spaniards at sea who were also settling near this area to see their real enemies. The Indians. The very people that the settlers trusted to receive food from. Because of their foolishness, many settlers died from Indians at the very beginning of their arrival.