Passage 3: Listen to part of talk in history class. “The settlement of the American Colonies”
Today we’re going to begin discussing “The settlement of the American Colonies.” We will be dividing our discussions into three parts: Virginia, New England, and the middle colonies.
Today I want to focus on Virginia. In the 1580s, Queen Elizabeth First granted Sir Walter Reilly possession of lands across the Ocean, which had been claimed by English explorer about 100 years earlier. Reilly was a daring young man who knew that the Spanish controlled the high seas, and that they did not want England to gain a foot hold in the Americas. He believed there were great riches in the new world that England could enjoy. He also knew that there was great risk in finding a settlement and that he needed a plan carefully before trying to establish a colony in the new world.
Reilly organized the expedition of man and ships to set sail to the new world. Reilly did not make the journey himself, but appointed John White to lead the group and to become the new Governor of the new colony once they arrived. In 1587, about one hundred settlers traveling in three ships reached to Roinaic Island off the shore of the present state of North Carolina. White realized the food supplies will dwindled before the settlers could harvest the crop of their own. So he returned to England to gather more supplies.
Before White return to England, his grand daughter, Virginia Dare was born on Rowanork. She was the first child born of the English parents on the Island. Once White reached to England, he wasn’t able to reach to Rowanork for nearly 3 years because of the problems on the high seas between England and Spain. When White did retrun to Rowanork, no one was on the Island. All the settlers had disappeared. Today, no one knows what happened to the settlers and the colony is called ‘the lost colony’.
English man did not give up the idea of founding a colony in the new world. In 1606, a group formed the London Company and they received a document order chartered from King James First of the England, which granted the London Company the right to mine areas for gold and silver and settler traded along with Atlantic Ocean shores in area called Virginia.
The man in this company contributed money and used their investment to obtain the people who wanted to settle in the Virginia. They also purchased supplies for the new settlers. The owners of the London Company hoped that the settler’s trading and mining purchases would be successful and be more than enough to repay them for the investment.
In 1607, the ship loaded settlers landed on the Virginia shore and they traveled up to the river that they named James River in honor of the King James. They found a settlement along the shores of the river and named that settlement as Jamestown.
During the first year at Jamestown, the settlers suffered great hardships. The land was swampy and mosquitoes were plentiful.
Many people died of Malaria and others almost starved because man had not planted the crops. John Smith took over the leadership of the settlement and made friend with Native Americans, the Indians. He traded with Indians and required settlers to begin planting crops. One of the crops they learn to grow was tobacco.
The struggle was not really over until 1610, when three ships arrived bringing more supplies. After the ships arrived, the colony began to prosper. One of the reasons that colony was prosper was tobacco began to be grown in large quantities. And the settlers began shipping the crop to England to be sold in Europe.
Today, there is a reconstructed village of Jamestown on the side of the original village stood. Have any of you visited this reconstruction? No? It is certainly assigned to you want to visit at some point of your life. Have any of you read about the reconstructed village? Yes, I read the brochures that my parents and little sister brought back from the visit last summer. What do you remember your family saying about Jamestown?
Well, I know it is part of National park system and that they call it Jamestown Settlement. Do you remember them saying anything specific about the actual site? Sure, my dad said that they built replicas of three ships that brought the settlers to the colony and that they are docked at the site. He also told me that the visitors can go on board the ships. I think he said the names of the ships would be Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.
I remember from my visit that they are doing archeological diggings. Do you have any idea why they may be interested in doing that? Well, probably to see how the people live and to see what their daily lives like, also may be to find the outlines of port and other buildings. Exactly, the artifacts can tell us a lot about the early years at Jamestown.
The cemetery can also give us the information which will better help us to understand what went on there.
There is also glass blowing factory on site. Did you know that European glass blowers came as early settlers and tried to establish the glass blowing factory as Jamestown’s first industry? As historians and archeologists are trying to uncover Jamestown past to learn more about the settlement, they uncovered bruins of the furnaces used for glass blowing. Today as result, a company is making glass on site, the way the early settlers made glass.
And they are firing the glass and furnaces like the ones that were used during colonial times.
The main difference though is that furnaces are heated by natural gas and not wood which the early settlers used. Glass production at Jamestown is also a result of historical research and archeological exploration. All that is found is going to help planning to prepare for Jamestown 2007 celebration, which will commemorate the settlement 400 years.
Jamestown is an important site in America history, and hoply someday you will be fortunate enough to visit it. But as a history student you know there are many important events and sites in our country. Next class we will talk about the settlement of New England.
As you prepare, I want you to think about the similarities and differences between the two types of colonies.
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