Jamestown Colony

The First Permanent English Settlement in America

Jamestown Colony• Chartered by King James I• Virginia Company of London• James Fort• Susan Constant• Godspeed• Discovery

Powhatan Confederacy• ~14,000 inhabitants• Chief Powhatan• Algonquian-speaking• Initially friendly

Captain John Smith• Mapped Chesapeake Bay & New England• Leader of Virginia Colony, September 1608-

August 1609• Hard work & Determination

Jamestown Conditions

Supplies in Jamestown• Unaccustomed to work• Insufficient supplies• Mining• Arrival of new settlers

The New Settlers

• January 1608 – 100 more settlers

• October 1608 – 70 more settlers – including first women

Powhatan• Wahunsenacawh• Inherited 4-6 tribes• Assembled ~30 tribes• Confederacy of Powhatan• Father of Pocahontas• Brother of Opechancanough

George Percy• High social rank• Denied seat on council• Smith’s subordinate• Presidency of Colony• Starving Time• Illness

The Starving Time

Threats of Military Force• Powhatan alarmed• Smith threatens force• Powhatan abiding by same

rules as Smith

Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Pocahontas• Matoaka• Rebecca• John Smith• John Rolfe• Anglo-Powhatan War

John Rolfe

• Tobacco farmer• Cultivation of new strain• Marriage to Pocahontas• Brings temporary peace

William Strachey• One of few first-hand descriptions of Virginia in this period.• Eyewitness of shipwreck on shipwreck. Inspired Shakespeare’s The

Tempest

Anglo-Powhatan Wars• Openchancanough• Deteriorating relationships• Pocahontas• Jamestown Massacre of 1622• 3 wars• Disintegration of Confederacy• Treaty of 1646• Ushers in 30 years of relative peace

House of Burgesses