Early Settlers Part 2

Early Settlers Part 2

After Roanoke

For a while, the English did not send any more settlers to the New World, though they did continue to trade and fish there.

Trade

These English traders brought back many valuable goods, such as furs, lumber, and pearls.

They became rich. 

Multiple Choice

What does trade mean?

• to exchange goods

• to settle a new colony

They traded furs.

furs are the skins from animals’ bodies with the fur still on them, which are cleaned and used to make clothing or blankets.  

They traded lumber.

lumber is wood that has been chopped down from trees and then cut and prepared to use for building. Lumber is used to build houses and furniture. 

They traded pearls.

pearls are hard, shiny objects, often little balls, that grow inside the shells of sea creatures called oysters and are used in jewelry. 

Another Colony in the New World

English traders wanted settlers to dig for silver and gold to trade. King James sent a new group of settlers to the New World to set up an English Colony.

Just before Christmas in 1606, three ships sailed into the Atlantic Ocean. They were named the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. One hundred and five male passengers and thirty-nine sailors were on board. Also on board was a letter from King James telling the settlers what to do and how to behave when they arrived in the New World. 

Difficult Journey

Soon after these English settlers set out, the winds died down and the sailing ships went nowhere. For six weeks, the three ships sat in the Atlantic Ocean, waiting for a wind to fill the sails and take them west. 

As they waited, the settlers ate food they had planned to use in their new home. They drank the water they had brought with them. And as the weeks went by, they became sick. 

Multiple Choice

What happened after the English settlers set out for the New World?

• They had an easy trip across the Atlantic and arrived in the New World safely.

• The winds died down, and their sailing ships went nowhere for six weeks.

Finally, strong winds did arrive. But the winds were so strong that they blew the ships in the wrong direction. Bad storms swept across the ocean, and enormous waves pounded the ships. Eventually, four months after leaving England, the three ships reached what is today Virginia. 

In April 1607, the first one hundred English colonists—men and boys only—dropped anchor in a river they named “James” in honor of the English king. After a search for a site that was accessible for trade with the local people and out of sight of Spanish ships, the colonists established their settlement and named it Jamestown. 

Multiple Choice

What was the MAIN goal of England building a colony in The New World?

• to meet the Native Americans

• to get materials to trade.

Multiple Choice

What did they name the new settlement?

• Plymouth

• Jamestown

John Smith

John Smith became the leader of the colony. Even though half the settlers died in the first few months, John Smith persuaded those who survived to get to work. They chopped down trees, and they built homes. A strong log wall was built around the settlement. 

The Powhatan

The Powhatan—the Native Americans whose land the settlers had taken—were not happy that they had arrived. 

Trading with the Powhatan

That first winter was very difficult for the settlers. They were all cold and very hungry. John Smith knew they would have to make peace with the Powhatan. They needed to trade with the Native Americans for food. John Smith set off to do just that. 

Chief Powhatan

John Smith became friends with Chief Powhatan, the leader of the Powhatan, and with his daughter Pocahontas. The Powhatan agreed to trade corn and meat for axes and blankets. The food the Powhatan gave to the settlers was enough to last them through the winter. In the spring, those who had survived were able to plant their own crops. 

Pocahontas

Pocahontas helped

the settlers a lot. She encouraged her father to give the starving settlers food. And she may even have saved John Smith’s life. After she married a settler by the name of John Rolfe, Pocahontas traveled all the way to England and met King James. 

Tobacco

As the settlers got to know the Powhatan, they saw that they grew tobacco plants and smoked tobacco in pipes. The English settlers had not found gold, but they had found a plant that could make England rich. They realized that if they grew their own tobacco, they could ship it back to England and sell it. 

Native Americans groups smoked tobacco. They made beautifully carved tobacco pipes. 

Multiple Choice

Who did the English learn to smoke tobacco from?

• the Powhatans

• the English

Before long, people in England were smoking lots of tobacco from Virginia. In fact, Jamestown was making so much money that the colony’s farmers wanted to grow even more tobacco. To grow more tobacco, they needed more people. Some people came from England to do his hard work, but before long, there was a need for many more workers. 

Multiple Choice

What crop did they grow that they sold in England for a lot of money?

• tobacco

• cucumbers

• peppers

Slavery

At first, some workers came from England, but growing tobacco was very hard work. There were not enough workers in the English colonies, so people were enslaved and brought from Africa to work on large tobacco farms, called plantations. 

Multiple Choice

Why did the English need more people to help?

• to build ships

• to grow tobacco

• to build homes

Multiple Choice

The English brought slaves from which continent?

• Europe

• Asia

• Africa

Slavery is always wrong

• People from Africa were enslaved and brought to the English colonies to plant and grow tobacco on large plantations

• The enslaved people were not paid and had no choice about where they would live.

• The owners of these plantations sold the tobacco in England and became rich. 

Open Ended

Why is slavery wrong?