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Oct 13, 1500
Christopher Coloumbus
"Columbus’ activities before and during his historic journey showed how he understood European governments. He knew they needed money and the support of the pope, who commanded the Catholic Church from Rome. European countries were always competing with each other. England competed with France. The French competed with the Spanish. They avoided battles that cost them a lot of money. These countries also understood that their battles must not anger the church." -
Oct 30, 1500
Religious Wars
"The Protestant Reformation was a religious revolution in the 1500s. Protestants challenged the power of the pope and the Catholic Church. The Protestant Reformation changed Europe in many important ways. Before the Reformation, Catholicism was the only kind of Christianity in Western Europe. After it, there were many new kinds of Protestant groups. The Reformation triggered years of bloody wars between Catholics and Protestants." -
Early Colonies
"In the early 1600s, Europeans sailed across the Atlantic to explore the New World. Their reasons for wanting to settle in present-day America varied, but many were seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity. The Spanish, who commissioned the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus, were the first to explore the New World. However, it was England that established the first colony. It was built in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. "
~Newsela -
Growing Tobbaco
The Virginia Company was growing tobacco to trade and sell to earn money. The money would be used to establish colonies. The company was focused on gold. They spent their days looking for gold. They weren't successful. -
Jamestown Colony
Jamestown was a small colony established by the Virginia Company and John Smith on May, 14, 1607. -
Powhatan and Captain Smith
Captain White and his crew arrived in Virginia in the 1600's. They made an alliance with Powhatan and his Native American tribe. They traded supplies but then Powhatan's tribe betrayed Captain White and his crew. -
War and Peace with Powhatan's Tribe
Many Native Americans lived in the area we now call Virginia before Captain John Smith became one of the first Europeans to settle there. About 12,000 Native Americans lived in the area that is now the coast of Virginia. They were part of a group of tribes called the Powhatan Confederacy. The Confederacy was made up of 30 tribes. The tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy are called Algonquian because their languages were based on a large Native American language group called Algonquian. -
William Penn the Quaker
"When Penn's father died, King Charles II gave Penn some land because he had owed Penn's father a lot of money. This happened on March 4, 1681. Penn called the area Sylvania (Latin for woods). King Charles changed it to Pennsylvania in honor of Penn's father. Perhaps the king was glad to have a place where religious and political outsiders like the Quakers could have their own place, far away from England." -
Paul Revere
"Revere was among this group of Massachusetts citizens whose actions encouraged American patriotism in the 13 colonies." -
Declaration
"The moment had finally come. Too much had happened between the colonial leaders and the British crown to go back. More and more colonists felt deprived by the British not only of their money and their liberties, but their lives as well. Bloodshed had begun over a year ago in 1775 in the Revolutionary War. There seemed little chance of a ceasefire. It was time for a formal break with England and time to declare independence."
