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Virginia Company Approved
James I approved the Virginia Company (named after the Virgin Queen). Rather than conventional colonization, the most prosperous English ventures in the New World were a form of state-sponsored piracy known as privateering. Queen Elizabeth sponsored sailors, or such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake, to pillage Spanish ships and towns in the Americas. Privateers earned a substantial profit both for themselves and for the English crown. England practiced piracy on a large scale. -
Jamestown Winter of 1609
The overwhelmed colony entered a despairing “starving time” in the winter of 1609–1610. Stores were lost at sea, relations with the Indians worsened and the settlers struggled against a kind of irregular war with the Powhatan. Tragedy loomed over the colony. The settlers ate everything they could. They boiled leather and dug up the dead to eat the corpses of their deceased neighbors. One individual was executed for murdering and consuming his wife. -
Santa Fe Established
Santa Fe was established in 1610 by the Spanish. Although not many traveled that far southwest because of the distance from New Mexico. While not many traveled in the direction of this settlement, its significance lies with its being the first permanent settlement in the Southwest. -
John Rolfe & Tobacco
Between the influx of immigrants and the mini-wars with the native tribes, Jamestown began to starve. The colonists could not find an actual money maker until tobacco. John Rolfe was the originator of tobacco in the colonies. He cross-bred two strains and created a "New World" tobacco. They sent their first crop back to England to gain a profit. Within fifteen years they were exporting five hundred thousand pounds of tobacco. This product literally saved Jamestown. -
Birth of Slavery
A group of Dutch traders came to Jamestown with twenty Africans. Although these Africans left under the legal status of “unfree” rather than real slaves, their entry set in motion a system that would spread over America. By the American Revolution, slavery was everywhere. Northern states began slowly eliminating the system soon after. In the South, slavery shifted into a way of life, particularly as farmers increased their lands and planted more crops. -
Bacon's Rebellion
It supposedly started over a pig. It was an altercation including Thomas Mathew and Doeg Indians. The Indians visited Mathew to collect on a debt, however, he refused to pay. Angered by this the Indians took some of his pigs (to settle the debt). This “theft” began a train reaction of raids and counterraids between Indians and colonists. Friendly Indians were caught in the crossfire and the violence only escalated from there. -
Glorious Revolution
The English throne was given to Prince William of Holland and the daughter of James II (Mary). It was called the Glorious Revolution or Bloodless Revolution because it was a relatively peaceful change in power. The English considered it "glorious" because the last king was a catholic sympathizer and they felt like they now had a "real protestant" king. -
Paper Money
Colonial Massachusetts became the first place in the Western world to issue paper bills to be used as money in 1690. Notes were dispensed for limited periods of time on the colony’s credit. While these notes were useful, they were not without quandaries. A currency that worked in Virginia was worthless in Pennsylvania. Colonists and Officials debated whether beneficial to use paper, as opposed to gold or silver. Paper money tended to lose value faster than coins.
