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The English Colonies

In 1605, The London Company, a group of English merchants, asked King James I for the right to found a settlement in Virginia to look for gold.  The group was led by Sir Thomas Smith and unlike the failed Roanoke Colony of Sir Walter Raleigh which relied heavily on the financial support of one person, the London Company was financially supported by many investors.  Many wanted to take part because things in England had become economically difficult with high unemployment rates and dramatic increases in population.

With the approval of King James the London Company, with 3 ships and 105 men landed in Virginia and established the Jamestown colony.  Unfortunately they choose a poor location where much of the land was swamp.  Half of the original settlers end up dying that first year.  Later a man named John Smith got control over what he considered lazy and greedy people.  He forced them to plant crops and build better housing.  This helped prevent so many deaths due to the extremities.

The colonists got a good deal of help from the Powhatan Confederacy.  The Powhatan Confederacy was a  alliance of Algonquian Indians and was under the leadership of Wahunsonacock.  The Indians were willing to trade food to the settlers in exchange for manufactured goods.  The problem was the settlers often stole from the Indians what would have been given freely.

In 1609 400 more colonists arrived but John Smith had already returned to England due to an accidental injury.  So without him the colonists faired terribly.  By the summer of 1610 only 60 colonists had survived. 

So things continued to go along in a bad way and by 1612 the London Company still hadn't turned a profit.  A man named John Rolfe aimed to change that by having the colonists plant tobacco and export it to Europe.  Although the King thought smoking "a custom loathsome to the eyes, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain (and) dangerous to the lungs."  No one cared about what the king said though.  They just wanted to make money.

The fragile situation with the Powhatan's was eased a bit with the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas in 1614.  She was the daughter of Wahunsonacock. 

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Click the Pocahontas word in blue above.  Read the article.

Now Read another account

http://www.nativepubs.com/nativepubs/Apps/bios/0067Powhatan.asp

Now look at this site....

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