Jamestown Research Paper

The founding of Jamestown took place around 1606 in Virginia by the London Company. This was the first major site of colonization for the English. Jamestown was founded on a swamp which presented several problems for the colonists. It exposed them to many diseases (most notably malaria) and they had a 68% mortality rate at the start of 1620. From 1607 to 1610 the “Starving Times” took place because the citizens of this colony were refusing to work because all they wanted to do was find gold. They had no interest in farming. John Smith eventually took leadership and put people into different groups and forced them to work and farm. During this time the colonists relied on supplies from England and trading with the Powhatan for food. John …show more content…
This would weaken the Spanish power and, after establishing trade, switch the Indians loyalty to the English (Horn 24-25). Jamestown was not the first attempt at North American colonization by the English. They had several unsuccessful attempts made between 1576 and 1578 by Martin Frobisher which ended in bankruptcy. Sir Humphrey Gilbert also gave a shot at settling North America, his ventures ended in failure, bankruptcy, and his death (Horn 26). The first considerable attempt at colonization in North America by the English was at Roanoke, which was off the coast of North Carolina. Walter Ralegh led John Dee, Thomas Harriot, Simon Fernandes, and John White on a reconnaissance mission to Roanoke Island. A year after this, Ralph Lane commanded a garrison of about 100 men and they established themselves on the island. The island proved to be beneficial in the fact that it had a lot of commodities that could be cultivated, such as “wines, oils, flax, resins, pitch, currants, and sugars.” However, this land had one major flaw, the waters were shallow and unsuitable for large vessels. Lane searched for other areas where he could relocate his colony and traveled northward towards Chesapeake Bay (the eventual site of Jamestown) where he was pleased with what he saw: fertile lands and a place with deep enough waters to store their boats. …show more content…
The colonies were growing and they needed people to work their fields. This demand widened the gap between the nobility (slave owners) and the villagers and slaves (who became slaves in America) in Kongo. Alfonso, the Kongo King, had a monopoly on the slave trade in Kongo and those below him relied on him for Western goods. The slave trade started to grow immensely and this led to Alfonso’s inferiors trading. Outside nations started to establish themselves in the Kongo and the government eventually failed and became decentralized. The number of slaves from Kongo in America grew immensely due to the need for workers to clear their fields. Nearly half of all imports were from West-Central Africa and by 1740, the black population doubled the white. The slaves may have realized their number advantage and started a rebellion (the Stone Rebellion) but failed due to the number of slaves who had no formal training. As a result of this rebellion, slave imports from this area decreased but this only lasted for a short time. Once the colonists discovered rice and cotton, the importation of West-Central African went back up due to their knowledge of these crops. Even with the drop off of imports from Kongo after the rebellion, the number of Africans from the Kongo region was staggering and they would remain demographically dominant in South Carolina (Young

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