New England and Chesapeake Bay Essay

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DBQ 1- New England and Chesapeake Bay In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World while attempting to discover a route to India. This accidental discovery revealed a land full of rich resources, and through a series of wars between nations, Great Britain would control this new territory. People from all across Europe flocked to this New World for a chance at a new beginning. Despite a similar European background, the people of this new territory separated and lived in two distinct regions because of their different incentives to come to the New World, economic conditions , and the structures used for family unit and social organization. In 1607, Jamestown was founded by the Virginia Company. Examining a the passenger manifest of a ship bound for the Chesapeake Bay area, a pattern emerges. The purpose of Jamestown was to create wealth for the inhabitants who lived there. This motivated young men with no family obligations to occupy that region and search for their fortune. Most of the people on the manifest were under the age of thirty, and traveling with no family (Document C). Many of these young men were motivated by greed, and were foolishly spending time searching for gold instead of feeding themselves. Without the guidance of the admirable John Smith, the group would have perished. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the New England region had an entirely different motivation for coming to the New World. Observing the passenger list from a ship bound for New England, the manifest was made up of small, wealthy families with a religious motivation (Document B). A majority of these families sought refuge from the oppressive, Protestant English government. These opposing incentives attributed to the two distinctive regions. While different incentives heavily attributed to the formation of separate regions, created two different economic conditions that attributed to separating the territory. The New England Area had rocky soil, and the weather was not ideal for growing crops. The inhabitants of the area based their livelihood on livestock, furs, and crops like corn and pumpkins. Each family was responsible for growing their own produce, and raising their own livestock. After each harvest, every family would have just enough to sustain them for the year, and the little that was left over would be sold. These family farms were maintained by the families, most of these families would be too poor to afford assistance. In the Chesapeake region, the weather was humid and the soil rich with nutrients, perfect growing conditions for certain crops. John Rolfe, one of the original settlers of Jamestown, discovered that tobacco grew exceptionally well in this environment. The people of the Chesapeake Bay area depended solely on farming, and almost every person in Virginia had a small plot of land that could grown staple crops like tobacco and rice. A majority of the inhabitants in the New England area had come for religious purposes, and these different families formed religious townships. These families survived the harsh
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