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Roanoke
Roanoke was the first English settlement. When colonists arrived on the island of Roanoke, they settled there. -
Roanoke Vanishes
In 1590, after Roanoke became an English settlement, it had disappeared and was gone. Nobody knows what happened to the first English settlement. -
Atlantic Seaboard Divided
King James I issued a Royal Charter on April 10th, 1606. This Royal Charter separated the Atlantic Seaboard in to two parts. The bottom half was given to the London Company (later became the Virginia Company), and the top half was given to the Plymouth Company. -
London Company Sent Three Ships
In 1606, the London Company sent men with three ships, the ships being: The Godspeed, The Discovery, and The Susan Constant. -
Jamestown
After reaching Chesapeake Bay, the men that were sent on the three ships traveled around 60 miles north of the James River. They then built a settlement they called Jamestown there. -
Life In Jamestown
Around this time, colonists were looking for so many things to buy them wealth that they would barely eat. In 1616, Virginia's settlers learned how to grow tobacco which then made it seem like the colony was going to survive. -
First African Slaves
The first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. -
Pilgrims
The first English emigrants to which would then become the New England Colonies, were a group of Puritan Separatists, who later were called the Pilgrims. They arrived in Plymouth. Ten years later, the Massachusetts Bay Company sent a larger group of puritans to build another Massachusetts Settlement. With help from local Native Americans, the colonists got the hang of farming and Massachusetts prospered. -
House Of Burgesses
Representatives could be elected (Burgesses). The house could make laws, which could be rejected by the governor. The King canceled the Virginia's Company charter and then Virginia transformed into a royal colony. England then took control over things in Virginia which confined the powers of the House of Burgesses. -
The Tobacco Colonies
Crown gave 12 million acres of land to Cecilius Calvert. Calvert then made a colony. He named the colony after the Queen, Maryland. People who owned land made large plantations of tobacco. These plantations depended on enslaved people and some time after, African slaves. -
The Middle Colonies Pt. 1
King Charles II gave land between New England and Virginia to his brother, the Duke of York. The English soon took Dutch New Netherland and renamed it New York. Most people that lived there stayed. This made New York one of the most diverse and prosperous colonies in the world. -
The New England Colonies
Massachusetts settlements grew and new colonies were made in New England. Puritans who thought that Massachusetts wasn't religious enough made Connecticut and New Haven, which then formed in 1665. Puritans that thought Massachusetts was too strict made Rhode Island. To the north, a few settlers made New Hampshire. -
The Middle Colonies Pt. 2
The King gave 45,000 sq. miles of land west of the Delaware river to William Penn. He named the area "Penn's Woods", or Pennsylvania. There was fertile soil and religious freedom there, which made people come from all over Europe. -
The Southern Colonies Pt. 1
The Carolina Colony stretched south from Virginia to Florida and west to the Pacific Ocean. In the northern half, there were some small farms. In the southern half, there were estates that made corn, lumber, beef, pork, and in the 1690s-rice. -
The Southern Colonies Pt. 2
In 1712 (the dates vary), the Carolina Company split into two different companies: The North Carolina Company and the South Carolina Company. -
The Southern Colonies Pt. 3
Based of the need to build a space between South Carolina and the Spanish settlements in Florida, The Englishman James Oglethorpe made the Georgia Colony. In many ways, Georgia's development seemed very similar to South Carolina's.