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Jamestown is Founded in America
The journey to Virginia began on three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. 104 English men arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they choose Jamestown, Virginia for the home of their settlement. They named it after their King, James I. The settlement became the first English settlement in North America. -
First Tobacco Crop Planted
In 1616 John Rolfe crossed tobacco strains from Trinidad and Guiana and planted Virginia’s first tobacco crop. Tobacco changed everything. It saved Virginia from ruin, incentivized further colonization, and laid the groundwork for what would become the United States. -
Virginia Company established the House of Burgesses
A limited representative body composed of white landowners that first met in Jamestown. -
Southern slavery was born
A Dutch slave ship sold twenty Africans to the Virginia colonists. As a result of the continued labor shortage in Jamestown, specifically regarding tobacco farming, Dutch traders offered slaves to the colonists. -
The English colonies in New England established
1620 and onward were founded with loftier goals than those in Virginia. Although migrants to New England expected economic profit, religious motives directed the rhetoric and much of the reality of these colonies. Not every English person who moved to New England during the seventeenth century was a Puritan, but Puritans dominated the politics, religion, and culture of New England. -
New Amsterdam
The Dutch West India Company realized that in order to secure its fur trade in the area, it needed to establish a greater presence in New Netherland. Toward this end, the company formed New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in 1625. -
New settlements joined the two original colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts.
In 1632, Charles I set a tract of about 12 million acres of land at the northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay aside for a second colony in America. Named for the new monarch’s queen, Maryland was granted to Charles’s friend and political ally, -
The English Revolution
Forced settlers in America to reconsider their place within the empire. Older colonies like Virginia and proprietary colonies like Maryland sympathized with the Crown. -
King Charles’s execution
Due to political unrest in England, King Charles I was executed. -
Navigation Act
Compelled merchants in every colony to ship goods directly to England in English ships. Parliament sought to bind the colonies more closely to England and prevent other European nations, especially the Dutch, from interfering with its American possessions. -
King Philip’s War
Another Native conflict arose in new England when Wampanoags, led by a native called Metacom, attacked British colonists in Swansea. What began as a singular act of retaliation escalated into a war involving the military forces of several colonies and originally neutral Natives. The war resulted in the deaths of thousands of natives and opened the door to future colonies in the area. Furthermore, both groups maintained a standing hatred of each other by the war's conclusion. -
Bacon's Rebellion
When a group of Natives became involved in a disagreement with a Virginia settler, misguided violence escalated the event to a full-scale conflict. A group of colonists led by Nathaniel Bacon began openly attacking all Natives in the area through their claim of self defense. Ironically, the colony's government largely saw Bacon as the trouble-causing enemy. The result of the rebellion was an angered native population and open hatred between natives and the colonists. -
British Glorious Revolution
Further political unrest in Britain resulted in another change in monarchs. James II was replaced by Protestant William and his wife Mary. The Revolution was peaceful and bloodless, resulting in it being called 'glorious.' The colonies rejoiced because the new monarch cemented Protestantism as the main British religion.