The English set their sights on colonization late in the game. Embroiled in religious wars and civil unrest, England lost the "choice picks" in the New World as Spain, France, and the Netherlands staked their claims in the western hemisphere. By the time English ships intent on forging settlements set sail across the Atlantic, all that remained was Virginia, a thousand-mile stretch of shoreline from present-day Maine to South Carolina. The other European heavy-hitters hadn't paid it much attention: they saw the land as fruitless, since (a) major cash crops couldn't be grown in its climate, and (b) precious metals, such as gold and silver, couldn't be found. A third reason (which the English would be forced to subdue by disease and the sword) is that the land had already been claimed by thousands of native Americans. The Spanish had all but given up on their ambitions in Florida, and they didn't press colonization farther north precisely because of the hostile Indian presence. All these reasons made Virginia questionable for colonization, but the English leaders came to see Virginia as the perfect place to cast unwanted beggars and criminals out of England proper. This essay focuses on the early settlements at Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth--and on the native Americans who decided the fates of these settlements.
Coming up next on my "colonial essays" is The Southern Colonies.
Yes, you'll want to keep your eyes out for that one!
(and on the heels of 12 Years a Slave, at that!)
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