Compare And Contrast The Chesapeake Colonies

625 Words3 Pages

The new English Chesapeake colonies consisted of Virginia and Maryland and went through quite a lot to colonize. Virginia, the first successful English colony, belonged to the London Company, soon to be called the Virginia Company of London. They originally sent 144 men to explore the land for precious gems, but only 105 made it. These men consisted of gentlemen adventurers, jewelers, and artisans. They brought along no women or farmers as they were not looking to colonize, but to gather gems and explore the land in Jamestown. This lack of farmers put them in danger when winter came around because they did not know how to farm or gather food like women and farmers did. To their dismay, the Powhatan Indians offered them corn to eat and John …show more content…

She was taught English, given an English name, Rebecca, and soon converted to Christianity. She and Rolfe married in April of 1614 which helped to keep peace with the Indians. The tobacco demand was quickly increasing, but their amount of labor was not. To resolve this problem, the London Company decided to offer headright grants of 50 acres in 1618. These granted 50 acres to whoever could pay for travel to the new Virginia colony and an additional 50 acres to each adult member and servant that could work the land. This encouraged emigrant farmers to begin cash crops to further continue colonization and boost trade and to also bring servants to work the farms. As a political incentive to emigrate the company created the House of Burgesses in 1619 that would make laws for this newfound colony. This provided the colonists with the ability to vote, although they had already developed a self-government in their respective areas. In 1619 the company wished to strengthen families by bringing over 90 women and later bringing 20 Negroes as servants on the land. A war broke out in 1622, thus destroying the charter with the London Company and forcing Virginia to become a Royal Colony with a governor that was appointed by a

Open Document