Summary Of The Chesapeake Bay Colonies

Massachusetts Bay Colony was one of the first 13 original colonies. The name Massachusetts is an indian word. It means “at the great hill” or “large hill place.” Boston became its capital in 1632. Boston was a very popular port city, and had lots of available jobs for immigrants.

King James granted a charter to a new venture with the Virginia Company. The Virginia Company was a joint stock company created to establish settlements in the New World. About 100 colonists left England in late December 1606 on three ships and reached Chesapeake Bay. Christopher Newport, leader, and John Smith, landed on a peninsula on May 14, 1607 in the James River, where they would begin their lives in the Jamestown. Most colonists that came to Jamestown wanted religious freedom and escape persecution, or find gold.

Same Homeland, Different Societies The settlement of both New England and the Chesapeake region were largely dominated by the English. The two areas were products of the same country; children of those who broke away from England with intentions of settling in this New World. However, those intentions varied on the group and the settlement, despite their origins.

The original colonists that arrived at Jamestowne forged a wreck in the society and a collapse in the economy. Rather than aiming their intention at actually forming a state, they hunted for wealth that was nowhere. Their misguided assumptions held on as they bounced into la la land. However, the economic boom that Virginia later experienced didn’t occur because of gold. As a result, Jamestowne settlers experimented with cultivation, vineyard, silkworms and even glassblowing.

Early American colonies were the base of what it is now known the United States of America. Although almost all of the colonies were from the same time period each colony differed from each other. Some of the colonies differed by their economic system and also by their way of running their colony, their government. Also, the colonies differed from their culture and their way they lived. In addition, the New England and the Chesapeake colonies were not the exception they also differed from each other.

In 1607, the first wave of colonial settlers arrived in Virginia and began to establish Jamestown. Many of the new settlers came from wealthy families never performing a day of manual labor. With agricultural farming, being the revenue source of the new colonial settlers there would soon be a great demand for labor. Contracts of indentures were expiring and with much devastation in England, there was a shortage of English servants.

Moreover, Indentured servitude began ten years after the first colonial settlement took place in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 as a necessity for cheap labor. Although indenture servitude was fundamental for the colonies economic growth, there were changes in its function. The timing of the first British settlements in North America was ideal since the end of the Thirty-Year war had destroyed Europe’s economy leaving several skilled and unskilled laborers without employment. Point in fact, most of the poor immigrants to the New World signed contracts of servitude to migrate to the colonies. Historian David Galenson state in his research on indenture servitude that there were more than 20,000 indenture immigrants.

The first British settlement in North America was Jamestown, established in 1607. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the British slave trade brought ever increasing numbers of West Africans to Jamestown and other Atlantic coastal towns. Sources testify that during this period the African population was particularly concentrated in rural areas of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. On board the slave ships, the slave traders encouraged music and dance, to prevent the slaves falling into depression. Music was a form of therapy and freedom for the captives.

Amid the late 16th century and into the 17th century, European nations quickly inhabited the new lands called the Americas. England sent out multiple groups to two regions in the eastern coast of North America. Those areas were called the Chesapeake and the New England locations. Later, in the end of the1700 's, these two locations would combine to create one nation. However originally both areas had very different and distinctive identities.

The New England colonies were first founded in the last 16th to 17th century as a sanctuary for differing religious groups. New England was made up of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. New Hampshire, however, was formed for economic reasons instead of religious ones. The Chesapeake region, which is made up of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia, was founded by the British colonies for the purpose of farming. However, by the 1700’s, despite both being settled by Englishmen, New England and the Chesapeake region had developed differently.

Life in Colonial America was different for all those involved, which were the settlers of Jamestown, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay colony.. Jamestown, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay had similarities and differences. They each had their own unique leaders, form of government, economics, and ways of life, although all the settlers in these colonies had a deep dependence on God. Jamestown was the first permanent settlement in North America, founded in 1607.

The British colonies in the Chesapeake region and those of the New England region were both similar yet different in certain ways. One because both the colonist that settled there were looking for new opportunities. However, it was mostly second son aristocrats, which means the first born usually inherits the better half of the father’s riches. Their lives in England had either been mistreated or they were unable to flourish economically. Regardless of whether they were searching the land for expansive homesteads, religious freedom, or exchanging and merchant opportunities, the colonist in both regions were searching for another land in the New World.

Both the Chesapeake colonies and the New England colonies were vital to Britain’s atlantic trade. They both had large populations and booming economies. However, they both eventually established their own cultures that were different from each other. The colonies’ differing beliefs, environments, and labor lead to the contrasting cultures. The New England Colonies were a Puritanical society, who preached against excess.

The tobacco industry in Virginia started to boom from the 1620’s through the 1660’s. Because of this boom in production, the colonists of Virginia faced a major problem. The problem that arose was that the colonist did not have enough workers to grow the tobacco anymore. As a result of this issue, the colony began to receive indentured servants in order to keep up with the high production of tobacco. Indentured servants were the lower sorts from England who were bought for about 15-10 pounds and then were also apart of what is called the headwright system.

The New England and Chesapeake colonies were established during the early 1700s. Despite the population originating from England, the regions had distinct societies. This was due to the fact that many settlers voyaged to the New World in search of riches, to seek new lives, or for religious freedom. They differed socially, politically, economically, and geographically.