British+Colonies+in+North+America+during+the+17th+Century


 * 1. Why was the settlement at Jamestown in jeopardy of failing during the first few years of its existence?**



The Starting of jamestown
Jamestown was founded in 1607. It was established in Virginia and would soon be the most popular colony. This was also the first English colony. It was founded by the London Company. The London Company was made of merchants who wanted to start a money-making colony. The company sent 144 settlers in 3 tiny ships to go get valuable goods for them and send the goods back on ships. When they landed on shore they decided to settle in a swampy peninsula. They believed that it would be easjy to protect from Indians. They called it Jamestown after King James I.

The Troubles Jamestown Faced
Jamestown faced many troubles in the beginning. They didn’t know, but the swamp they settled in would soon be infested with disease-carrying mosquitoes that would kill them off. A very powerful Native American group also surrounded them. To make matters worse, none of them really new how to farm and weren’t very hard workers. They were a mixture of gentlemen and craftsmen. The food they had come with disappeared quickly. They started to trade with the Indians for supplies. Trading with the Indians was very hard because most of the Indians would rather kill them then trade. Hunger and disease started to kill off the settlers. Every few days another settler would die. In 1608 Captain John Smith came to help them out. He took over Jamestown and made everyone work. If you didn’t work you didn’t eat. One day when he was in the woods Indians captured him. The Indians were about to kill him until Pocahontas saved his life. Together they kept peace between the British and the Indians and also traded for them. In 1609 he left because of a gunpowder explosion. The next winter was known as the “Starving Time.” Only 60 of the 500 settlers survived.

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 * 2. How was the Plymouth colony different from British colonies in Virginia?**

Plymouthwas different to other British colonies in Virginia because rather than being a commercial venture (established by merchants to make money from the land) it was a religious settlement. The founders of the colony were known as the "Pilgrim Fathers" and established what they saw as a place of religious freedom and tolerance. They had suffered persecution and attacks back in Europe for their different ideas about religion and so wanted to have a place to themselves in order to live their lives how they wanted.

Most other British colonies were established so that trade could occur by farming and gathering resources from the colony's land and taking it back to England to trade for manufactured goods (like guns etc).


 * 3. What other colonies where established by the British in current day America during the 1600s?**

This are the first 13 american colonies. Colonised by the british. Virginia 1607 Massacusetts 1620 New Hampshire 1623 Maryland 1634 Connecticut 1635 Rhode Island 1636 Delaware 1638 North Carolina 1653 South Carolina 1663 New Jersey 1664 New York 1664 Pennsylvania 1682 Georgia 1732

Most of the colonies in America were established by the British in order to control the land in North America, defend the land they already had and create new farms and areas of agriculture to develop stronger trading across the Atlantic Ocean. Britain was also in competition with France, the Netherlands and Spain for control over America so they needed to have strong control over their land, not just small, separate colonies that were easily attacked.

by Vanesssa(: