England's Exploration and Colonies

England's Exploration and Colonies

1. Exploration

   • 1497 - John Cabot claimed N. America for the English
     • 1584 - Sir Walter Raleigh sent out explorers
       • named the land Virginia after the "Virgin" Queen; 200 settlers went to Roanoke
         • became the "lost colony"; colonies were too expensive for one person to fund

2. Virginia

   • The London Company
     • charter issued in 1606 for land from NY to NC; filled with merchants, not agricultural colonies
       • Jamestown established in 1607; only 38 of the 100 men survived until Cap. John Smith established "work and order"
         • John Rolfe began tobacco farming in 1612, which saved the colony even when war broke out with the Indians and the London Company went bankrupt
   • The Plymouth Company
     • sent John Smith to charter the New England territory
       • Puritans who had fled to Holland were offered refuge by King James here
         • the wind sent them farther North than planned to Plymouth, where they docked and signed the Mayflower Contract of 1620
           • created the civil government of Plymouth Plantation

3. Maryland

   • established by Lord Baltimore for Roman Catholics being persecuted in England
     • Protestants settled in the area and outnumbered the Catholics; power struggles ensued
       • Maryland Toleration Act was established
         • the first true religious freedom law in America

4. Carolinas

   • proprietary colony given to proprietors by Charles II
     • land stretching from Virginia to Spanish Florida
       • meant for religious and political freedom, and named Carolina, the Latin word for Charles
         • wealthy plantation owners came to Charlestown from declining sugar plantations in West Indies
           • never very profitable, so they gave the land back to Charles, who split it into two colonies
             • South Carolina
               • more profitable, better port access
             • North Carolina
               • less profitable