Name: Elijah Meltzer September 2016
Seventh Grade Humanities M13C Ch. 4
Homework
Read chapter 4 in Making Thirteen Colonies and answer the following questions using complete sentences. Be sure to use textual evidence and analysis for each question. Each answer should be a full TEEAC paragraph.
- Describe the significance of the year 1607, using the following terms: The London Company, King James, and the name of the 3 boats. Be sure to clearly explain each of these terms within your paragraph.
1607 was significant for a lot of different reasons. It affected the London Company, King James, and the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed (Three ships that were launched to the New World). “It was thus in April, 1607, three ships landed in the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.” Pg. 25 This quote shows that the ships landed in 1607. The ships were sponsored by the London Company. Also in that year, King James was named King, and the group of colonists named many things they passed after him. Hence Jamestown, and James River. 1607 was a really big year for the colonization of the New World, and just in general for England back in Europe.
- Describe the the terrain and the geography of the English fort.
The English fort was not built on good land. It was swampy, and only connected to the mainland by a sandbar. Also, the only water it was near was brackish. “As it turned out, they couldn’t have picked a worse spot. The land was swampy, the drinking water was bad, it was hot in the summer, and bone chilling in the winter.” Pg 28. This quote shows how terrible the land which the fort stood was. The mosquitos from the swamp gave them Malaria, the brackish water gave them dysentery, and when John Smith went back to England, the Native Americans cut off the sandbar which connected them to the mainland. When this happened, they had no resources and eventually had to resort to cannibalism. The area which the fort was built, was about as bad as it could possibly be.
- Was the initial settlement successful? Why or why not?
The initial settlement was unsuccessful. The fort was cut off from the mainland, when the Native Americans cut off the sandbar connecting them. There was also the constant threat of Malaria or dysentery lingering. “Virginia had other germs (especially dysentery germs) that made some sicken and die. The Indians kill still others. Some starve. What happened to those eager men and boys who had stood on London’s docks in December? Fewer than half of them would see another December.” This quote shows how many people died from different causes, and there were still more bad things to come. Although, some of them survived, I wouldn’t call it successful because you would need a pretty substantial amount of people to actually start a colony or settlement. People rely on one another, but what would happen when there’s nobody else to rely on? England would have to send more people to help out, and that could take a really long time. So I don’t actually think it was very successful.
