Name: Oni September 2016
Seventh Grade Humanities M13C Chapter 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.
The year of 1607’s significance was to expand London’s control on the world. London wants more land and they want to eventually own the new world. The french, Spanish and the English all want one thing, to get as much land under their control as possible. When the English found a place to stay they immediately named it after their king, King James. In this chapter, it states “So they left the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and sailed up a river they called James, to a site they named Jamestown.” page 27. When the english sailed Susan Constant , Discovery and Godspeed across the ocean they were never fully prepared to make the trip. They underestimated how much food they needed, and when they finally had a chance to pick a spot to live they made a mistake. The English Company should not have put Gentlemen on this job. Gentlemen were vain and lazy. They were just looking for something to do. Another mistake that The English Company made was paying the Younkers and Gentlemen before they got to the new world. Money is motivates people. If you want someone to do something and you need to pay them, you should only pay them after they do the job. This whole trip was to establish a colony in the new world. So far it looks like that might not happen.
- Describe the the terrain and the geography of the English fort.
The English Fort was not strategically placed in what would now be Virginia. When the English placed the fort they were so scared of being attacked they didn’t pay attention to the place that they were building on. This mistake would eventually cost them. “As it turned out, they couldn’t have picked a worse spot. The land was swampy and the drinking water was bad; it was hot in the summer and bone-chilling in the winter. The mosquitoes drove the settlers crazy and carried malaria germs” page 28. The English didn’t know this yet but Malaria and Dysentery would soon kill many of the 105 men that came to the new world. The combination of poor conditions (Mosquitos, Disease, etc..) with a group of sailors who were lazy and untrained to deal with the challenges of the new world. They wasted time trying to find gold instead of building a colony. Half of these men were gentlemen and were not accustomed to hard work. The London Company also brought these men to the new world, paid them salaries but did not allow them to own property. The men had no incentives to work hard because everyone received the same pay.
- Was the initial settlement successful? Why or why not?
The initial settlement was not as successful if they had planned well. The English settled in such a hurry that they never realized the majority of the water was brackish and since it was near a marsh there were mosquitos everywhere. Additionally, the English had brought diseases with them like Typhoid fever. “Tidewater Virginia had other germs (especially dysentery germs) that made some sicken and die.” page 28. To make the situation worse the Indians killed some of the colonists and some starved. Fewer than half of the colonists survived the conditions. These men were severely incompetent men when it came to survival skills. They had no skills to work the land, they fought with one another and were described as “lazy”. They thought the land was filled with gold and spent valuable time looking for it. Despite all the problems, they were still the only colony so far to survive the New World.