How did the English Colonize America

 the history of the colonization of north

america

roles in the development of what is now

the influential united states of america

but today most people particularly

remember

the colonial efforts of the english

above all

else so how did

the english colonize america

to understand how it first behooves us

to understand

why well a few factors were significant

in determining the reason for

england's colonial efforts

a summary of these justifications can be

found in the 1584 work of richard

hacklet

known as the discourse on western

planning

haklut claims that english colonization

of the new world

would be not only to the benefit of

england

but furthermore to the benefit of god

he made a common argument that

protestant england

needed to rescue north america from the

catholic world

and the current hold that spain had over

much of the continent

of course england and spain had more

than just a religious

rivalry but the point was often a

compelling one nonetheless

furthermore haklut acknowledged the

obvious

economic and social possibilities that

new world colonies would provide

since there was currently an

overabundance of job

and landless vagabonds plaguing england

haklut stated that the establishment of

a colony

would provide more land and job

opportunities for these homeless men

and women moreover the expansion of

trade alone would produce

great profit for england and the

resources the new world may provide

were vast these points made by richard

hey cloot were echoed throughout

england and combined with the visible

success

of the spanish beginning to produce envy

from the english

a decision to enter the new world was

made

queen elizabeth had chosen to opt for a

less typical route of joining the

colonial world

by sponsoring sailors known as sea dogs

that participated in a form of piracy

identified

as privateering two such sailors by the

names of john

hawkins and francis drake were sent by

the queen to wreak havoc

on the spanish in america the privateers

and the latter in particular plundered

spanish ships and raided caravans

even as far as the coast of peru this

unprompted attack greatly angered spain

and the discord between the nations

drastically increased even further

after england had the catholic mary

queen of scots

executed in 1587.

the following year king philip ii of

spain

decided to retaliate in what would

become the largest scale

invasion to yet occur with the goal of

annihilating

the british navy and boasted 18

000 soldiers 8 000 sailors and

130 ships the spaniards made

no mistake in targeting the british navy

which played an extremely

crucial role in the nation's trade and

colonial power

while the spanish ships notably

outnumbered the british

the latter were better equipped with

more suitable ships for such a clash

and quickly beat back their attacker the

spanish fleet had to turn

back heading for the netherlands to

gather reinforcements

but an unexpected storm ripped through

the remaining armada ships

leaving the english as the clear victors

now it was time to focus on the colonies

as the 16th century came to a close

some attempts had already been made by

england to establish colonies in north

america

but so far none had succeeded

sir humphrey gilbert was one of the men

in charge of such efforts

and had hoped to create a colony in

newfoundland

but had miserably failed john white

in 1587 had also made a similar attempt

on roanoke island

alongside 150 other english colonists

but the colony quickly ran

out of supplies and resources white

returned to england

where he intended only to gather what he

needed for his colony before heading

back

but he ended up trapped in his native

land for over a year

due to the current situation brought

about by the spanish armada

when white was finally able to return to

roanoke island

he found his colony completely abandoned

and his efforts

in vain

when the 17th century began with still

no solid english colony in the americas

queen elizabeth passed away in 1603

leaving the future of england's colonial

efforts

in the hands of king james

the following year peace was made

between england and spain

and in 1606 king james established the

virginia company

beginning a new wave of efforts to find

colonial success

in america three ships

in particular the discovery the susan

constant

and the godspeed set off for the east

coast

arriving at the james river in spring of

1607

the colonists reached the fairly

uninhabited region

of virginia which they would shortly

name jamestown

this would become the first permanent

english colony in america

contemporarily king james had also

granted a charter to the plymouth

company

but their popham colony was

disappointingly short-lived

the jamestown colonists did fare better

than those from popham given that their

colony didn't collapse

but the endeavor was still a harrowing

one nonetheless

by 1617 only 351 of the initial 17 000

colonists

remained alive the men

had been widely unprepared for the life

of hard

physical labor and the land itself was

not as easy to utilize as they had hoped

many starved while others fell ill

and if it had not been for the help of

the local native american tribe

known by the colonists as the powhatan

confederacy

the english may have all but perished

powhatan's roughly 10 000 strong tribe

was incredibly efficient at utilizing

the difficult terrain for hunting

and farming throughout the chesapeake

with more than enough food and

potentially benefit to gain from the

colonists manufactured food

the natives were fairly welcoming and

greatly assisted the sickly englishmen

in their first winter

in the years to come though matters were

not so simple

the english continued to starve and

perish from disease

even despite help from the natives as

400 new settlers arrived in jamestown

in 1609 as the general well-being of the

colony continued on a downward spiral

their relationship with the natives also

began to deteriorate

occasional guerrilla wars started to

break out between the colonists and

powhatan's tribe

and the english were still starving the

fate of jamestown

seemed scarcely hopeful no major

improvement appeared until 1614

at which point the daughter of powhatan

pocahontas

married an english colonist by the name

of john rolfe

this at least began to ease tensions

between the english and natives

the young colony also started to see

some new changes

and leadership as the discovery of what

would be their savior

tobacco the jamestown colonists were

rescued by a boom in demand

being native to the new world and

immensely popular from the start of its

first

exports to europe within 40 years the

jamestown exports were amassing

15 million pounds per year

the colony had suddenly gone from a

dwindling starving group of migrants

to a rapidly growing colonial power in

need of more men for the increasing

number of jobs the new market was

providing

as jamestown's success kept building

the colonists began expanding the

english territory beyond its original

borders

which unfortunately brought them back

into conflict with the natives

powhatan's brother succeeded the chief

upon his death in 1622

and vowed to rid his land of the english

on march 22nd 1622

he and his tribe attacked the colony and

massacred 347

colonists in a single day this however

in the minds of the english justified

years of fierce brutality

the new method of how the english would

continue to colonize america

was vastly different than how their

competition both the french and spanish

had done the same for the english they

had received

a bit of practice to sharpen the skills

they would use in america

back when they had begun their efforts

to take ireland from the native

catholics

as the english decided that they no

longer needed to put much effort into

co-existing

or assimilating the natives into their

new colonies

they began utilizing violence against

the native people

to seize their land and take control and

between

war and disease it wasn't long before

the native americans

had been disastrously affected

there was also a building distinction in

the eyes of the colonists between

themselves

and other peoples which made them even

more determined to establish an english

dominance throughout north america

and as their positive view of the

natives quickly decayed

the pre-existing supremacy of english

protestantism over the spanish catholics

in the minds of the former

had now stretched beyond religion

and they had the power to enforce these

ideas

the english also had the power and means

to establish

more colonies with even greater success

than they had so far achieved

eventually virginia massachusetts

new york new jersey pennsylvania

delaware maryland connecticut south

carolina

north carolina new hampshire rhode

island and lastly georgia

would make up the english 13 colonies

which would later form

the united states of america if it had

not been for the newfound

tobacco industry in the original colony

it's likely that the english would have

never been able to colonize north

america permanently

and the pure demoralization may have

prevented any further success

or even attempts at trying again

but instead the english were able to