The Colonization of NC

1. The Colonization of NC Mr. Storms

2. Failure in the New World • After the failures at Roanoke between 1585-1590, it was almost 20 years before the English tried again to plant a permanent colony in the New World. • The English had learned a lesson about trying to find gold and silver. • The new colonies would be agriculturally based colonies that welcomed both men and women.

3. Failure in the New World • These survived and grew. • NC lay at the southern edge of the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

4. The Virginia Company • In 1606, a group of merchants and wealthy individuals in England formed the Virginia Company. • King James I gave the Virginia Company a patent to establish colonies in the New World. • The Virginia Company was a joint-stock company. • During the 1500’s, England had developed the joint-stock companies as a way of pooling the resources of a large number of people.

5. The Virginia Company • A joint-stock company was much like a corporation of today. • Investors bought shares in the company and expected to receive a part of the profits when the company discovered precious metal or opened new trade routes. • They work well for trading voyages but not so great for establishing colonies.

6. The Virginia Company • The early settlements needed large amounts of capital and did not make much in return. • The company first tried to plant a colony in Maine. • After one hard winter, the colony failed. • In 1607, the company sent 144 men and boys to the James River area of Virginia, only 104 of whom survived the trip.

7. The Virginia Company • In May 1607, they founded Jamestown, naming it for the king. • Disease, a shortage of food, and disagreements nearly destroyed the Jamestown colony. • By January 1608, only 38 of the original colonists were still alive. • The colonists had not come prepared to work.

8. The Virginia Company • Captain John Smith took control of Jamestown in 1608 and managed to save the colony. • Jamestown’s success was important to NC for several reasons. 1. John Smith heard rumors about the Lost Colony. Native Americans told him that the lost colonists had died during a war between two tribes near Jamestown shortly before 1607.

9. The Virginia Company • Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619 and provided badly needed labor. These Africans may have been indentured servants. • Tobacco became Virginia's first great cash crop. John Rolfe, who marred the Indian princess Pocahontas, planted the first crop in 1611. Ten years later, Virginians were exporting 40,000 pounds of tobacco. By 1630, shipments had risen to 1.5 million pounds.

10. Carolana • With the tobacco boom, people became interested in the area south of Jamestown. • Because tobacco quickly drains the nutrients from the soil, a field could only be used for about three crops of tobacco. • So, English settlers spread quickly along the rich river bottoms in search of the best land. • They also settled near navigable rivers and streams, which made it easier to transport crops to market.

11. Carolana • Since the streams of southeastern Virginia flow into the Albemarle Sound region, hunters and traders from Jamestown often visited the area. • In 1622, John Pory, speaker of the first Virginia legislature and secretary of the colony, explored as far south as the Chowan River. • He found land perfect for both agriculture and trade.

12. The Heath Patent • In 1625, King James died and was succeeded by his son, Charles I. In 1629, King Charles I gave his attorney gerneral, Sir Robert Heath, a large piece of land in America. • It included all the land between 31 and 35 degrees north latitude, from sea to sea. • This included all the land between Florida and the Albemarle Sound.

13. The Heath Patent • Charles named the territory after himself, Carolana. • He hope this new patent would extend the Christian religion, enlarge England’s Empire, and increase the trade and Commerce of his new kingdom. • Heath was not able to plant a new colony in Carolana.

14. The Heath Patent • He hoped that French Huguenots and other European Protestants would find it a place safe from persecution. • In 1632, the king and Heath agreed that no foreign born persons would be allowed into Carolana without permission. • Settlers would also have to submit and comform to the Church of England. • In 1638, Heath gave the patent to Henry, Lord Maltravers. • He too could not settle a colony in Carolana.

15. Settlers from the North • The push to colonize Carolana came from Virginia. • In the mid-1600’s, Virginia’s population began to grow at a rapid rate. • Hundreds of indentured servants arrived each year. • Most were men between the ages of 15 and 24 who had been farmers in England.

16. Settlers from the North • After their terms of service was over, the newly free servants wanted to make their fortunes in tobacco. • For that they needed land. Most land was controlled by wealthy planters and this created a land shortage. • The hunger for land brought Virginians to the region north of the Albemarle Sound.

17. Settlers from the North • Records show that Nathaniel Batts was the first permanent white settler in North Carolina. • In 1655, at the western end of the Albemarle Sound on Salmon Creek, Batts built a twenty foot square home. • Five years later he bought that land from the Weapemeoc Indians and it was the first recorded deed for NC land.

18. Settlers from the North • Others settlers from VA followed. • They took up land along the Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Chowan rivers. • By the earily 1660’s, perhaps as many as five hundred settlers had moved into Virginia’s southern frontier above the Albemarle Sound. • The region lacked order and any kind of regular government, but that was about to change.