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English Settlements



People from England also started colonies. Although these first settlements were very small, they soon grew. By the 1750’s there were thirteen English colonies along the eastern coast of North America.

Virginia and Jamestown.In 1606 some merchants in London formed a private business called the Virginia Company. The Company asked England’s King James I to give them some land in America to establish a colony. The King agreed. The Virginia Company invited people to go and settle in the new colony, offering to pay their travel costs. In return the settlers agreed to send the Company share of the crops they grew. More than 120 people accepted the offer and set out for Virginia, as the colony was called. They arrived in the spring of 1607. They built a settlement and called it Jamestown, in honour of the King.

In the following years more settlers came to Virginia. By 1619 there were eleven settlements in Virginia. The Virginia Company wanted the colony to grow, and the settlers were given the right to vote and elect their own governor. It was the beginning of self-government in the future United States.

The Pilgrims.There were people in England who disagreed with the teachings of the Church of England. In 1620 a large group of such people left England and sailed to North America on a ship called the Mayflower. These people were called Pilgrims. They wanted to find a place where they could worship as they wanted. The Pilgrims settled in present-day Massachusetts. They called their settlement Plymouth. The Pilgrims’ first winter was very hard. Many people died from cold. But the colony survived. In early 1621 an American Indian called Samoset came to Plymouth and greeted the Pilgrims in English. The Pilgrims were surprised when they heard the Indian’s words. Samoset explained that he had learned the language at sea, sailing with English captains. Soon Samoset returned with a friend, Squanto. Squanto stayed with the Pilgrims. He taught them how to survive in the wilderness. Squanto showed the colonists how to grow corn, how to catch fish with a spear and where to hunt deer. He also taught them that they could make the soil rich by burying fish in the earth. Thanks to Squanto, the Pilgrims had a good harvest that autumn. To give thanks, they invited Squanto and other Indians to a great feast. The celebration, which lasted three days, was the first Thanksgiving.

The Puritans.In England There was another group of people who disagreed with the teachings of the Church of England. They said that the services of the Church of England had become too complicated and too rich and took too much money. They wanted to make the Church of England more modest, to “purify” it. For this reason they were called Puritans.

The Puritans also decided to sail to North America, to establish a Puritan Church there and to worship as they thought proper. The Puritans set sail in 1630. Many Puritans were richer than the Pilgrims. Their journey was very different from the Pilgrims’ trip on the Mayflower. One thousand people took part in it. They sailed in fifteen ships full of supplies and tools. The Puritans also came to Massachusetts. They explored the coastline and found an excellent harbour where the Charles River empties into the ocean. They settled there and called the place Boston.

The Puritan Church was very powerful in the Massachusetts colony. The colony’s political leaders were also church leaders. They established very to act. Everybody was obliged to attend church on Sundays. Anyone who disobeyed the church teachings was punished. One Puritan punishment was putting a person into the pillory. The pillory was a wooden frame with holes for a person’s head and arms. Those who disobeyed church teachings were locked into the pillory. Then they were left for a time on display as a lesson to the other people.

The colonists learned to grow tobacco. And soon ships filled with tobacco sailed for England and returned with things that the colony needed.

Twenty Negroes were brought to Jamestown in 1619 and sold to the tobacco planters. This was the beginning of slavery in America.

The States of the USA. The United States began as a nation of 13 states. By 1750 they were rich enough and did not have to struggle to survive. Merchants were selling goods to other colonies and trading with other nations. The colonists felt stronger. They wanted to have more control over their future. These were the colonies which had broken away from Great Britain on July 4, 1776 and fought a six – year War for Independence.

Control questions:

1. What was the Ice Age and when did it occur?

2. Who helped Columbus to organize an expedition to the West?

3. What did Columbus call the people he found in the New World? Why?

4. What was the first English settlement in the New World? When was it started?

5. Who were the Puritans? Why did they call themselves Puritans? Why did they sail to America?

6. Where did the Puritans settle? What did they call their settlement?

7. Who was Squanto? How did he help the Pilgrims?

8. Name some reasons why newcomers come to settle in the United States today.

 







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