English Colonization and the Road to Revolution Introduction The peak of mercantilism, coupled with a population explosion of poor English people in the sixteenth century pushed England to seek an expansion of their natural settlements through colony acquisitions, in order to expand their markets, get more raw materials and precious minerals especially gold, seek an outlet for their blossoming population that was facing an economic recession already, and find new sea routes to the Indies and Asia via the New World (Edward, 2012). The England capitalists, adventurers and colonialists, inspired by the discoveries of the New World by explorers such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Columbus, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan and
…show more content…
This is an apt representation of how the early English settlers set sail to colonize America. They traversed through a river, which they later named the James River, in honour of their king, and settled first into Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.
The Early Settlement of English Colonizers The settlers; an amalgam of all cadres; gentlemen, soldiers, labourers, craftsmen and officers, arrived in Chesapeake during a period of great famine and pestilence. (George Percy, 1606) In addition, the land was already inhabited by Algonquian Indians that had formed a confederacy under Powhatan. Though the Indians had been initially welcoming, providing the settlers with supplies for survival, cultural conflicts and war later broke out between the Indians and the English colonists, with the latter raiding them for their food supplies, further deepening the food crisis. These Anglo-Powhatan wars seriously intensified under the leadership of Governor De La Warr, and only stopped after a peace treaty was signed in 1616 (Edward,
This is an apt representation of how the early English settlers set sail to colonize America. They traversed through a river, which they later named the James River, in honour of their king, and settled first into Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.
The Early Settlement of English Colonizers The settlers; an amalgam of all cadres; gentlemen, soldiers, labourers, craftsmen and officers, arrived in Chesapeake during a period of great famine and pestilence. (George Percy, 1606) In addition, the land was already inhabited by Algonquian Indians that had formed a confederacy under Powhatan. Though the Indians had been initially welcoming, providing the settlers with supplies for survival, cultural conflicts and war later broke out between the Indians and the English colonists, with the latter raiding them for their food supplies, further deepening the food crisis. These Anglo-Powhatan wars seriously intensified under the leadership of Governor De La Warr, and only stopped after a peace treaty was signed in 1616 (Edward,