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KF5JRV > TODAY 13.05.19 13:29l 46 Lines 2470 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 36234_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 13
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190513/1127Z 36234@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
Some 100 English colonists arrive along the west bank of the James River
in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement
in North America. Dispatched from England by the London Company, the
colonists had sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Susan
Constant,Godspeed, and Discovery.
Upon landing at Jamestown, the first colonial council was held by seven
settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King
James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English
adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. After only
two weeks, Jamestown came under attack from warriors from the local
Algonquian Native American confederacy, but the Indians were repulsed by
the armed settlers. In December of the same year, John Smith and two
other colonists were captured by Algonquians while searching for
provisions in the Virginia wilderness. His companions were killed, but
he was spared, according to a later account by Smith, because of the
intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan’s daughter.
During the next two years, disease, starvation, and more Native American
attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually
sent more settlers and supplies. The severe winter of 1609 to 1610,
which the colonists referred to as the “starving time,ö killed most of
the Jamestown colonists, leading the survivors to plan a return to
England in the spring. However, on June 10, Thomas West De La Warr, the
newly appointed governor of Virginia, arrived with supplies and
convinced the settlers to remain at Jamestown. In 1612, John Rolfe
cultivated the first tobacco at Jamestown, introducing a successful
source of livelihood. On April 5, 1614, Rolfe married Pocahontas, thus
assuring a temporary peace with Chief Powhatan.
The death of Powhatan in 1618 brought about a resumption of conflict
with the Algonquians, including an attack led by Chief Opechancanough in
1622 that nearly wiped out the settlement. The English engaged in
violent reprisals against the Algonquians, but there was no further
large-scale fighting until 1644, when Opechancanough led his last
uprising and was captured and executed at Jamestown. In 1646, the
Algonquian Confederacy agreed to give up much of its territory to the
rapidly expanding colony, and, beginning in 1665, its chiefs were
appointed by the governor of Virginia.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.COM
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