The Beginnings of American History and Literature A New World.

The First Americans On the morning of August 3 1492, an Italian adventurer named Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain to find a new wa from !urope to Asia" #is aim was to open up a shorter trade route between the two $ontinents and return with sil%s, spi$es and gold, and sail ba$% to !urope a ri$h man" Columbus first sailed south to the Canar Islands" &hen he turned west a$ross the un%nown waters of the mid'Atlanti$ O$ean" On the morning of O$tober 12, he stepped ashore on the bea$h of a low sand island whi$h he named the island San Salvador ( #ol Savior )in the $entral part of the *ahamas, in the Carribean+" Columbus believed that he had landed in the Indies, for this reason he $alled the friendl , brown's%inned people who greeted him -los Indios. ( Indians" In fa$t, Columbus had not rea$hed the India, but the shores of a new $ontinent" !uropeans would soon name the new $ontinent Ameri$a, but for man ears the went on $alling its inhabitants Indians" Onl re$entl have these first Ameri$ans been des$ribed more a$$uratel as -native Ameri$ans. or Amerindians" In north of /e0i$o, in what is now the 1nited States and Canada the were organi2ed in tribes" Some were hunters, some were farmers" Some were pea$eful, others warli%e" &he spo%e over three hundred separate languages, some of whi$h were as different from one another as !nglish is from Chinese" !uropeans $alled Ameri$a -the 3ew 4orld". *ut it was not new to the Amerindians" &heir an$estors had alread been living there for ma be 56,666 ears when Columbus stepped on to the bea$h in San Salvador" 4e sa -ma be. be$ause nobod is $ompletel sure" S$ientists believe that the distant an$estors of the Amerindians $ame to Ameri$a from Asia" &his happened, the sa , during the earth7s last I$e Age" At that time a bridge of i$e 8oined Asia to Ameri$a a$ross what is now the *ering Strait" #unters from Siberia $rossed this bridge into Alas%a" 9rom Alas%a the hunters moved south and east a$ross Ameri$a, following herds of $aribou and buffalo" Tribes of native Americans ' the :ueblo ' the Apa$he ' the Iro;uois ' the <a%ota or the Siou0 ' the #aida &he Amerindian peoples of 3orth Ameri$a developed widel varied wa s of life" All suited the natural environments in whi$h the tribes lived, and the lasted for man $enturies" *ut the arrival of !uropeans with their guns, their diseases and their hunger for land would eventuall destro them all" E !lorers from Euro!e If ou as% -4ho dis$overed Ameri$a=., the answer that ou will usuall re$eive is -Christopher Columbus". *ut did he= 4e have seen that the Asian an$estors of the Amerindians arrived in Ameri$a long before Columbus" 4as Columbus the ne0t to arrive= In the $enturies after 1492 stories and legends grew up about other adventurous seamen having rea$hed the 3ew 4orld long before Columbus" One legend tells how a *uddhist mon% named #oei'Shin sailed from China to /e0i$o in 459" Another legend $laims that an Irish mon% named *rendan the *old landed in Ameri$a in 551" >et another sa s that the first !uropean to rea$h the 3ew 4orld was ?eif !ri$son, -?u$% ?eif,. a @i%ing sailor from I$eland" And as re$entl as 1953 a pla;ue was set up at /obile *a in the modern Ameri$an state of Alabama whi$h readsA -In memor of :rin$e /ado$, a 4elsh e0plorer who landed on the shores of /obile *a in 11B6 and left behind, with the Indians, the 4elsh language". All these stories have their supporters" *ut onl in the $ase of the @i%ings have modern s$holars found firm eviden$e to support the old legends" In the 19C6s ar$haeologists un$overed tra$es of @i%ing settlements in both 3ewfoundland and 3ew !ngland" It was the Spanish who began the lasting !uropean o$$upation of Ameri$a" 4hen Columbus returned to Spain he too% ba$% with him some 8ewelr that he had obtained in Ameri$a" &his 8ewelr was important be$ause it was made of gold" In the ne0t fift ears thousands of treasure'hungr Spanish adventurers $rossed the Atlanti$ O$ean to sear$h for more of the pre$ious metal" It was a lust for gold that led #ernan Cortes to $on;uer the A2te$s in the 1526s" &he A2te$s were a wealth , $it 'building Amerindian people who lived in

what is toda /e0i$o" &he growing wealth of Spain made other !uropean nations envious" &he be$ame eager to share the ri$hes of the 3ew 4orld" In 149B Ding #enr @II of !ngland hired an Italian seaman named Eohn Cabot to e0plore the new lands and to loo% again for a passage to Asia" Cabot found no gold and no passage to the !ast" *ut his vo ages were valuable for the !nglish" In later ears !nglish governments used them to support their $laims to own most of the $ast $oast of 3orth Ameri$a" &he 9ren$h also sent e0plorers to 3orth Ameri$a" 9irst an Italian sailor, Fiovanni @erra2ano )for the same purpose as Columbus and Cabot ( to find lands ri$h in gold and a new sea route to Asia+" &hen Ea$;ues Cartier who rea$hed the site of the present'da $it of /ontreal" #e failed to find the wa to Asia that he was loo%ing for, but he gave 9ran$e a $laim to what would later be$ome Canada" Claiming that ou owned land in the 3ew 4orld was one thing" A$tuall ma%ing it ours was something ;uite different" !uropeans $ould onl do this b establishing settlements of their own people" * the seventeenth $entur plent of people in !urope were read to settle in Ameri$a" Some hoped to be$ome ri$h b doing so" Others hoped to find safet from religious or politi$al perse$ution" In the hundred ears after 1C66, !uropeans set up man $olonies in 3orth Ameri$a for reasons li%e these" "irginian Beginnings On /a 26, 1C6B the !nglish sailors tied their ships to trees on the ban%s of a broad and deep river in @irginia" &he named the river the Eames, in honor of Eames I, %ing of !ngland, the $ountr from whi$h the had set sail five long months before" Eust over a hundred men went ashore" &he built rough shelters for themselves, but unfortunatel b the end of the ear two out of ever three of them were dead" *ut their little group of huts be$ame the first lasting !nglish settlement in Ameri$a, named Eamestown" &he site the had $hosen was low'l ing and malarial" &he failed to grow enough food to feed themselves be$ause the were too bus dreaming of gold" &he settlers had been sent to Eamestown b a group of ri$h ?ondon investors representing the @irginia Compan " Its purpose was to set up $olonies along the Atlanti$ $oast of 3orth Ameri$a, between 34G and 3HG north latitude" &he investors paid the $osts of its e0peditions and in return were given the right to divide up an profits it made" &he Eamestown settlers were emplo ees of the @irginia Compan " &he Compan 7s dire$tors hoped that the settlers would find pearls, silver, or some other valuable produ$t in @irginia and so bring them a ;ui$% profit on their investment" &he $olonists eagerl obe ed the Compan 7s orders to sear$h for gold" * doing so the hoped to be$ome ri$h themselves" And then the $olonists began to die ( in ones, in twos, finall in do2ens" Some died in Amerindian atta$%s, some of diseases, some of starvation" Of the 566 $olonists living in the settlement in O$tober 1C69, onl si0t were still alive in /ar$h 1C16" >et new settlers $ontinued to arrive" &he @irginia Compan gathered homeless $hildren from the streets of ?ondon and sent them out to the $olon " &hen it sent a hundred $onvi$ts from ?ondon7s prisons" &he Spanish ambassador in ?ondon told of three $ondemned $riminals who were given the $hoi$e of being hanged or sent to @irginia" &wo agreed to go, but the third $hose to hang" Some @irginia emigrants sailed willingl , however" Some !nglish people during the seventeenth $entur de$ided that it was worth ris%ing the possibilit of hardships in @irginia to es$ape from povert and starvation at home" 9or @irginia had one great attra$tion that !ngland la$%edA plentiful land" &his seemed more important than the reports of disease, starvation and $annibalism from the new $ontinent" In !ngland, as in !urope generall , the land was owned b the ri$h" In @irginia a poor man $ould hope for a farm of his own to feed his famil " 9or a number of ears after 1C11, militar governors ran @irginia li%e a prison $amp" &he enfor$ed stri$t rules to ma%e sure that wor% was done" *ut it was not dis$ipline that saved @irginia" It was a plant that grew li%e a weed thereA toba$$o" !arlier visitors to Ameri$a, li%e Sir 4alter Ialeigh, had brought the first dried leaves of toba$$o to !ngland" In @irginia a oung settler named Eohn Iolfe dis$overed how to dr , or -$ure,. the leaves in a new wa , to ma%e them milder" ?ondon mer$hants paid high pri$es be$ause of its high ;ualit " Soon most of the @irginia settlers were bus growing toba$$o" &he $leared new land along the rivers and ploughed up the streets of Eamestown itself to plant more" &he even used it as mone " &he possibilit of be$oming ri$h b growing toba$$o brought wealth men to @irginia" /ost of the wor%ers on these earl plantations were -indentured servants. from !ngland" &he promised to wor% for an emplo er for an agreed number of ears ( about seven was average (in e0$hange for food and $lothes" At the end the be$ame free to wor% for themselves"

#owever, in August 1C19, a small <ut$h warship an$hored at Eamestown with twent $aptured bla$% Afri$ans on board" &he ship7s $aptain sold them to the settlers as indentured servants" &he bla$%s were set to wor% in the toba$$o fields with white indentured servants from !ngland" *ut there was a ver serious differen$e between their position and that of the whites wor%ing beside them" 4hite servants were indentured for a fi0ed number of ears" &heir masters might treat them badl , but the %new that one da the would be free" *la$% servants had no su$h hope" &heir indenture was for life" In fa$t the were slaves ( although it was ears before their masters openl admitted the fa$t" #lossary Indenture ' )esp" in the past+ to offi$iall agree that )someone, often a oung person+ will wor% for someone else, esp" in order to learn a 8ob $uritan New England -:ilgrims. are people who ma%e a 8ourne for religious reasons" *ut for Ameri$ans the word has a spe$ial meaning" &o them it means a small group of !nglish men and women who sailed a$ross the Atlanti$ O$ean in the ear 1C26" &he group7s members $ame to be $alled the :ilgrims be$ause the went to Ameri$a to find religious freedom" Sometimes Ameri$ans $all them the :ilgrim 9athers" &his is be$ause the see them as the most important of the founders of the future 1nited States of Ameri$a" &he !urope that the :ilgrims left behind them was torn b religious ;uarrels" 9or more than a thousand ears Ioman Catholi$ Christianit had been the religion of most of its people" * the si0teenth $entur , however, some !uropeans had begun to doubt the tea$hings of the Catholi$ Chur$h" &he were also growing angr at the wealth and worldl pride of its leaders" !arl in the $entur a Ferman mon% named /artin ?uther ;uarreled with these leaders" #e $laimed that individual human beings did not need the :ope or the priests of the Catholi$ Chur$h to enable them to spea% to Fod" A few ears later a 9ren$h law er named Eohn Calvin put forward similar ideas" Calvin $laimed that ea$h individual was dire$tl and personall responsible to Fod" *e$ause the protested against the tea$hings and $ustoms of the Catholi$ Chur$h, religious reformers li%e ?uther and Calvin were $alled -:rotestants". &heir ideas spread ;ui$%l through northern !urope" 9ew people believed in religious toleration at this time" In most $ountries people were e0pe$ted to have the same religion as their ruler" &his was the $ase in !ngland" In the 1536s the !nglish %ing, #enr @III, formed a national $hur$h with himself as its head" In the later ears of the si0teenth $entur man !nglish people believed that this Chur$h of !ngland was still too mu$h li%e the Catholi$ Chur$h" &he disli%ed the power, of its bishops" &he disli%ed its elaborate $eremonies and the ri$h de$orations of its $hur$hes" &he also ;uestioned man of its tea$hings" Su$h people wanted the Chur$h of !ngland to be$ome more plain and simple, or -pure". *e$ause of this the were $alled :uritans" &he ideas of Eohn Calvin appealed parti$ularl strongl to them" 4hen Eames I be$ame Ding of !ngland in 1C63 he warned the :uritans that he would drive them from the land if the did not a$$ept his ideas on religion" #is bishops began fining the :uritans and putting them in prison" &o es$ape this perse$ution, a small group of them left !ngland and went to #olland" #olland was the onl $ountr in !urope whose government allowed religious freedom at this time" &he people of #olland wel$omed the little group of e0iles" *ut the :uritans never felt at home there" After mu$h thought and mu$h pra er the de$ided to move again" Some of them ( the :ilgrims ( de$ided to go to Ameri$a" 9irst the returned briefl to !ngland" #ere the persuaded the @irginia Compan to allow them to settle in the northern part of its Ameri$an lands" On September 1C, 1C26, the :ilgrims left the !nglish port of :l mouth and headed for Ameri$a, aboard the Mayflower" &he were a$$ompanied b a number of other emigrants the $alled -Strangers". In 3ovember 1C26, the rea$hed Cape Cod, what is now the state of /assa$husetts, but the en$ountered diffi$ulties, $onse;uentl , the de$ided to find a better pla$e, namel :l mouth" -&he season it was winter,. wrote one of their leaders, -and those who %now the winters of that $ountr %now them to be sharp and violent with $ruel and fier$e storms". &he :ilgrims7 $han$es of surviving were not high" &he fro2en ground and the deep snow made it diffi$ult for them to build houses" &he had ver little food" *efore spring $ame, half of the little group of a hundred settlers were dead" *ut the :ilgrims were determined to su$$eed" &he fift survivors built better houses" &he learned how to fish and hunt" 9riendl Amerindians gave them seed $orn and showed them how to plant it" It was not the end of their hardships, but when a ship arrived in :l mouth in 1C22 and offered to ta%e passengers ba$% to !ngland, not one of the :ilgrims a$$epted" Other !nglish :uritans followed the :ilgrims to Ameri$a" &en ears later a mu$h larger group of

almost a thousand $olonists settled nearb in what be$ame the *oston area" In 1C91, this *ostonian settlement $ombined with the :l mouth $olon under the name of /assa$husetts" The $uritan %nfluence &he ideas of the /assa$husetts :uritans had a lasting influen$e on Ameri$an so$iet " One of their first leaders, Eohn 4inthrop, said that the should build an ideal $ommunit for the rest of man%ind to learn from" -4e shall be li%e a $it on a hill,. said 4inthrop" -&he e es of all people are upon us". &o this da man Ameri$ans $ontinue to see their $ountr in this wa , as a model for other nations to $op " The $uritans& %dea of #overnment &he :uritans of /assa$husetts believed that governments had a dut to ma%e people obe Fod7s will" &he passed laws to for$e people to attend $hur$h and laws to punish drun%s and adulterers" !ven men who let their hair grow long $ould be in trouble" Ioger 4illiams, a :uritan minister in a settlement $alled Salem, believed that it was wrong to run the affairs of /assa$husetts in this wa " #e ob8e$ted parti$ularl to the fa$t that the same men $ontrolled both the $hur$h and the government" 4illiams believed that $hur$h and state should be separate and that neither should interfere with the other" After having been $hased and sent to be arrested, he es$aped along with his followers to set up a new $olon $alled Ihode Island" &he newl 'found area promised its $iti2ens $omplete religious freedom and separation of $hur$h and state" &o this da these ideas are still ver important to Ameri$ans" * the end of the seventeenth $entur a string of !nglish $olonies stret$hed along the east $oast of 3orth Ameri$aA :enns lvania )$olon of the Jua%ers and of the <ut$h+ 3orth Carolina South Carolina Feorgia

'olonial Beginnings and American Literature &he stor of Ameri$an literature begins in the earl 1C66s, long before there were an -Ameri$ans." &he earliest writers were !nglishmen des$ribing the !nglish e0ploration and $oloni2ation of the 3ew 4orld )Ameri$a+" *a$% in !ngland, people planning to move to @irginia or 3ew !ngland would read the boo%s as travel guides" *ut this was dangerous be$ause su$h boo%s often mi0ed fa$ts with fantas " &he writings of 'a!tain (ohn )mith )15H6'1C31+ probabl satisfied readers of both %inds" A real adventurer, in 1C6B, he helped found Eamestown, the first !nglish $olon in Ameri$a" True Relation of Virginia )1C6H+ and Description of New England )1C1C+ are fas$inating -advertisements. whi$h tr to persuade the reader to settle in the 3ew 4orld" &he :uritans, for instan$e, studied the latter boo% $arefull and then de$ided to settle there" #is General Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer sles )1C24+ $ontains the stor of his res$ue b a beautiful Indian prin$ess" &he stor is probabl untrue, but it is the first famous tale from Ameri$an literature" Almost from the beginning, as the !nglish settled along the Atlanti$ $oast of Ameri$a, there were important differen$es between the Southern and the 3ew !ngland $olonies" In the South, enormous farms or -plantations. used the labor of bla$% slaves to grow toba$$o" &he ri$h and powerful plantation owners were slow to develop a literature of their own" &he preferred boo%s imported from !ngland" *ut in 3ew !ngland, the :uritan settlers had $ome to the 3ew 4orld in order to form a so$iet based on stri$t Christian beliefs" ?i%e the :uritans in !ngland, who were fighting against the !nglish %ing, the believed that so$iet should be based on the laws of Fod" &herefore the had a far stronger sense of unit and of a -shared purpose." &his was one of the reasons wh $ulture and literature developed mu$h faster than in the South" #arvard, the first $ollege in the $olonies, was founded near *oston in 1C3C in order to train new :uritan ministers" &he first printing press in Ameri$a was started there in 1C3H, and Ameri$a7s first newspaper began in *oston in 1B64" &he most interesting wor%s of 3ew !ngland :uritan literature were histories" &o the :uritans, histor developed a$$ording to -Fod7s plan." In all of their earl 3ew !ngland histories, the saw 3ew !ngland as the -:romised ?and. of the *ible" &he $entral drama of histor was the struggle between Christ and Satan" !f "lymouth "lantation b William Bradford )1596'1C5B+ is the most interesting of the :uritan histories" It des$ribes the :uritans7 diffi$ult relations with the Indians" It also des$ribes their diffi$ulties during the first winter, when half of the small $olon died" &his is all told in the wonderful -plain st le. whi$h the :uritans admired" In order to present the -$lear light of truth. to unedu$ated readers, :uritan writers avoided elegant language" &he e0amples the used were drawn either from the *ible or from the ever da life of farmers and fishermen" The History of New England b (ohn Winthro! )15HH'1C49+ is also in the -plain st le." *ut it is far less $heerful" 4inthrop was the first governor of /assa$husetts *a Colon and, li%e most of the :uritan writers, was a minister all his life" #is writing st le is rather $old" #e rarel shows sho$% or sadness, even when he des$ribes s$enes of great unhappiness" ?i%e all of the :uritan historians, 4inthrop believed that most events $ould be seen as a sign from Fod" 9or e0ample, when a sna%e was found and %illed in a $hur$h, people saw this as the vi$tor of 3ew !ngland religion over Satan" &he first :uritans were not ver demo$rati$" !ver bod had to obe the $hur$h laws" *elievers in other forms of Christianit were $alled -sna%es." :uritan so$iet was a -theo$ra$ .A the laws of so$iet and the laws of religion were the same" &hose who bro%e the laws were punished severel " !ven in the earl da s, some writers were struggling hard against the :uritan theo$ra$ " 9or instan$e, Anne Hutchinson )1596'1C43+ and *oger Williams )1C63'1CH3+, both desired a freer religious environment" Iogers, who went off to establish his own $olon in Ihode Island, was espe$iall important" &o him, freedom was not onl -good in itself., it was a ne$essar $ondition for -the growth and development of the soul." &he 3ew !nglanders were ;uite su$$essful at %eeping the absolute puritan writers -purit . of :uritanism during the earl , diffi$ult da s of settlement" *ut when the Indians were no longer a danger, the dar% forests had be$ome farmland, and more $omfortable settlements had grown up, :uritan stri$tness began to rela0" * loo%ing at the earl histor of the /ather famil in 3ew !ngland, we $an see how the :uritan tradition grew wea%er and wea%er" *ichard +ather )159C'1CC9+, the founder of his famil in Ameri$a, was greatl admired as a t pi$al

strong :uritan minister" %ncrease +ather )1C39'1B23+, his son, was a leader of the 3ew !ngland theo$ra$ until it began to fall apart at the end of the seventeenth $entur " #e was also a minister at 3orth Chur$h in *oston, the most powerful $hur$h in 3ew !ngland" &he 1C96s was the time of the great wit$h$raft pani$" In the town of Salem, /assa$husetts, oung girls and lonel old women were arrested and put on trial as wit$hes" A number of these people were put to death for -selling their souls. to the <evil" In$rease /ather7s best'%nown boo%, Remar#a$le "ro%idences )1CH4+, tells us mu$h about the ps $hologi$al environment of the time" &he boo% is filled with the :uritans7 strange beliefs" &o /ather and other :uritans, wit$h$raft and other forms of evil were an absolutel real part of ever da life" In$rease7s son, 'otton +ather )1CC3'1B2H+, be$ame the most famous of the famil " #e had -an insane genius for advertising himself." #e wrote more than 456 wor%s" 4henever something happened to him in his life, Cotton /ather wrote a religious boo%" 4hen his first wife died, he published a long sermon $alled Death Made Easy and Happy" 4hen his little daughter died, he wrote The &est 'ay of (i%ing, 'hich is to Die Daily" /ost of these wor%s were ;uite short and are of little interest to us toda " *ut some, su$h as his famous Magnalia )hristi *mericana )1B62+, were ver long and were published in man volumes" &he most fas$inating part of this wor% is the des$ription of the Salem wit$h trials" #e ma%es it $lear that he personall believed that this was an -assault from #ell. and that all of 3ew !ngland was filled with evil spirits from hell" At the same time, he admitted that the wit$h trials had been a mista%e and that it was good that the were finall stopped" In the writings of the earliest :uritans, we often find poems on religious themes" Su$h poets were Anne Bradstreet )1C12'1CB2+ and Edward Taylor )1C45'1B29+" &he poetess refuses -to sing of 4ars, of Captains, and of Dings." Instead, she gives us a loo% into the heart of a seventeenth'$entur Ameri$an woman" &he poetr of &a lor was $on$erned with the inner spiritual life of :uritan believers" #e $reated ri$h, unusual images to help his reader -see, hear, taste and feel religious do$trine." In one poem, he des$ribes trul religious people" &he are as rare -As *la$% Swans that in mil%white Iivers are". &hroughout Ameri$an histor , even in the twentieth $entur , there have been man sudden e0plosions of religious emotion" One of the most famous, $alled the - #reat Awa,ening., began about 1B36" :rea$hers li%e #eorge Whitfield toured the $ountr , telling people to -repent and be saved b the 3ew ?ight." &he sermons of (onathan Edwards )1B63'1B5H+ were so powerful ( and so frightening ( that his $hur$h was often filled with s$reams and $r ingA -&he Fod that holds ou over the fire of hell, mu$h as one holds a spider or some loathsome inse$t over the fire, abhors ou,. he said" &he sermon from whi$h this line is ta%en, Sinners in the Hands of an *ngry God )1B33+, is still famous for its literar ;ualit " ?ater in life, !dwards developed into a great theologian, or religious philosopher" In his +reedom of 'ill )1B54+5 he tried to build a philosoph based on the :uritan faith" Although literature developed far more slowl in the South than in 3ew !ngland, a few earl writers are worth mentioningA *obert Beverley )1CB3'1B22+ and William Byrd )1CB4'1B44+" #lossary$uritans, believers in a simple Christian religion without $eremon " 'ulture, the parti$ular wa of living and thin%ing of a so$iet , in$luding its art" Theocracy ' a government ruled b or sub8e$t to religious authorit " witchcraft, the imagined abilit to wor% magi$ of $ertain women )wit$hes+" sermon, religious address" Theme, sub8e$t on a pie$e of writing" %mage, a pi$ture brought into the mind b words, imagery, the use of su$h words" *e!ent. be sorr for one7s wrongdoing" Abhor, hate"

)elected Bibliogra!hy*r n, O7Callaghan, *n llustrated History of the -S* )?ongmanA :earson !du$ation ?imited, 1996+ :eter *" #igh, *n !utline of *merican (iterature .?ongman Froup ?imited, 19HC+

Why is America called /America0 Why did Euro!ean geogra!hers give the name America to the lands that 'olumbus discovered1 Why did they not name them instead after 'olumbus1 &he reason is that to the end of his life Columbus believed that his dis$overies were part of Asia" &he man who did most to $orre$t this mista%en idea was Amerigo @espu$$i" @espu$$i was an Italian sailor from the $it of 9loren$e" <uring the late 1496s he wrote some letters in whi$h he des$ribed two vo ages of e0ploration that he had made along the $oasts of South Ameri$a" #e was sure, he wrote, that these $oasts were part of a new $ontinent" Some ears later @espu$$i7s letters were read b a Ferman s$holar who was revising an old geograph of the world" &he letters $onvin$ed the s$holar that @espu$$i was $orre$t, and that the lands be ond the Atlanti$ were a new $ontinent" &o honor @espu$$i the s$holar named them Ameri$a, using the feminine form of @espu$$i7s first name as the other $ontinents had female names" The ca!tain and the !rincess Captain Eohn Smith was the most able of the original Eamestown settlers" An energeti$ 2B' ear'old soldier and e0plorer, he had alread had a life full of a$tion when he landed there in 1C6B" It was he who organi2ed the first Eamestown $olonists and for$ed them to wor%" If he had not done that, the infant settlement would probabl have $ollapsed" 4hen food supplies tan out Smith set off into the forests to bu $orn from the Amerindians" On one of these e0peditions he was ta%en prisoner" A$$ording to a stor that he told later )whi$h not ever one believed+, the Amerindians were going to beat his brains our when :o$ahontas, the twelve' ear'old daughter of the $hief, :owhatan, saved his life b shielding his bod with her own" :o$ahontas went on to pla an important part in @irginia7s survival, bringing food to the starving settlers" -She, ne0t under Fod,. wrote Smith, -was the instrument to preserve this $olon from death, famine and utter $onfusion". In 1C69 Smith was badl in8ured in a gunpowder e0plosion and was sent ba$% to !ngland" 9ive ears later, in 1C14" :o$ahontas married the toba$$o planter Eohn Iolfe" In 1C1C she travelled to !ngland with him and was presented at $ourt to Ding Eames 1" It was there that the portrait ou se$ here was painted" :o$ahontas died of smallpo0 in 1C1B while waiting to board a ship to $arr her ba$% to @irginia with her newborn son" 4hen the son grew up he returned to @irginia" /an @irginians toda $laim to be des$ended from him and so from :o$ahontas" Brides for sale @er few women settled in earl @irginia, so in 1C19 the @irginia Compan shipped over a group of ninet oung women as wives for its settlers" &o obtain a bride the would'be husbands had to pa the Compan -126 pounds weight of best toba$$o leaf". &he pri$e must have seemed reasonable, for within a ver short time all the oung women were married" The lost colony &he Eamestown settlers were not the first !nglish people to visit @irginia" &went ears earlier the adventurer Sir 4alter Ialeigh had sent ships to find land in the 3ew 4orld where !nglish people might settle" #e named the land the visited @irginia, in honor of !li2abeth, !ngland7s unmarried Jueen" In Eul 15H5, 16H !nglish settlers landed on Ioano%e Island, off the $oast of what is now the state of 3orth Carolina" &he built houses and a fort, planted $rops and sear$hed ( without su$$ess ( for gold" *ut the ran out of food and made enemies of the lo$al Amerindian inhabitants" In less than a ear the gave up and sailed ba$% to !ngland" In 15HB Ialeigh tried again" #is ships landed 11H settlers on Ioano%e, in$luding fourteen famil groups" &he $olonists were led b an artist and mapma%er named Eohn 4hite, who had been a member of the 15H5 e0pedition" Among them were 4hite7s daughter and her husband" On August 1Hth the $ouple be$ame the parents of @irginia <are, the first !nglish $hild to be born in Ameri$a" On August, 4hite returned to !ngland for supplies" &hree ears passed before he was able to return" 4hen his ships rea$hed Ioano%e in August 1596, he found the settlement deserted" &here was no sign of what had happened to its people e0$ept a word $arved on a tree ( -Croaton,. the home of a friendl Indian $hief, fift miles to the south" Some believe that the Ioano%e settlers were $arried off b Spanish soldiers from 9lorida" Others thin% that the ma have de$ided to go to live with friendl Indians on the mainland" &he were never seen, or heard of, again" The +ayflower 'om!act 4hen the :ilgrims arrived off the $oast of Ameri$a the fa$ed man dangers and diffi$ulties" &he did not want to put themselves in further danger b ;uarreling with one another" *efore landing at :l mouth, therefore, the wrote out an agreement" In this do$ument the agreed to wor% together for the good of all" &he

agreement was signed b all fort 'one men on board the Mayflower" It be$ame %nown as the /a flower Compa$t" In the Compa$t the :l mouth settlers agreed to set up a government ( a -$ivil bod politi$. ( to ma%e -8ust and e;ual laws. for their new settlement" All of them, :ilgrims and Strangers ali%e, promised that the would obe these laws" In the diffi$ult ears whi$h followed, the /a flower Compa$t served the $olonists well" It is remembered toda as one of the first important do$uments in the histor of demo$rati$ government in Ameri$a" Than,sgiving !ver ear on the fourth &hursda in 3ovember Ameri$ans $elebrate a holida $alled &han%sgiving" &he first people to $elebrate this da were the :ilgrims" In 3ovember, 1C21, the sat down to eat together and to give than%s to Fod for enabling them to survive the hardships of their first ear in Ameri$a" &he :ilgrims were 8oined at their feast b lo$al Amerindians" &he 4ampanoag and :e;uamid people of the nearb forests had shared $orn with the :ilgrims and shown them the best pla$es to $at$h fish" ?ater the Amerindians had given seed $orn to the !nglish settlers and shown them how to plant $rops that would grow well in the Ameri$an soil" 4ithout them there would have been no &han%sgiving"