The Virginia

Colony
The Birth of the
British Empire
The sun never sets on the British Empire.
What Empire?
St. Augustine,
Florida

The Spanish established the first permanent

settlement in the present-day United States in 1565.
Sir Walter Raleigh
English Explorer
Set up the first English
Colony
 Virginia
The Colony was named after Queen
Elizabeth I AKA the Virgin Queen.
 The Lost Colony at Roanoke

The English started a

colony on Roanoke
Island and then ignored
it for three years. FAILURE!
Defeat of the Spanish
Armada (1588)
=
No time to check in on
Roanoke!
The Lost
Colony
RIP
1603
James I
 1604
In 1604, the English and the Spanish signed a
peace treaty, making it possible for the English
to focus on colonizing North America.
Virginia Company
Founded 1606
Joint stock company
founded to create
profitable settlements
in North America.
Three Types of Colonies
Crown Joint Stock Proprietary
Crown Colony
aka Royal Colony
The crown governs the
colony directly through a
royally-appointed governor.
Joint Stock Colony
Also known as corporate
or charter colonies.
Charter granted to a
corporation that seeks to
make a profit.
Proprietary Colony
A proprietor (business owner)
basically owns the colony.
The proprietor is gifted the land
by the king and were given full
rights of self-government.
Chesapeake
Virginia and
Maryland
are known as
Chesapeake
colonies because of
their location along
the Chesapeake
Bay.
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL
Jamestown Settlement
(Virginia, 1607)

First Permanent ENGLISH

settlement in the present-day
United States

Captain John Smith

What do you know about

Pocahontas?
How do you know what you know about
Pocahontas?
Our Question:

Did Pocahontas really

save John Smith?
Do you believe the movie? Is this
what actually happened between
Pocahontas and John Smith?
What should we look at to help
us answer these questions?
Primary
Sources!
Did Pocahontas save John Smiths life?
As table groups use the:
Timeline
John Smith Documents A and B

to help you answer the questions on the

John Smith Documents Worksheet
 Debrief
1. Why would John Smith write two
different accounts?
2. Do you believe Pocahontas saved his life or
not? Explain your reasoning.
 What is the difference
between a Primary Source
and a Secondary Source?
Did Pocahontas save John Smiths life?
As table groups use the:
Historian Interpretation A
Historian Interpretation B
to help you answer the questions on the
Worksheet
 Debrief
1. Which historian did you find more convincing? Why?
2. What evidence did both historians use to support their
argument?
3. Could there be a third interpretation?
4. What did the movie get right and what did it get wrong?
Why would Disney choose to make the movie that way?