Name: _______________________________________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: ____

Directions:
1st READ: As you read the article, gather as much information as you can and record specific details pertaining to the
PEOPLE significant colonial figures highlighted in the article.
2ND READ: While reading the article for a second time, mark any PROBLEMS for the colonists with the letter “P”. For any
TEXT MARK potential SOLUTIONS to said problems, make the text with a “S.”

The Indians living in the area where Jamestown was settled must have had mixed feelings about the arrival of the
English in 1607. One of their first reactions was hostility based on their previous experience with Spanish
explorers along their coastline. They attacked one of the ships before the English actually landed. Yet the Indians
soon began to offer food and traditional Indian hospitality to the newcomers. At first, Powhatan, leader of a
1 confederation of tribes around the Chesapeake Bay, hoped to absorb the newcomers through hospitality and his
offerings of food. As the colonists searched for instant wealth, they neglected planting corn and other work
necessary to make their colony self-sufficient. They therefore grew more and more dependent on the Indians for
food.

As the colony's fortunes deteriorated during its first two years, Captain John Smith's leadership saved the colony.
Part of this leadership involved exploring the area and establishing trade with local Indians. Unfortunately for the
2 Indians, Smith believed that the English should treat Indians as the Spanish had: to compel them to "drudgery,
work, and slavery," so English colonists could live "like Soldiers upon the fruit of their labor." Thus, when his
negotiations with Indians for food occasionally failed, Smith took what he wanted by force.

By 1609, Powhatan realized that the English intended to stay. Moreover, he was disappointed that the English did
not return his hospitality nor would they marry Indian women (an affront from the Native perspective). He knew
that the English "invade my people, possess my country." Indians thus began attacking settlers, killing their
3 livestock, and burning such crops as they planted. All the while, Powhatan claimed he simply could not control
the young men who were committing these acts without his knowledge or permission. Keep in mind, however,
that Powhatan's reactions and statements were reported by John Smith, hardly an unbiased observer.

In the next decade, the colonists conducted search and destroy raids on Indian settlements. They burned Indian
villages and their corn crops (ironic, in that the English were often starving). Both sides committed atrocities
4 against the other. Powhatan was finally forced into a truce of sorts. Colonists captured Powhatan's favorite
daughter, Pocahontas, who soon married John Rolfe. Their marriage did help relations between Indians and
colonists.

With the reorganization of the colony under Sir Edwin Sandys, liberal land policies led to dispersion of English
settlements along the James River. Increasing cultivation of tobacco required more land (since tobacco wore out
the soil in three or four years) and clearing forest areas to make land fit for planting. Expanding English
settlements meant more encroachment on Indian lands and somewhat greater contact with Indians. It also left
5 settlers more vulnerable to Indian attack. By this time, the Indians fully realized what continued English presence
in Virginia meant--more plantations, the felling of more forests, the killing of more game--in sum, a greater threat
to their way of life. The self-proclaimed humanitarian efforts of people like George Thorpe--who sought to
convert Indian children to Christianity through education--did not help either. Finally, the deaths of Powhatan and
Pocahontas further hastened hostilities.

The Indians, led by Powhatan's brother Opechancanough, bided their time. Pretending friendship, they were
6 waiting for an opportunity to strike the English and dislodge them from Virginia. In early 1622, they struck. In all,
nearly 350 colonists were killed; Jamestown itself was saved only by the warning of an Indian Christian convert.
One result was an ever-hardening English attitude toward the Indians. Another was bloody reprisals against local
Indians.

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/colonial/indians/
Name: _______________________________________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: ____

Directions:
 0n the attached “Directed Notes” form, record any key notes from the article that could help you to answer the
RD
3 READ: Guiding Question (stated at the top of the Directed Notes form).
DIRECTED  Be sure to indicate the number of the paragraph from which your note came.
NOTES  Once you’ve finished taking directed notes, go back through your notes and categorize them by checking ONE of the
four corresponding boxes (per note).

Guiding Question: What actions and decisions contributed to the near failure of Jamestown?
Paragraph Food Human Environment Indians
# Notes Error

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/colonial/indians/