While the early days of Jamestown were marred with struggle, conflict, and tragedy, the settlement would survive as the first permanent English colony in North America. Unearth the tumultuous first century of Jamestown with Mark Summers, the public historian for the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project.
November 2 The Powhatan and the English: 1607–1618
After several failed attempts to colonize North America, the English in 1606 formed the Virginia Company of London and, soon after arriving in North America, selected a strategic site for a fort. The chosen land was unoccupied but not unclaimed. The period of conflict with the Powhatan that followed would echo across the continent for centuries.
November 9 The First Africans: 1619–1662
In 1619 the English were confident in the success of Jamestown. Tobacco was booming, and hundreds of new English settlers were arriving each year. In that same year, the first documented Africans were forcibly captured and brought to Virginia to work the tobacco fields, beginning the separation of white and black in the American South.
November 16 Inevitable Uprising: 1622–1646
In 1622, the peace between the English and Powhatan that began in 1614 with the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe ended. Hundreds of Powhatan warriors launched a simultaneous attack against scattered English settlements, killing nearly one-quarter of the settlers. The Powhatan saw this uprising as a response to decades of violence and the loss of their land and culture since the English colony was established. The era of turmoil came to an end with the decline of the Powhatan chiefdom, making the Powhatan subjects of the English.
November 23 Bacon’s Rebellion: 1675–1699
What began as a power struggle between two leaders, Sir William Berkeley and Nathanial Bacon, over a push to drive Native Americans from Virginia ended with the former capital of the colony set ablaze by the rebel Bacon and his death shortly afterward. The events before and after the burning of Jamestown are some of the most complicated yet intriguing chapters in its history.
4 sessions
General Information
