Colonial America

Failed & Nearly Failed Colonies

Dr. Kane

mkane2@albany.edu Social Science 116 | MWF 12:35-1:30 PM

Office Hrs: M 10:20 - 11:20 & F 1:30 - 3:30 Social Science 60S

Wednesday, September 20

coming up

• Objects paper due Monday Sept 25 (BB)
• EC: Sept 28 11:30 Campus Center West Charlottesville roundtable
• remember Nathanial Bacon!

today's class

• paper advice
• failed colonies
• factors in failure and success
• Jamestown, 1607

object paper

• formal analysis + close reading + context
• how and why did people attach meaning to objects
• how and why are your objects or the connection between them significant

Taylor, Virginia & Chesapeake

• how did English experience in Ireland shape their expectations in Virginia?
• how was colonization intended to provide a solution to poverty in England?
• how did the English colonists use the Powhatan’s 1622 surprise attack to their advantage?

failed colonies

• San Miguel (Georgia), 1526 - slave revolt
• San Juan (North Carolina), 1527 - abandonment
• Ajacan (Maryland), 1570 - Indian conflict & slave revolt
• Popham (Maine), 1607 - cold & internal conflict
• Providence Island (Nicaragua), 1631 - starvation & conquest
• New Sweden (New Jersey/Delaware), 1638-1655 - conquest

Roanoke, 1584-1587?

• corporate colony, 115 colonists mostly male
• base for privateering, Northwest Passage, El Dorado

conspiracy theories!

• Croatoan: Amelia Erheart, Edgar Allen Poe, ghostships!
• internal conflict or disease
• corporate sabotage
• the Dare Stones

Betrayer, 2014

causes of failure?

• poor supplies, poor location, conflict with Indians
• Spanish attack or Indian integration
• 1584-1587 driest period in 800 years
• hurricanes and shoreline location
• inspiration for Shakespeare's Tempest?

why do colonies fail

• lack of supplies
• poor location, bad weather
• few laborers, few women
• conflict with Indians or European neighbors

why colonize?

why colonize?

what Pocahontas gets right

• print culture rumors
• copious amounts of alcohol
• lots of stories about John Smith (mostly false!)
• hope for repeat of Spanish success
• goal of returning to England
• main work of colony panning for gold

Jamestown gold

what Pocahontas gets wrong

• mostly not wholesome family men ("Virginia marriage")
• very few guns, very few resources
• colonists' willingness to work
• exploration for exploration's sake

Jamestown, 1609

economic shifts

shift to slavery

• gold?? glass?? logs?? piracy?? tobacco!
• economic upturn in England
• Bacon's Rebellion, 1676
• secure, long-term investment