The word Chesapeake, although there is some scholarly dispute, is likely to mean “Great Bay of Shells” or “Great Shellfish Bay” in the language of the Algonquian Native Americans. This translation is appropriate and accurate for anyone familiar with the Chesapeake Bay and its rich history. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, measuring roughly 200 miles in length, 3.4 to 35 miles in width and stretching across six states. Over 150 rivers and streams flow into its basin.
“The abundance of oysters is incredible. There are whole banks of them so that ships must avoid them.” Those were the words of Francis Louis Michel, an impressed Swiss visitor of The Chesapeake Bay in 1701, who was commenting on the abundance of Crassotrea Virginica, or the eastern oyster. In fact, the abundance of oysters was so immense that Michel’s ship actually ran aground an oyster reef. Michel also went on to extol the qualities of the eastern oyster, which was much larger
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Captain John Smith led two voyages during the summer and fall of 1608 and recorded a detailed and impressively accurate description of the Bay. Smith also indubitably had praise of the Chesapeake oyster as it was paramount in the survival of the Jamestown Colony, which Smith was governor of. To date, no English colonies had become permanent, much less thriving. Colonists were ill-equipped to handle the harsh winters of the New World and were often preoccupied with finding lucrative sources of wealth rather than making sure they were food-secure. Of the 7,549 people that arrived in Virginia between 1607 and 1624, only 1,095 wouldn’t perish. Those who lived owed their gratitude to the eastern oyster; the oyster’s sheer abundance and simple accessibility (oyster banks were often under just a few feet of water) helped colonists withstand the “starving time” and allowed Jamestown to become the first enduring English
Historians know very few details about the development of society in Virginia during the first half of the seventeenth century, particularly after the termination of the Virginia Company in 1624. The typical characterizations of a society were for the most part absent in the early settlements of Virginia. There were no strong religious bonds, contractual foundations, or nuclear families. James R. Perry’s The Formation of a Society on Virginia 's Eastern Shore, 1615-1655 examines the extent to which social unity characterized the people who settled across the Chesapeake Bay from James City during the first generation after the fall of the Virginia Company though an analysis that focuses on individuals, the interactions between the individuals, and the connections that formed as a result of the bonds. Through the network analysis and information obtained from surviving county court books, Perry contends that settlement was methodical and the local societies that developed demonstrated an interconnection sufficient to sustaining
The sway of economic prosperity has led farmers to use and exploit the land and the water of Point Reyes National Seashores for necessity means. In chapter 3, Summer Brennan describes how oyster production got started. Oyster mariculture has been implemented in New York for disadvantage people since the eighteenth century. However, as the demand
¨Wingfield and Kendall, living in disgrace strengthened themselves with the sailors and other confederates to regain their former credit and authority, or at least such means aboard the pinnace, to alter her course and to go for England.¨ In this essay, we will see that Jamestown and Plymouth are two very different colonies. They live in different places, have different reasons for settling, and probably have many reasons for them to come settle where they decided to settle. And yet, they also have similarities that bring them closer together because they mostly came from the same time of place looking for something. Even though these colonies have similarities and differences, they both still exude qualities that make them unique.
In Paul A. Gilje’s book, To Swear Like a Sailor, Gilje explains how maritime culture shaped our country, but more importantly how life at sea was just as much affected by life on dry land as life and literature on land affected sailors. This is especially since “the majority of Americans lived close to saltwater.” He uses examples from writers like Mark Twain, Herman Melville, James Fenimore Cooper, and even Edgar Allan Poe as sources. But stories such as Moby Dick, The Narrative of Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Red Rover and “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) were not the only sources of information Gilje reminds us of. Sailors themselves would “spin yarns,” keep logbooks and journals, and sometimes sell their works and
Being the first two well-known places in which the English would set out to colonize in 1607 and 1620, Jamestown, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts hold very separate set of beliefs, standards, and outlooks on life then and the future to come. While paving the way for things such as slavery, taxes, ownership of land, inclusion of women, tobacco and government assemblies, John Smith and the people of Jamestown became a classical foundation for new life and economic growth for the new world that is, the United States. On the other hand, William Bradford and his people began to realize the intentions of the Church of England were unholy and had strayed away from God’s teachings from the Bible. With this in mind, the Pilgrims set on a voyage to the new world to seek religious freedom. As we know it, the Pilgrims sought for peace and a new way of living that was fair, just and free from religious corruptions.
New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely of English origin, but by the 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. The difference in development occurred because of different religion beliefs, situations the colony was under, and different political views. Starting a colony wasn’t trouble-free. The settlers struggled with: starvation, lack of clean water, disease, and and indigenous people. Some settlers even disappeared almost completely, with the reasoning being unknown.
The colony of Jamestown was at a population of 504 after an arrival of a fleet of 9 ships carrying women, men, children and much needed food and supplies. Captain John Smith took hold of the chaotic government and put in place rigid policies of discipline and agricultural cultivation. In 1608 a gunpowder accident wounding Smith, his rivals used this opportunity to force him to return to England and name George Percy as his successor as president of the council. The day before John Smith’s departure, Captain Davis arrived with 16 other men adding to the population of Jamestown. However, a few weeks later, president Percy sent Captain Ratcliffe to build a fort for fishing and trade at Point Comfort.
Primarily, Smith’s theme in “A Description of New England” was personal gain. “The masters by this may quickly grow rich” (pg. 57 Norton Anthology).This is just one example. John Smith was previously talking about who he wanted sent to Jamestown; young fatherless children and young married couples, in other words people of “little wealth”.
Although all the colonists all came from England, the community development, purpose, and societal make-up caused a distinct difference between two distinct societies in New England and the Chesapeake region. The distinctions were obvious, whether it be the volume of religious drive, the need or lack of community, families versus single settlers, the decision on minimal wage, whether or not articles of agreements were drawn for and titles as well as other social matters were drawn, as well as where loyalties lay in leaders. New England was, overall, more religious than the Chesapeake region. Settlers in New England were searching relief for religious persecution in Europe. Puritans, Quakers, and Catholics were coming in droves to America searching for an opportunity to have religious freedom.
However this was not the most important thing, the most important thing was their education. Their education can be seen in a way as part of their culture. New Englanders were people who were highly educated and view their education as a way of living and also as a necessity. For the founders of the colony of New England established little settlements that offered education for the kids and also for the adults. Also as the people settled in the colony they brought in with them books and also brought other literal devices that helped them gain more education.
161076 10학년 양윤석 After a hundred years after Columbus’s momentous landfall, figure of the New world had already been conspicuously transformed. However, north of Mexico, America in 1600 remained largely unexplored and effectively unclaimed by Europeans. England was one of the country which enlarged its power on America during 1600s. Waves of Puritan immigrants arrived in the region of New England, and they started to form a new atmosphere. However, the biggest difference with the Chesapeake region’s inhabitants was that the Puritans didn’t aim primarily for economic benefit or trade.
The British colonies in the Chesapeake region and those of the New England region were both similar yet different in certain ways. One because both the colonist that settled there were looking for new opportunities. However, it was mostly second son aristocrats, which means the first born usually inherits the better half of the father’s riches. Their lives in England had either been mistreated or they were unable to flourish economically. Regardless of whether they were searching the land for expansive homesteads, religious freedom, or exchanging and merchant opportunities, the colonist in both regions were searching for another land in the New World.
The early Virginia and New England colonies differed politically, socially, and economically due to the situations that the settlers faced. Throughout many of the letters written about some of the experiences of the earlier settlers, one can easily see a major difference in the way of life of the two colonies. Although many of these colonies differed in the way of life, each colony faced some similar things that they each had to overcome. These challenges made a massive difference in the way that each of the colonies started out and directly influenced the future for both colonies. When these challenges are faced, many of the settlers will create the foundations of their political, social, and economic systems.
Whilst Chesapeake’s economy was based off of tobacco and sugar plantations. The geography of the land also had to do with the economy because in the Chesapeake Bay, the land was fertile and there was plenty of land to be used for plantations while in New England the land was rocky leading the settlers to look for other means of wealth. Even though both regions had wealth, New England was more inclined towards serving God than richness (Doc E). Written in 1676, document E’s purpose is to publicly show that New England is not about getting rich and that they have close ties to religion even in
With the discovery and colonization of the New World came the promise of a new life. A better life, at least according to individuals like Captain John Smith who described the New World as a land of plenty. A place where even an unskilled fisherman can hook three hundred cod, and where tradesmen “…by their labor may live exceedingly well.” (62-63). The south of this new continent was even called “a paradise, that could be attained with human effort” (72).