What was it like to live in the fort at Jamestown? Who was in charge? What provisions were there? And why is this considered to be the birthplace of enslavement in the United States?Don is joined by Jamestowne Rediscovery's Willie Balderson to dive into the years following the establishment of the British settlement. Join them to hear more about the lives of those who made the journey to the unknown in the 17th Century.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.
Chapter 1: What was life like in the Jamestown fort?
Um herauszufinden, bin ich bei Willie Ballerson, Direktor von Leben, Geschichte und historischen Verträgen bei Jamestown Rediscovery. Grüße, Willie. Schön, mit dir zu sein. So glücklich, mit dir zu sein. In den vorigen zwei Episoden haben wir die Geburt von Jamestown besprochen und dann haben wir die Beziehungen mit indigenen Bevölkerungen diskutiert.
Wir werden in diesem Episode mehr über die Tag-zu-Tag-Operationen des Places sprechen. Wie haben sie es angefangen? Wie haben sie es gestartet? Und dann, was ist am Ende passiert? This all happens, what I'm talking about, over what period of time exactly?
Chapter 2: How did Jamestown's leadership structure work?
Well, a tremendous misconception, I know we're going to get to that discussion, is that Jamestown was a failure, that it didn't last. But it's established in 1607 in Jamestown. The actual town on Jamestown Island will remain the capital for 92 years. They don't move the seat of government until 1699. The earliest years are surely the worst, the bumpiest.
And most folks fixate on about the first 13 to 17 years. They draw from that that there's no way that it could have succeeded.
And the entity that actually founds it is called the Virginia Company of London, which is chartered under King James I, hence Jamestown. But the existence of this particular enterprise lasts, I guess, from 1607 to 1624. Is that fair?
That's correct. The company is dissolved in 1624. Okay.
So let's talk about the founding of this. Who's in charge of the Virginia Company?
Es ist ein Gruppe von Merchanten in London und sie haben für 100 Jahre den enormen Erfolg beobachtet, den die Spanier, in der Anfangszeit auch die Portugieser, in der Exploitation der neuen Welt hatten. Und sie wollen auf das Stück der Aktion einsteigen. Und im Jahr 1606 können sie King James auf einem Zertifikat signieren.
They have in their minds that the new world in Virginia, the Chesapeake region, is going to be largely the same as what was in Central and South America. And there's going to be gold and silver and medicinal plants, culinary herbs. Everything that the Spanish have had, hopefully in larger quantity, will be found along the Mid-Atlantic. And so the joint stock company is established.
They immediately sell shares of stock. Finally, the English Yeah, it would feel that way to these folks after three months across the ocean.
dass das ein Alien-Welt ist, in das sie reisen. Sie müssen also eine komfortable Struktur für sich selbst erstellen, die sich an die alten Tage erinnert. Das erste, was passiert, ist, dass sie diese Orte öffnen, als sie angekommen sind. Ein pivoter Moment, wie man es sich vorstellen kann. War es typisch für all diese Art von Unternehmensveranstaltungen mit Spanisch und Deutsch und so weiter?
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Chapter 3: Who were the key figures in Jamestown's early years?
Interestingly, the first representative assembly in English North America, isn't it, that convenes in Jamestown?
Well, they would elect one council. Und was ist ihre Mission? Was sagen die Ordner ihnen? Basically, if you are going to establish yourself in a new world, you want to have discipline, but the driving force is to find some commodity that the company can in turn, once it is shipped back to England, will be able to sell and turn a profit for the shareholders.
It is all based on a company model that we're going to go somewhere, we're going to exploit what we can find, Und die Produkte werden zurückgebracht. Die Verkäufer werden reich sein. Das bedeutet mehr Stockkosten, mehr Geld investiert, um mehr Schiffe, mehr Menschen, mehr Penetration in die Landwirtschaft zu senden. Das war die Erwartung.
Es war eine Art, den Kronen auch zu schützen, war es nicht? Wenn man diese kommerzielle Entität kreiert, wenn es falsch geht, ist es ihre Schuld und die Verkäufer werden ihr Geld verlieren, aber es reflektiert nicht schlecht oder kostet dem Kronen mehr Geld.
King James was reluctant to sign off on this company for the fear that the Spanish might feel threatened by it. King James ascends the throne in 1603. And in 1604, a treaty with the Spanish is signed. There were a number of treaties of London that were signed. They are defined by the year that they're defined. And the Treaty of London in 1604, by that treaty, King James ceded, that is surrendered,
Any claim to what is today South America, Central America and North America, well above the northernmost province of New Spain, which was Florida. And the other selling point for the company to allow them to get the charter in 1606 was that of all the wealth that the company would find, King James would receive a fifth of it.
So he was just a business partner in a way.
Absolutely. That's interesting. Albeit silent, at least in the beginning.
The language, as I understand it, in these orders reads, Pretty straightforward. So this council of five or six, five gentlemen and one, basically they're going to make all the rules for the foreseen future. There's no one exactly in charge. There's no president of the council.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did early settlers face in Jamestown?
Und die Flüchtlinge haben sie aufs Meer gebracht, sie in einen Tent gesetzt, mit dem Sonnenlicht auf sie. Und als sie sie endlich geöffnet haben, sagt Smith berühmt, es gab so viele Wurzeln, wie es in unserer Ernährung war. Eine große Teil der Mordqualität des ersten Sommers befand sich in schlechtem Essen und schlechtem Wasser.
Smith ist also auf dem Weg, als sie alle, die erfolgreichsten, von Dysentery zurückgekehrt haben, den ersten Sommer. Sie haben ihn rausgebracht, um den Truck-Meister zu werden. Und ich bin sicher, dass einige der Herren hofft, dass er nicht zurückkommen wird. Ja, genau. Aber er ist zurückgekommen.
Ja, er war erfolgreich. And he comes back and he creates two maps, as I understand, which were sent back to London, but those maps were lost.
He will explore the Chesapeake the following summer, the summer of 1608. And he leaves the fort two times. He's gone seven weeks each time. And that first exploration, he went halfway up the Chesapeake Bay. He dropped down and he went all the way up the Potomac River, above what is today Washington, D.C., to the Great Falls. And he writes about This great falling of water. He comes back down.
He's about to go up the Rappahannock River. And because of low tide, the two-ton barge that he's exploring the Chesapeake in grounds. And as they're waiting for the tide to rise, he's out waist deep in water with his sword fishing as he writes, nailing fish to the ground. And he makes the mistake of jabbing a stingray.
Und wenn er es von seinem Schwert entfernt, der Stingray, schießt er ihn in die Rüste. Er denkt, er wird sterben. Und durch die merkwürdige Anwendung eines prekärsten Öls, ist der Schmerz versäumt. Er isst den Fisch zu seinem Abendessen, schreibt er. Aber der Schmerz ist schlecht, also zurückkehrt er nach Jamestown. Wieder eine near-death-Experience. Er ruft drei Tage auf.
And then he sets off again and he goes all the way up on that second voyage, all the way up to the Susquehannock River.
Wow.
Explores all of that, comes back to Jamestown, the 7th of September, 1608. He's using triangulation. He's explored from point to point, point along the bay. Copious notes. He'll be elected the president of the council, the 10th of September, 1608. And he... Es ist, als er den berühmten Quote des 2. Thessalonians uttert, diejenigen, die nicht arbeiten, nicht essen sollen.
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Chapter 5: How did John Smith influence Jamestown's survival?
Das ist mehr ein Draft des James-Rivers, vielmehr bis zum Rappahannock-River, zwei Räder.
I'm harping on this only because I want to know, did he understand that he was part, where they were was part of this greater continent, aside from that even went further west or not?
Smith, when he's exploring the Chesapeake Bay, will talk to the Susquehannock Native Americans, hoping that the Susquehannock River will be fed from an ocean, the China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, but it's being fed from the west. And he's really deflated when he discovers that, no, it comes from bodies of water, that would be the Great Lakes, but they're fed from the east.
And he'll send a scathing letter back to the company in the fall of 1608, telling them, there isn't an inland sea, All my reconnoitering is offering that this body of land, he doesn't call it the continent at this point, but it is endless.
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Who were these settlers? They were all men at first. How were they chosen and how did they operate when they got there?
Think of it, Don, as being broken up into three parts. The gentlemen, investors, some of them have enough money and means to come over. So a third were gentlemen, a third were skilled laborers,
And tradesmen, you know, you're going to find all this gold, you've got to have someone that can make barrels, coopers, to make barrels, to put all the gold in and gold refiners and blacksmiths, tailors, because if you're a gentleman, you've got to look good As you're thinking about all that gold.
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Chapter 6: What was the role of the Virginia Company in Jamestown?
Ja, sie fanden Leute, die schon das Gold gefunden haben. Ja. Yeah, yeah. But that, again, there are societies at this point, we're very well aware nowadays, huge societies that have gone up through the middle of the nation, what we call the United States today, the Cahokia Mounds and so forth. I mean, really, they weren't that far away from really big civilizations.
Absolutely, absolutely not. The burden is, you've got the Blue Ridge Mountains and then the Appalachians and they won't be traversed until the 18. Jahrhundert. Genau.
Aber hatten sie das gemacht, was die Spanier gemacht haben, brachten ihre Armeen oder was auch immer. Es war eine andere Geschichte.
Es könnte aufgehört haben. Ohne Zweifel. Ohne Zweifel. Aber sie werden wirklich in den Meiern der Wälder von Jamestown gebogen. Ja. Und es ist eine andere wunderschöne Sache, dass sie, auch damit, die Kapital auf Jamestown Island für 92 Jahre gehalten haben.
Ja, genau. Wie viele Siedler waren da zu Beginn? Ich versuche nur, den Skopel der Dinge zu bekommen.
There was 105 men and boys that left London on the voyage over on They don't have enough food. They anticipate the voyage will be 12 weeks and it takes them four and a half months. So in turn they discover they've got to find food and they start stopping at islands. And they go ashore on the island of Mona.
And one of the gentlemen insists on going ashore because, well, we're now in the realm of New Spain. He's a gentleman. He's had other people to do all the labor for him. But he's going to dig and find the first gold. And he succumbs to probably heat stroke and dies. So even though it was 105 that departed London, only 104 arrive at Jamestown.
And within two weeks of their arrival, they're attacked by the local Native Americans. Jamestown Island wasn't occupied, but one of the local chiefs, was using it more or less as a hunting preserve. And these newcomers, outsiders, arrive and start cutting down trees and erecting their tents. And certainly they enlisted reprisals.
Shooting his deer and geese.
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Chapter 7: Were there any misconceptions about Jamestown's success?
Juni. Also, wenn sie 104 hatten, als sie angekommen sind, dann 103, dann 10 mehr, 93. Also, sie haben ungefähr 93 Leute, wenn Newport in der Mitte des Juni verlässt. Und am 10. September wurde geschrieben, dass sie 46 mehr verloren haben. Das ist der erste Sommer. Dann im Mittelpunkt des Oktober ist es 51. Also sind sie jetzt gut unter der Hälfte.
Und das ist, als John Smith getappt wird oder volunteeriert wird, um Truckmaster zu sein. And he starts trading. And more by intimidation than negotiation, he's successful in getting food.
And that's how they make it through that first winter and even the second one.
That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
It's the third one, the famous starving time, 1609 into 10, right? That's when things are really bad. Before that, I want to understand, when did the women arrive? 1608, as I understand.
First two women will arrive in 1608. A lady, Und ihre Mannschaftsservantin, Frau Forrest und ihre Mannschaftsservantin ist Anne Burroughs. Und innerhalb von drei Monaten wissen wir, dass Anne Burroughs mit einem der ersten Kolonisten verheiratet ist. Einer der 1607-Kolonisten. Und Historiker tappen oft das als die Paramount-Success-Story. We're talking about one person from 1607.
There are several, but John Layton, who marries Anne Burris, they'll have four daughters, and they are still around, alive, into the early 1630s. But make no mistake, Don, they are the exception to the general rule.
My God. Lord Bacon, a member of the Council for Virginia, states about 1620, this is sometime later, but it's an interesting quote, that when a plantation grows to strength, then it is time to plant with women as well as men, that the plantation may spread into generations and not be forever pieced from without.
Was ich interessant finde, ist das, was wir in Episode 2 besprochen haben, was das Anfang der Idee der Pflanzung war. Die Routen des amerikanischen Südens, was direkt in den 19. Jahrhundert und weiter geht, beginnt wirklich mit Jamestown, mit der Idee, diese agro-faktorische Fabrik zu erschaffen.
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