English Colonization in the Chesapeake: History, Impact, and Significance

ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN THE CHESAPEAKE
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In the year 1607, the British established its first permanent colony in Jamestown in the
Chesapeake Bay region by the Virginia Company, and they settled near the mouth of the James
River1. The colonists were faced with several difficulties such as conflicts with the natives,
starvation, the source of stable food and support. However, along with days, the story turned to a
different direction. The paper aims to discuss the English colonisation in the Chesapeake in the
1600s.
By the end of 1700, the Virginia colonists already made their fortunes with the help of
tobacco cultivation. The same pattern of colonising Virginia was also followed in Maryland and
the Carolinas. Virginia was entirely a different place considering the political and religious
aspect from the English colonies. Regardless of being Anglican or not, it was mandatory to pay
tax to the Church of England that was established in Virginia. However, the church membership
was a factor of consideration. For there were several clergymen, and few churches kept the
Virginias from attending the Church of England. Therefore, religion was of secondary
significance in the Virginia Colony.
Tobacco was a successful experiment which established itself as the main exportable
commodity and the source of revenue2. More than half of the settlers in the southern colonies
approached Americans as indentured servants in order to repay an agency or person for passage
across the Atlantic. After the labours were free from their contract, a small tract of land was
given to them in the colony.
Maryland was found by Lord Baltimore, a Catholic of England. He drew up charters that
allowed the establishment of churches of all religions3. Virginia and Maryland had established a
1 Roper, Louis H. The English Empire in America, 1602-1658: Beyond Jamestown. Routledge, 2015.
2 Isenberg, Nancy. White trash: The 400-year untold history of class in America. Penguin, 2017.
3 Craven, Wesley Frank. The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, 1607--1689: A History of the South.
Vol. 1. LSU Press, 2015.