Owen D.

The Three Colonies

  

Introduction:

It's incredible that in 1609 there was a drought that caused people to eat rats, deadly snakes, and even dig up dead people and eat them! I can't believe that they actually did that. From the colonies of Roanoke, to Jamestown, and Plymouth.

Chapter 1: Roanoke

From a successful living colony to no colony at all. In the 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh, the ruler of England sent his people to explore the coast of north america with 2 ships and they found present-day North Carolina. The settlers named the place Roanoke. When they returned to England they told Sir Walter that there was fish, vegetables, animals, and friendly people. So far I think it is a pretty successful colony so far what do you think about it. When they returned the next year they brought farmers but they sadly ran short on supplies and they broke out in war against the Indians. They lost so they went back to England. I would feel terrible if we had such a good colony but then ran out of supplies and then on top of it you broke out in a war and lost. In 1587 Sir Walter sent 115 more new settlers to Roanoke including farmers, and skilled workers there. Then the settlers realized that the Roanokes would not give them food. So they sent John White back to England to get supplies but unfortunately England was in a war with Spain and could not leave England again. Three years later White finally came back and did not find a colony but instead he found the letters CROATOAN carved into a tree near a broken fort. No one ever found out the mystery of Roanoke to this day. 

         

Chapter:2 Jamestown

From 105 settlers to 38. In 1607, 105 settlers were sent to Jamestown by King James the 3rd from a colony in north america. Jamestown In 1607 was a very bad time to land the ship to Jamestown because it was the driest time in the world in 800 yrs. that means that it was very hard to hunt ,grow crops and other major priorities. When they landed, there was a starving time and it was so bad that that they had to eat poisonous animals and plants, old rotten meat and bread, and even dig up dead people and eat them how would you feel if that happened when you were just a kid?if I what experiencing that I would just try to leave with my family. At that time 214 settlers died and 60 survived! When they landed there were Powhatan Indians all around the area and there were 32 tribes of Powhatans and they had been living there for thousands of years. Also many many settlers died from a virus that spread from a mosquito. Within 8 months almost all of the settlers died from malaria (A deadly disease spread by mosquitoes). By January there were only 38 alive that's amazing!

Chapter 3: Plymouth   

How would you like it if you had to drink water with bacteria in it. The horrible voyage across the ocean with bacteria in your water , and even rotten food. The third English settlement was made in September 1620 when the pilgrims went on the mayflower and it was a terrible experience with disgusting bugs, and bacteria in water that they drank and also they had sleepless months but finally they got there and they finally got religious freedom because the pilgrims were separatists and they had there own religion. The pilgrims drew up a plan for the government of Plymouth and most of the men on the ship signed it and it was called the mayflower compact and they made it real. After exploring Plymouth they sailed over to the bay and they found what they were looking for. The first winter they had was terrible, it was so bad that they only had about six or seven settlers that could take care of the others. There were other Native Americans in the area and they were called Wampanoags but there was a man named Squanto who was a very helpful man because he helped the settlers and he taught them how to hunt, farm, and other priorities. Squanto was so helpful that the settlers thought he was sent by GOD. Sadly Squanto’s whole tribe died while being overseas at England. Another native american also visited the Plymouth colony and his name was Massasoit. Squanto tried to help sign a peace treaty with the Wampanoags and the Plymouth colony. In the fall the colony decided to have a celebration for the harvest they invited the other tribe to and they had a feast that is now called Thanksgiving. Later in 1621 a man named William Bradford  served as the governor of the colony for over 30 years. In the few next year's ships brought new settlers and the Plymouth colony is now current New England.

Conclusion

In all I went over the first three colonies we know about in the U.S.A named Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. In Roanoke it was a successful colony but then something happened we still don't know about..The mystery of Roanoke is how they just disappeared out of nowhere and some people think that they got kidnapped or they just left. The second colony is Jamestown and they had a successful colony but they had to go through a lot of hard times because when they landed the ship they landed when it was the driest time in 800 years so they had a very tough time living and they went from 105 settlers to 38. It was so bad that they had caretakers for the town. And last of the 3 colonies is Plymouth and they were a successful colony but when they came on the mayflower it was very hard to live because they had lots of bacteria in there water but besides from that they had a good colony. That is all you need to know about the three original colonies.