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December 15, 2017
Societies in Chesapeake, the West Indies, and New England
In the 17th Century, over 700,000 people traversed the Atlantic to reach the English colonies located in North America as well as the Caribbean. England in particular sent out various groups to the eastern coast of North America to two regions of Chesapeake and New England. Even though the two would, later on, be bonded into one nation in the 1700s, it was apparent that the two had separate and unique identities from the start. These differences can be explained by one major factor - the motivation or reason why the settlers traversed into the New World.
The Chesapeake region of the colonies, which encompassed the areas of Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania,
The New England and the Southern colonial settlements were united in several areas that created the opportunity for each group of colonies to grow. However, these groups of colonies took divergent paths when it came to the founders’ motives to settle the New World, the importance of religious and social orientation, economic approaches and political developments. These different approaches were ultimately successful beyond the early founders’ expectations.
The Chesapeake and New England regions were settled by people of English descent, but by 1700, they had become two distinctly different societies. They had evolved so differently, mainly because of the way that the settlers followed their religion, their way of conducting politics and demographics in the colonies. Even though the settlers came from the same homeland: England, each group had its own reasons for coming to the New World and different ideas planned for the colonies.
The Crusades of the middle ages introduced much innovative and formerly unheard of merchandise into Western Europe; however the scarcity of these luxury goods instilled Europeans with drive to find easier access to the Far East. Although desired "Northwest Passage" never was found, joint-stock companies, like the Virginia Company of London, settled colonies in the New World for untapped resources such as silver and other tradable goods. Many more corporations followed suit, settling mainly in the Chesapeake Bay area, their small settlements eventually developing into the Chesapeake colonies. The Chesapeake colonies were focused primarily on profitable enterprises. At the same time, the New England colonies were being settled with a whole different set of initiatives, principally religious freedoms and family. Governing bodies were established, with their success dependent on the quality of the settlers the colony attracted. The different motives for settlement affected the routine events in such a way that the New England and Chesapeake colonies differed very greatly from one another even though they were both mainly settled by the English.
The settler’s purpose for coming to America and the obstacles faced in both nature and with the natives caused the New England and Chesapeake regions to develop different societies. The problems that the regions faced were both similar and devastating, yet they had different effects on the regions. They way in which the problems were handled as well as the extremity played a large role in this and helped in the regions obtaining different societies. Despite the fact that the settlers originated from the same area in Europe, they created different societies in their New World homes.
Looking at the early English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay region, it’s clear that the English had not learned any lessons from their experiences at Roanoke. Poor planning, a bad location, unrealistic expectations, flawed leadership, unsuccessful relations with the local Indians, and no hope of finding the mineral wealth the Spanish found in Mexico, all contributed to failure. The first colonists in the Chesapeake region were not only ignorant, lazy and unambitious, but their attempts were hampered before they had begun. However, a solution to these problems was found in a single plant: tobacco. Nevertheless, this cash crop ultimately created numerous problems for the colonists. The ignorance and indolent acts of the Chesapeake colonists to unsuccessfully restore the colony by themselves led to the demise of the colony as a whole especially regarding the planting of agricultural goods for food.
...ere more concerned about the commonwealth of the people due to their strong sense of community. Chesapeake government placed a harsh rule to ensure the survival of the settlers like the colony of Jamestown. New England had a diverse product due to poor soil and cold weather. They engaged in small scale agriculture, fishing, trading and shipbuilding. The Chesapeake regions had a warmer climate therefore it was more suitable to farm. The economic products that the Chesapeake region produced were tobacco and rice. The New England colonies were more of a community than the Chesapeake colonies. One of the reasons was that the settlers New England emigrated as a family and the Chesapeake emigrants were mostly males with the ambition to find gold and to own a large plantation; this resulted in mostly male population without female to enforce a sense of a real community.
While both the people of the New England region and of the Chesapeake region descended from the same English origin, by 1700 both regions had traveled in two diverse directions. Since both of these groups were beset with issues that were unique to their regions and due to their exposure to different circumstances, each was forced to rethink and reconstruct their societies. As a result, the differences in the motivation, geography, and government in the New England and Chesapeake regions caused great divergence in the development of each.
During colonial times, European nations quickly colonized the New World years after Columbus’ so called discovery. England in particular sent out a number of groups to the east coast of the New World to two regions. These areas were the New England and the Chesapeake regions. Later in the late 1700s, these two regions would go though many conflicts to come together as one nation. Yet, way before that would occur; these two areas developed into two distinct societies. These differences affected the colonies socially, economically, and politically.
The Chesapeake and New England attracted different types of settlers and, by 1700, the populations differed enormously.
During the 1700's, people in the American colonies lived in very distinctive societies. While some colonists led hard lives, others were healthy and prosperous. The two groups who showed these differences were the colonists of the New England and Chesapeake Bay areas. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to economy, religion, and motives for colonial expansion. The colonists of the New England area possessed a very happy and healthy life. This high way of living was due in part to better farming, a healthier environment, and a high rate of production because of more factories. The colonists of the Chesapeake Bay region, on the other hand, led harder lives compared to that of the colonists of New England. The Chesapeake Bay had an unhealthy environment, bad eating diets, and intolerable labor.
A community is a group of people who work together towards a common goal and share a common interest. Lack of such a quality can and most likely will cause a struggling town or city to fall into the extremes of poverty and wealth. The New England community was so strong and so supportive in comparison to that of the Chesapeake Bay, that it is no wonder they developed into two distinctly different cultures before the year 1700. The Chesapeake region developed into a land of plantations and money-driven owners, with the elite wealthy, almost no middle class, and those in poverty creating the population. New England, on the other hand, had developed into a religion and family based society comprised of mostly middle class families by 1700. Looking at the terrain, ethic, government, and even the people themselves, reveals clues about how the drastic split in society came to be. It was one America, but two distinct societies had developed in it by the 1700's.
In the 17th century, England was late when it came to the colonization of the new world. Which went through many changes before it was able to test the waters, forming the first settlements in the mid-Atlantic, Virginia. Under the guise of a noble mission given to them by King James I, the Virginia Company funded the first Colonies in Virginia. Years later, after perfecting their skills at surviving this new land, colonies in the south, Carolina were formed. These two regions both had their share of challenges, but they overcame them in different ways. Each had a method of doing things by force or from trial and error. The world in 1606 was very different than the world of today, but this is a story based on the
During the 17th century, many different economic, geographic, and social factors shaped the Chesapeake region and New England. The difference in development between New England and the Chesapeake region occurred because they were founded for different purposes, they had very different climates, and they had very different economic gaps.
The Roanoke colony was located on the Roanoke Island, in Dare County. This is where North Carolina is located today. In 1584, explorers Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe were the first Europeans to set view the island. They were sent to that particular region by Sir Walter Raleigh with the assignment of exploring the extensive sounds and estuaries in hunt of an ideal location for settlement. Barlowe wrote bright information of Roanoke Island, and when the explorers returned to England a year afterward with two Natives, Manteo and Wanchese, all of London was abuzz with chat of the New World’s wonders.Queen Elizabeth, impressed with the results of the reconnaissance voyage, knighted Raleigh as a reward. The new ground was named “Virginia” in respect of the Virgin Queen, and the next year, Raleigh sent a gathering of 100 militia, miners and scientists to Roanoke Island. It was a late 16th century attempt for England to establish a permanent settlement. Queen Elizabeth 1 was queen at the time. The attempt was put together and financed by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Sir Gilbert drowned in his attempt to colonize St.John’s, Newfoundland. His half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh, gained his deceased brothers charter. He would execute the details of the charter through his delegates Ralph Lane and Richard Greenville. Greenville was a distant cousin of Raleigh. Raleigh’s charter specified that he needed to establish a colony in the North America continent, or he would lose his right to colonization. Raleigh and Elizabeth hoped that the colony would provide riches from the New World and a location from which to send privateers on raids against the treasure fleets of Spain. Raleigh never had visited the continent of North America, although he did lead e...
Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. Conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which led to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves are a cheap and abundant resource, which can be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery. The Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland were settled in the early 17th century.