Sir Humphrey Gilbert's First Voyages: The First Colonies

Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1583) was the first man to attempt a voyage to another land. He brought with him five ships, and 200 settlers. However, there time in the new lands was a terrible experience for the men and they attempted to return home, but their ships sunk at sea during their trip back to England. The second voyage was attempted by a man named Sir Walter Raleigh. His colony is known as the lost colony. When they arrived at what he called Virginia they did not have enough supplies, however, Britain couldn’t bring supplies fast enough, and by the time supplies did reach the land, the colony was gone. To this day, no one knows what happened. After the two attempts the government realized they would need to be more involved in funding the voyages out to new land. There were two groups who planned to help fund and create their own colonies. The London Company and the

Plymouth Company, both were under control of Royal Counsel.
The London Company was located south of Virginia, and the second group was the Plymouth Company which was located north of Virginia. They were both allowed to search for valuables and were instructed to spread Christianity to Native Americans they encountered. The starting of these colonies had a rough time actually getting the colony up and running. Most didn’t know how to pioneer, they thought it a good idea to settle in Malaria infested swamp environment, claiming it was for their protection against Native American. The colony was dying, because no one knew what to do about the illnesses and farming. They were saved by Captain John Smith, a man who knew farming was essential to survival, and started a trading system with the Indians. He knew keeping peace with them was vital for the colony’s survival. They could not afford any bloodshed.
The colonies only used Indians for supplies and crops when convenient for their survival, but when they didn’t need the Indians, they ignored them and acted as though they didn’t exist. This angered the Indians and also started the Indians taking away what they had given the colonists. This caused the death of most colonist. England sent more people, but most died. Between 1606-1622 the London Company invested 160,000 pounds in Virginia, and sent 6,000 people over. Fewer were alive in 1622, less than 2,000 survived. In the year 1625 the population was down to 1,300 colonist. In fact the people started being cannibalized for their own survival. During this time in the year 1612 the London Company tried setting up their own government. Merchants in the company tried setting up a House of Burgess. However, in the year 1624 the London Company was phased out altogether, and Virginia belonged to the Royal Counsel.
The second group who funded the voyage to Virginia was the Plymouth Company.

They were supposed to land in Virginia with the London Company, however they ended up in Massachusetts instead. These people we called, pilgrims they were on the famous ship called the Mayflower. When they arrived the pilgrims created the Mayflower Compact which stated they were free from all government rules. Their rules were going to be rules based on a select group of chosen people. William Bradford was chosen as their first governor. Luckily for the Pilgrims there was an English speaking Indian who chose to help them settle into their new land, and introduce them to new crops and show them the land. This was the start of a widely celebrated holiday, Thanksgiving, first started by the Pilgrims and the Native Americans to celebrate a new bond of friendship with each other. In the year 1630 more puritans were driven from England by James I and son, Charles I. 1,000 puritans left England and landed in a part of Massachusetts they called Boston. By the year 1640 there were well over 10,000 settlers in

Massachusetts.
The similarities of the start of Virginia and Massachusetts are they are both funded by the Royal Counsel. Both Virginia and Massachusetts had a hard time getting started which resulted in disease, death, and famine. Both colonies relied on the Native Americans to help them get their feet off the ground, and show them how to survive in the atmosphere of both colonies. Both colonies created for themselves a form of self-government from English rule, and both founded a new place to live separate from Europe.
The differences of Virginia and Massachusetts is how they went about doing these things. Virginia decided to make camp in a Malaria infested swamp, and Massachusetts made camp on the dry land shown to them by the Native Americans. Virginia misused the Indians help and services and angered the Indians. Massachusetts befriended the Indians (even if the trust did not last). Virginia created a self-government to separate themselves from the Royal Council, and instead got phased out and taken control over by Europe. Massachusetts elected, chosen people to run their colony and chose a man who they thought would help them grown. Virginia and Massachusetts had a lot of comparisons to how they grew, but the difference is shown in how they chose to go about the situations they found themselves in and how they grew as a colony.