Jamestown: Britain's First Successful Colony in America

After the Roanoke debacle, which we will cover in depth on Thursday, England once again turned her gaze to the Atlantic Coast of North America. In 1607 John Smith and others led a group to the Virginia Coast and established Jamestown. This colony's main goal was to make a profit off the land for the Virginia Company, which was a business back in England. Unfortunately, there was essentially zero gold in Jamestown so the profit would have to come from selling crops from the New World to people back home. Unfortunately again, the original Jamestown settlers did not come to farm (they came for gold) so they were unprepared and ill-equipped.

For this week's blog, visit this site about Jamestown. Be sure to watch the videos about Jamestown. Also, explore the "Jamestown Settlement" tab on the left hand side of the screen for more information. In the comment section, list the 20 most interesting things you learned about Jamestown from exploring this site.

Dividing The World: Treaty of Tordesillas

One of the motivations for all this European exploration was competition between rival countries. Generally speaking, there were two major rivalries at this time: Spain vs. Portugal + England vs. France. In the case of Spain and Portugal, both Catholic countries called on the Pope (leader of the Roman Catholic Church) to settle a dispute about which part of the world each country now "owned the right to explore".

In the 1490s, Pope Alexander VI decided to draw an imaginary line down the Atlantic Ocean. Spain was then "given the right" to explore any lands west of this line and Portugal "got" anything east. For the comments this week, read these three articles (1, 2 and 3). Do you think the Pope's decision was wise? What might have been an alternate solution? Also, did the Pope really have the authority to make this decision?

Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca: Lost in the "New World"

One of the more interesting, but often overlooked, Spanish conquistador stories is that of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. He and his men landed in Florida (Tampa Bay), wandered throughout Texas and eventually found fellow Spaniards years later in Mexico. All the while, their numbers dwindled from disease and the harsh conditions.

Read this article, this article and watch this video to get a more complete picture of this story. In the comments section, pretend you are De Vaca after finally finding fellow Spaniards after years of wandering. Write a letter home to your family describing the "New World" and your adventures. Be sure to use actual details from his story.

Age of Exploration: New Technology

The time in history when Europeans started exploring Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean is known as the "Age of Exploration". As you will come to learn in class, there are many factors that led to European exploration. One of the more interesting was new technology. Now, what was considered "new technology" in the 1400s is not exactly what we'd consider cool today; however some of these inventions were completely life altering.

Here is your assignment for this week. Visit this site and choose ONE of the technology items described on the page. Then do your own Google search on the item you chose. In the comments section, explain what the invention was, how it worked and how it changed the lives of explorers. The catch is, once an invention is selected from the page and written about in the comments, you cannot pick it. So, it's first come//first served this week!