Jamestown in Context: The Colonization of North America
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SET

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:

• develop a historical argument of the cause-and-effect relationship between conditions in Spain, France, and England and their interests in colonization
• analyze the significance of Jamestown in the broader picture of colonization
• analyze a historical document to determine the effects of previous explorations on the expectations of the Jamestown colonizers

RELEVANCE

This lesson traces the course of colonization of North America by Spain, France, and England. The establishment and expansion of early colonies and the geographic, political, and economic characteristics of these colonies provide a basis for understanding subsequent events in American history such as the French and Indian War. Language and culture in different North American geographic areas reflect the ethnicities of the early colonizers.

INVOLVEMENT OF THE LEARNERS

Ask students, "What would be a good enough reason for you to pack up and go to a place you know nothing about with no certainty of ever returning?"

EXPLANATION

ORGANIZATION

Teacher engages class in a lecture/discussion on the course of colonization based on lecture notes and the following questions.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What are some common motives for colonization shared by all three colonial powers? What are some different motives?
2. Why didn't the Spanish and English enslave Indians instead of importing African slaves?
3. How much influence did the involvement of the national government have on the success of a colony?
4. Did the Spanish motivations for colonization differ between the king and the colonizers? What about the English? French?
5. What is the significance of Jamestown in the grand scheme of colonization?

ACTIVITY

Divide students into four equal groups. Hand out a copy of the Instructions for the Virginia Colony, 1606 to each group. Assign duties in each group (leader, question reader, document reader, scribe, spokesperson, etc.). Have groups answer the following questions and then discuss the questions as a class.

1. What did the English learn from previous colonizers?
2. What did the English hope to find in Jamestown?
3. What kind of response did the English expect to receive from the native inhabitants?

EVALUATION

CLOSURE

Ask students, "If you could have been on a mission of colonization with English, French, or Spanish, which country would you have gone with and why?"

ASSESSMENT

Have students write a short, imaginative paper, using the interests and motivations of the colonizers covered in the lecture, on how Virginia and the nation might have been different if Jamestown were colonized by the French or the Spanish instead of the English.

MATERIALS

• Lecture Notes
• Instructions for the Virginia Colony, 1606

For further reading

Priestley, Herbert. The Coming of the White Man. Chicago: Quadrangle (1929).

Brebner, John Bartlett. The Explorers of North America, 1492-1806. New York: World (1933).

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