PRESENTATION OUTLINE
MAJOR SETTLEMENTS
- Jamestown
- Williamsburg
- Richmond
ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
Tobacco became the economic force for Virginia. This increased the employment of slaves to grow crops.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Enslaved field hands: worked in planting tobacco.
Enslaved house servants: worked as cooks, laundresses, skilled jobs, man servants.
Free blacks: worked in a wide range of skilled jobs.
Farmers: worked for farms for only their own families.
Middling: worked in trading, as professionals, lawyers, doctors.
Gentry: large land owners, wealthy merchants and financiers.
PHSYICAL ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT
The Virgina colony was one of the warmest of the English colonies, winters were not difficult to survive, however, the hot and humid summers made the spread of disease. The warm climate made it possible to grow crops throughout the year.
ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Because of the tobacco agriculture they had, they proved the English market. This created importation and employment for slaves.
INTERACTION WITH NATIVE TRIBES
Smith treated them as slaves. Indians began attacking them and burning their crops. After a few decades the Indians realized that the English presence meant more plantation, felling more forest and a greater threat to their way of life.
ROLE OF SLAVERY
They were first brought in 1916 when a Dutch ship sold 20 blacks from the West Indies to the Virginia Colony.
They had the largest slave population, their role was to work on the plantations and servant working for the English. Plantations grew cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar, and other crops
