FounderVirginia was founded in 1607 by a man named John Smith and a group of colonists, including John Rolfe. In the beginning, a band of affluent businessmen made a request to King James the First, to establish a settlement in America. Once these men got permission from the king, they created the Virginia Company and set off into the New World. Their objective was to find similar prosperity like the Spanish and to form more power by claiming more land.
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RegionColonial Virginia was a Southern colony at the time. Originally, the people of England or Europeans, founded this state at the time. A company called the London Company or most commonly known as, the Virginia Company, started the voyage there. First, this company needed permission from King James the First to establish this colony. Once they've received permission to go to Virginia, they prepared three ships called Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery for the New World.
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Occupations
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Farming
Farming was very popular in the beginning of Virginia. Due to the warm weather and nutritious soil, it flourished.
Their main cash crop was tobacco, while the other crops were corn, wheat and cotton.
Their main cash crop was tobacco, while the other crops were corn, wheat and cotton.
Daily Life Fashion
Being a colonist in Virginia was not easy. Life was often short for most people, illnesses were uncontrolled and
many nuptials took place. Due to the little knowledge people had of diseases, doctors would use ridiculous treatments like using leeches to cure leukemia. As for traveling, most was done by riding on horses, boats or by foot.To amuse themselves, children would often dance, play outside, play board games, sew or fish. The majority of children never did go to school since school houses weren't very common at the time. |
Clothing in colonial Virginia was very different compared to the clothing now and the options we have now. Clothing for men and women depended on their class. A man would usually wear a few of the following:
As for women, they often wore clothing that would make manual labor difficult at times. Here are some of the clothing pieces you would find on a average women in colonial Virginia:
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Architecture
For most people in Virginia, their houses were made of wood, a regular roof made of shingles or a clapboard one, a chimney usually made of wood mixed in with clay and wooden shutters rather than glass for the windows. For the more well built or higher ranking houses, they would have glass windows, a painted exterior and some stone or brick houses. Low class or high, these houses were always weather proofed. The picture on the left shows a common house and what it consists of. These types of houses can go many years without repair, sometimes up to ten years! As for plantation houses, they were more impressive than your average colonist home. Built and made by talented people, these homes would have the latest furniture and house style. As Virginia became a wealthy colony and more people started arriving, styles became to differ. Due to different cultures and different people, there would be more variety in house styles like the Federal style, Georgian and New England Colonial.
GovernmentSome may think that Virginia was looked over by English government officials even though it was actually controlled by the Virginia Company of London starting from 1607 to 1624. After arriving in Virginia, the people currently there were governed by a council consisting of seven members. They were selected before the arrival in Virginia by the Virginia Company's board back at London. The first leader of the council was a man named Edward-Maria Winfield, he was elected by everyone else to lead it. Due to the lack of communications with London, they weren't able to control every aspect of Jamestown, leaving the council with more freedom to manage on their own. This however didn't change anything at first, the colonists were difficult to control. This all changed in 1608 when John Smith became the new leader of this council, he was able to motivate them more and be a better leader than the previous. In that same year, King James the First reexamined parts of the charter and it's government formation in the Virginia colony. This allowed the board of London to appoint a governor that was also granted permission to hand select his own council members. Shortly after, they sent the new governor of Virginia and his new council members on two ships in 1609. Sadly, both ships were lost at sea. Later on though, the new leaders finally arrived, they created a martial law that brought more order to the colony. The governor at the time was a man named Sir George Yeardley. While ruling over Virginia, he was given orders from the Virginia Company to give land to colonists that paid their costs to come here. This is widely known as the Headright system, where every person that paid their dues was given 50 arces of land, with a additional 50 more arces if they brought another person with them.After that, he order every community in Virginia to vote for two representatives for the House of Burgesses. He also made the council's governor apart of a General Assembly. The General Assembly would create and pass local laws while the House of Burgesses was a smart technique that made Virginia colonists comply with the government mandates.
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EntertainmentEntertainment in colonial Virginia consisted of many things. Children in this period would often go fishing, dance, sing together, go outside to play or whittle wood.
Women and men would usually do the same things as children. Going to Church and festivals was also looked forward to by Southerners. Later on in this time period, women in the upper class would sometimes do embroidery, paint or sketch. Men would either hunt for fun or do other activities. |
Religion
When colonists first arrived to Virginia, they didn't come to this land seeking religious freedom, but for financial reasons like becoming wealthy. This doesn't mean that they didn't believe in religion, in fact most thought it was important, they just didn't pay much attention to it at first. After they've gotten settled in more, a Anglican church was established. There job was usually to stop religious arguments from getting out of hand and they decided the legitimate form of religion. The chief of the church was The king of England, James the First. Anglicans weren't very hostile to other beliefs, instead they welcomed and tried to persuade protestants or other believers, to come to Virginia. Ever since 1607 to 1786, religion was involved with political matters, but that ended with government leaders putting a line between these two affairs when they accepted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. When this was accepted, the Anglican church was no longer supported by taxes and wasn't the dominant form of belief. This allowed other forms of religion to be accepted and not be shun upon by society.
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