10 European colonies in America that failed before Jamestown
The Jamestown settlement
in Virginia, which officially was started on May 14, 1607, was one of
the first European colonies to last in North America, and was
historically significant for hosting the first parliamentary assembly in
America.
The success of tobacco as an
early cash crop helped Jamestown weather the loss of most early
colonists to disease, starvation, and attacks by the resident population
of Native Americans.
A turning point in Jamestown’s
fortunes was in 1619, when a General Assembly met at a church on July
30. Two representatives from 11 regions of the area debated the
qualifications of membership and other matters for six days. A heat wave
ended the session of what would be known as the House of Burgesses.
The session established a government that citizens could address to settle grievances and end legal disputes.It was a huge step forward, since numerous European attempts to establish any foothold in North America had failed for almost a century.
Spain has tried to establish at
least five colonial settlements in North America during the 16th
century. It had established footholds in Mexico, the Caribbean, and
Peru.
But Spanish efforts failed in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia, in short order.
The settlement of San Miguel de
Gualdape in what is now Georgia or South Carolina was built in 1526 with
the first use of African slaves in North America. It only lasted three
months. The colonists dealt with same problems as the Jamestown
residents, with the added dimension of a slave revolt.
Another Spanish attempt near St. Petersburg, Florida, failed in 1527.
Fort San Juan was another failed
Spanish effort in what is now western North Carolina in 1566 and 1567.
The fort was abandoned and most other troops at other forts died.
The Spanish also tried to set up
a Jesuit mission in Virginia in 1570, which failed when it was left
unprotected and its priests and brothers were killed.
France failed in three attempts,
before Jamestown, to set up colonies in the current-day United States
in South Carolina, Florida and Maine. The settlement at Sainte-Croix
Island in 1604 quickly moved on to a fort at Port Royal in Nova Scotia,
in order to survive. Half the settlers died at Port Royal, and the
survivors moved on to what became Quebec.
And the English had two notable failures.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke was
set up in 1585 and its first settlers lasted almost a year, until they
went back to England with Sir Frances Drake. A small force was left to
guard a fort.
A second expedition returned in 1587 to try again to establish a
settlement. The guards were all missing. About 115 people stayed behind.
When English ships returned three years later, all the people, and
their buildings, were gone.The Popham Colony in Maine was established at the same time as Jamestown but only lasted for one year.
There were some early colonies that did survive from the pre-Jamestown era.
The settlement at Saint
Augustine in Florida endured since about 600 colonists from Spain
established the settlement in September 1565. The town was burned
several times by pirates and English forces, but it survived.
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