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From England to the New World

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From England to the New World
From England to the New World The New World provided many reasons for the English people to risk their life's crossing the great Atlantic Ocean. Some came for the opportunity to seek fortune, others came to work the field to escape the harsh poverty England was facing, and others came in search of purity with the Lord Jesus Christ. For whatever the reasons, the New World brought challenges and those who could endure it were greatly awarded in fortune, faith, and opportunity. This essay will look at the English settlement in the Chesapeake and New England colonies, from how how both settlers originated from England and shaped their own colonies in different ways to the factors that created their new societies. The Chesapeake colonies is located on the eastern outskirt of the states of Virginia and Maryland. After England gained a peace treaty with Spain in 1604, the Virginia Company was granted a charter to colonize and govern Virginia by King James in 1606. They reached Chesapeake Bay in April 26, 1607. They established their first settlement there known as Jamestown, named after the king. It was then when they began their colonization of the New World. Being located beside a swamp, Jamestown became a breading ground for malaria. Many of the colonists were dying by the numbers and this continued to play out across the Chesapeake colonies. At first the colonist thought the Chesapeake colonies would bring them fortune in means of precious metals, but this was a false hope because there was none to be found (131). In 1616, John Rolfe introduced tobacco to the planters, which sparked the shaping of the Chesapeake colonies (134). Tobacco was high in demand across Europe. It’s import surged from 200,000 pound in 1624 to 3,000,000 in 1638 and the Chesapeake became its largest exporter surpassing the West Indies. With the increase in product also came with the increase in needs of labor. Many colonist came to Chesapeake as indentured servants to work the

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