I. Early Arrival Primary source
"[Queen Elizabeth] does give and grant to our trusty and well-beloved servant Walter Ralegh free liberty and license to discover any remote, heathen, and barbarous lands and territories, not actually possessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people. And to him is granted the authority over such lands. He shall have, hold, occupy, and enjoy all the soil of all such lands so discovered, the territories and countries, to be discovered and possessed, of all such cities, castles, towns, villages, and places in the same."
Source: First-Hand Accounts of Virginia, England and Wales, The Letters Patents Granted by the Queen's Majesty to M Walter Ralegh, now Knight, for discovering and planting of new lands and countries, to continue the space of 6 years and no more. (1584), pp. 290-291; language modernized by Lesley Skousen, PhD
Question: Based on this passage, what did European explorers expect to find in the New World? Based on your reading this week, did they find what they were looking for? Why or why not?
II. Images of Native Americans
Source: John White, "A Weroan or Great Lorde of Virginia"
Source: John White, "The Making of their Boats"
Source: John White, "The Town of Secota"
Question: Describe what you see in all three images. What conclusions can you draw about Native American history based on these scenes?
III. Primary source about Jamestown
"In the meantime, Captain Martin seized the [Indian] king's son and one other Indian and brought them, bound, unto the Island where I was when a ship boy played idly with a pistol not meaning any harm. The pistol suddenly fired and shot one savage prisoner into the breast. And thereupon what with his passion and fear he broke the cords asunder and did swim over unto the [ship called the] Maine with his wound bleeding freely. I counseled Captain Martin to take possession of the prisoner and the ship, which he refused, saying that he would not put his men into hazard and danger. Shortly after Captain Smith sent Captain Francis West with one hundred and forty men up to the Falls with six months' supplies to inhabit there. Where being reasonably well-settled, many of his men straggled from their fort, some of them coming home wounded and others never returned but were slain by the savages. Not long after,
Captain Martin, whom I left at the Island, came to Jamestown for fear of being surprised by the Indians, who had made diverse excursions against the settlement."
Source: George Percy,"A Trewe Relacyon" First Hand Accounts of Virginia, 1575-1705 p. 263-264; modernized by Lesley Skousen, PhD
Question: Consider the two events described in this interaction early in the history of Jamestown. What does this tell us about the relations among Native Americans and the English settlers at Jamestown in the early years? Be sure to clarify what happened in both events as you analyze these two interactions.