The origins of America
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more Transcript Welcome back! Last episode, we saw our company earn the right to privateer in the Caribbean, reinvigorating the colony with hopes of plunder, and fulfilling the Elizabethan dream. Privateering, they thought, could help them recruit new settlers, pay their debts, and protect Protestantism from the Spanish menace. This Read more about Providence Island 6: Dreams Fulfilled[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more The return of privateering In 1635, there were still people who dreamed of reviving the Elizabethan legacy. There’s a lot of good to be said about the Stuarts – they were less oppressive, less violent, more easygoing than their Tudor predecessors, but to many 17th Century Englishmen, there was Read more about Providence Island 5: the last Elizabethan colony[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more First things first, Happy New Year! Last episode, we discussed the economic failures of 1632-33. Too little agricultural knowledge, too many orders from England, too little support, too few laborers, and too poor a government meant that nothing of value was produced in the fledgling colony. Resentment festered, Read more about Providence Island 4: Differing Puritan visions[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more Privateering and slavery Faction fighting crippled Providence Island, but the company insisted on maintaining control from London. The company also sent fewer servants than promised, while insisting colonists experiment with a huge variety of commodities. But, Governor Bell had an idea. Slaves could be a cheap way to make Read more about Providence Island 3: Old problems and new solutions[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more Debt and mutiny in the New World The history of new American colonies had a number of consistent themes. There were: So, inevitably, there was rampant factionalism, constant conflict and harsh accusations being thrown around. Providence Island wasn’t alone in dealing with this, so why did it fail, when Read more about Providence Island 2: You have to spend money to make money[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more England’s second most important failed colony Providence Island failed in ways that illuminate American character, but it was also an extremely important colony. It was the first colony to introduce widespread slavery. It was one of England’s first Caribbean colonies. It traded with New England, and some of Read more about Providence Island 1: Anatomy of a failure[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more Governing the ungovernable There’s no record of West’s term. Harvey’s return ended in utter failure, and Wyatt (who was appointed to replace him) grew too political for the king’s comfort. And that’s when the one and only William Berkeley arrived. People wondered why he’d choose to waste his Read more about Royal Virginia 4: Harvey’s second term (and Berkeley’s arrival)[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more A 17th Century American Revolution John Harvey’s governorship had some real highs. The population doubled in his term, war with the Powhatan was ended, food shortages disappeared, and tobacco problems started to be fixed. But, he was in a difficult political situation, and was not a skilled politician. Read more about Royal Virginia 3: The thrusting out of Governor Harvey[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more Governor Harvey arrives John Harvey was one of the most important 17th Century Virginia governors, but he was a volatile ship’s captain trying to navigate the tricky politics of colonial Virginia. And Virginia had unique politics even for an English colony. The king, the merchants, the former Virginia Read more about Royal Virginia 2: Factions, again …[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more From company-owned to royal control The years 1625-1630 saw Virginia stabilize and grow, under governors like Francis Wyatt, George Yeardley, Francis West and John Pott. The King’s quo warranto proceedings to take over the Virginia Company were popular in the colony, but some new and recurring issues did Read more about Virginia under Charles I, ep. 1: Transition[…]