2.2.1 The beginning

Question 1

How did the loss of Calais in 1558 motivate the British to colonise America?

Answer 1

• With the loss of Calais in 1558, England had no control over any French territory for the first time since 1066.
• After failed attempts to retrieve Calais, it was accepted that England would have to find its glory elsewhere.

Question 2

Competition with the Spanish

Answer 2

• Although the English had defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Armada (a sea battle) in 1588 during Elizabeth I’s reign, hostilities still bubbled between the two countries.
• During the late - 1500s, Spain (and Portugal) had a trading monopoly over the Caribbean and South America, which England wanted to break.
• England wanted to compete with Spain in exploration and colonisation.

Question 3

Sir Walter Raleigh’s involvement in Virginia

Answer 3

• Raleigh was responsible for establishing the first (unsuccessful) English settlement in North America in 1584.
• He established a colony along the east coast which he named Virginia, after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth.

Question 4

What did Raleigh name the first English colony in North America?

Answer 4

Virginia

Question 5

Raleigh’s Hope of Riches

Answer 5

Raleigh also set his sights on the great riches that he believed to be available in the Americas, in El Dorado (the ‘City of Gold’).

Question 6

The Virginia Company

Answer 6

• In England in 1606, a joint stock company was set up called The Virginia Company. (A joint stock company was a group of people who came together to invest in something, in order to share the risks and rewards.)
• The Virginia Company hoped to establish the first permanent English settlement in America, in order to grow and sell tobacco for huge profits.
• It was made up of: Investors (wealthy people who could stay in England and wait for their company to return a profit) and planters - also known as indentured servants (people with little money who would provide labour for the Company in return for housing, food and eventually some land.
• The Virginia Company established their settlement at Jamestown in 1607. This was the first permanent English settlement in America

Question 7

What kind of plantations did the Virginia Company establish in North America?

Answer 7

Tobacco plantations

Question 8

Who did England want to compete with in exploration and colonisation?

Answer 8

Spain