Early commodity experiments

Question 1

Wine-making (expertise from France and Spain)

Answer 1

Continued in Virginia throughout the 17thC
Not for profit
As a fixture of a cultivated plantation and household

Question 2

Fur trade
Beaver pelts included from 1620

Answer 2

1611 Sir Thomas Dale intended a trade of fur from the indigenous
Established by Samuel Argall on the Potomac River from 1620
1631 William Claiborne established a trading post in Chesapeake Bay

Question 3

Iron

Answer 3

1621, Company established an ironworks upriver from Falling Creek
Destroyed 1622 during war

Question 4

Salt-work

Answer 4

On the Eastern Shore in 1614
Failed by 1620

Question 5

Fur traders licensed by Maryland and Virginia

Answer 5

Successfully operated in Chesapeake area post 1631

Question 6

Industries

Answer 6

Glass
Iron
Perfumes
Medicine
Dyes
Hemp
Flax
Salt

Question 7

Silk production

Answer 7

English imported silk from Orient/southern Europe
Silkworms sent to Virginia in 1614; initially flourished
Frenchmen sent to produce the silk

Question 8

1619 Virginia General Assembly

Answer 8

Required settlers to grow mulberry trees/plant grape vines to feed silkworms
Destroyed by war
17thC attempt to revive it failed

Question 9

Falling Creek ironworks physicality

Answer 9

Previously settlement had fallen within the Tidewater region
Fall-line marked geological change as one moved upriver
Site had ore-deposits, water power and access to navigable river

Question 10

Falling Creek ironworks

Answer 10

Established 1619 but ended 1622
Revived 1646, operated with headright transported labour (usually French/Dutch)