U.S History - Chapter 3 Study Guide

Virginia Company

A joint stock company organized by London investors in 1606 that received a land grant from King James I in order to establish English Colonies in North America. Investors hoped to enrich themselves and strengthen England economically and politically. This was important because it was the start of European influence in that area.

Barbados

An Island in the British West Indies. Colonized in the 1630s, Barbados became an enormous sugar producer and a source of wealth for England. The island's African slaves quickly became a majority of the island's population despite the deadliness of their work. Its important because it was the most profitable part of the English New World empire in the seventeenth century.

Pueblo revolt

An effective revolt of Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, under the leadership of Popé, against the Spaniards in 1680. Particularly targeting symbols of Christianity, the Pueblo Indians succeeded in killing two-thirds of the Spanish missionaries and driving the Spaniards out of New Mexico. **This is important because it reduced the amount of missionaries and labor exploitations in New Mexico

House of Burgesses

An organ of government in colonial Virginia made up of an assembly of representatives elected by the colony's free male voters. It was established by the Virginia company and continued by the crown after Virginia was made a royal colony. Laws passed by the burgesses had to be approved by the kings bureaucrats in England.

Bacons rebellion

An unsuccessful rebellion against the colonial government in 1676, led by frontier settler Nathaniel Bacon. Its important because it was the first rebellion of the American Colonies

slavery

Coerced labor. African slavery became the most important form of coerced labor in the New World in the seventeenth century. It is important because it went on for decades and made the transition from whites to slavery for Africans

navigation acts

English laws passed in the 1650s and 1660s requiring that English colonial goods be shipped through English ports on English ships with English sailors in order to benefit English merchants, shippers, and seamen. It is important because it showed the English governments mercantilist assumption that what was good for England should determine colonial policy.

Algonquian indians

People who inhabited the coastal plain of present day Virginia, near Chesapeake Bay, when English colonists first settled the region. They are important because there is constant conflict between them and the Indians. Under the chief, Powhatan, there is peace and they help the colonists learn to farm. The tribe also trades with the colonists. However under the leader Opechanconough they attack and kill 347 colonists.

indentured servants

Poor immigrants who signed contracts known as indentures, in which they committed to four to seven years of labor in North America in exchange for transportation from England, as well as food and shelter after they arrived in the colony. They are important because it is how they got to the New World and helped grow production needs

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607 by colonists sponsored by the Virginia Company. This town is important because it is the first successful English settlement. However at first many of the colonists died, the discovery of tobacco provided this to be a good region for English settlement.

royal colony

a colony ruled by a king or queen and governed by officials appointed to serve the monarchy and represent its interest. This is important because in 1624 King James revoked the charter of the Virginia Company and made Virginia a royal colony, subject to the direction of royal government rather than of the company's private investors. It remained this way until 1776.

headright

fifty acres of free land granted by the Virginia company to new settlers who paid their own transportation to the Chesapeake region and to planters for each indentured servant they purchased. It is important because the Virginia company granted headrights to encourage settlement.