Indigenous peoples: early English colonisation of America

In the late 1500s, England began to colonise Colonise To take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there. America. The colonists Colonist A person who settles in an area that has become a colony (a country or an area governed by people from another, more powerful, country). brought with them their own set of customs and beliefs. They also brought deadly diseases and conflict.

But for 10,000–12,000 years before the colonists arrived, Indigenous Indigenous Coming from a particular place and having lived there for a long time before other people came there. peoples had been living on and from the land. They remembered their stories and histories through oral traditions and objects, passed down from one generation to another.

White settlers often viewed writing as the means of preserving ‘history’, so the special knowledge and sacred objects of Indigenous peoples were left out of the story. It is therefore difficult to know how Indigenous American Indigenous American Connected with any of the groups of people who were the original people living in America before European colonists arrived. peoples felt about the arrival of the English colonists who settled on their land, or about their struggle to hold on to their identity and culture.

Portraits from the 1500s and 1600s, created by European artists, provide some evidence of their experiences. However, these were created from the perspective of the English colonisers Colonise To take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there. , and not from the perspective of the Indigenous American peoples they represent.

Look at these portraits of Martin Frobisher, Walter Ralegh and John Smith. They were some of the first English people involved in the colonisation Colonisation Taking control of an area or country that is not your own, especially using force, and sending people from your own country to live there. of America. Their portraits tell us how they wanted to be remembered in England, at a time when the country was increasing its wealth through colonisation and trade.

Click on each portrait to find out more.

Martin Frobisher and the North-West Passage

In the 1500s, people in England wanted to find a sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic called the ‘North-West Passage’. If found, this North-West Passage would open up important new trade routes to China. Frobisher is most famous for making three voyages in search of the North-West Passage between 1576 and 1578. He was not successful.

His expeditions also marked the first contact between English and Inuit peoples, in what is now Canada. This included the crew kidnapping Inuit people. This contact became part of Inuit folklore and was remembered in place names that are still in use today. Frobisher set up a gold mine here, but the sparkly ore he found turned out to be ‘fool’s gold Fool’s gold A yellow mineral found in rock, which looks like gold but is not valuable.  ’. He also tried to start a colony Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. but the project was eventually abandoned.

Walter Ralegh and the first English colony

Walter Ralegh was given permission by Queen Elizabeth I to set up the first English colony Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. in America, in what is now Virginia (named after Elizabeth, the ‘virgin queen’). The Roanoke colony, established in 1585, was not successful and was found abandoned in 1590. There was no trace of the colonists Colonist A person who settles in an area that has become a colony (a country or an area governed by people from another, more powerful, country). .

Although Ralegh never travelled to Virginia himself, he visited the Amazon rainforest in 1595, and again in 1617.

John Smith and the successful colonisation of America

John Smith was a governor of the colony Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. of Jamestown, Virginia, which was established in 1607. It was the first successful English colony in America. He violently oppressed the Indigenous American Indigenous American Connected with any of the groups of people who were the original people living in America before European colonists arrived. peoples who already lived in the area.

He led a number of expeditions to find new areas of America to colonise Colonise To take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there. and created detailed maps of the areas he explored. These were an essential tool in establishing new colonies Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. . This is the first map of an area of north-east America, that he named 'New England’. England established its second successful colony there, Plymouth colony, in 1620.

Pocahontas was the daughter of Wahunseneca. He was the powerful Algonquian ruler of the Powhatans. She grew up as a skilled Powhatan child learning to build houses, make crockery, farm and prepare food. She would have witnessed the arrival of the English colonists Colonist A person who settles in an area that has become a colony (a country or an area governed by people from another, more powerful, country). , seen them building the colony Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. of Jamestown and the conflicts between her people and the settlers.

John Smith, an English coloniser Colonise To take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there. , claimed that she saved the whole Jamestown colony in the early years by providing essential food and information. But it is likely the real Pocahontas was even braver, stronger and more interesting than this and other stories about her suggest.

In 1613, the English colonists took Pocahontas hostage. They did this to try and bargain with her father and end their conflict with him. While she was in captivity, she was converted Convert To change your religion or beliefs. to Christianity Christianity The religion that is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the belief that he was the son of God. and married to an English colonist Colonist A person who settles in an area that has become a colony (a country or an area governed by people from another, more powerful, country). , John Rolfe. We do not know how she viewed Christianity or what her beliefs were.

Pocahontas, John, and their son, travelled to England in 1616. Here she was viewed as fascinating and exotic Exotic Something exciting and unusual because it seems to be connected with foreign countries. . Pocahontas became seriously ill and died just before her return voyage to her homeland. She was buried in Gravesend in Kent.

Only one portrait is known to have been made of Pocahontas during her lifetime, a print made by Simon de Passe in London in 1616. This portrait is a later copy of that print, published nearly 200 years after she died.

At the time, very few images of Indigenous Indigenous Coming from a particular place and having lived there for a long time before other people came there. peoples or the way they lived were made or available to people in England. We don’t know if she had a say in how she was portrayed.

• You have focused on a complex and brutal part of our shared history. It can bring up strong reactions. How are you feeling?
• Do you have any questions? You could discuss them with a teacher or an adult you feel comfortable talking to.
• You could use the links below to find out more about Indigenous Indigenous Coming from a particular place and having lived there for a long time before other people came there. peoples from their own words and perspectives.

Short essay on Pocahontas:

A conversation with Madeleine Sayet, offering a Mohegan perspective on early English colonisation Colonisation Taking control of an area or country that is not your own, especially using force, and sending people from your own country to live there. and Shakespeare’s The Tempest:

BBC podcast focussing on neckwear in colonial America:

Portraits of Kalicho, Arnaq and Nutaaq made by John White: