British North America & Port Royal Flashcards
Why was Ralph Lane’s 1585 expedition unsuccessful? (3)
- lack of supplies
- delayed shipment
- poor relations with Secotan
What was the purpose of John White’s 1587 expedition? (4)
- investigated previous colony
- moved 50 miles upriver
- went back to England for supplies
- could only return to abandoned colony in 1590
Who founded Jamestown, and when?
founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company
What was Jamestown?
England’s first permanent settlement in America
Why did Jamestown struggle in the beginning? (3)
- Powhatan
- disease
- famine
How many of the 1700 colonists to arrive between 1607-1617 were left in 1617?
351
What allowed the settlement to flourish in 1617?
tobacco farming
How did John Smith come to Jamestown?
accused of mutiny, arrived a prisoner
How did John Smith improve the Jamestown settlement? (2)
- successful at trade with Powhatans
- helped the fort grow
What was John Smith’s motto as president of the colony council?
“he who does not work, neither shall he eat”
How did John Smith’s departure affect Jamestown?
left colony with fractured leadership
What led to the ‘starving time’ in Jamestown from 1609-10?
- John Smith’s departure
- lack of supplies
- bad relations with Powhatan
What did the colonists resort to eating during the ‘starving time’? (2)
- anything from shoe leather to butchered horses
- cannibalism
How did archaeologists confirm reports of cannibalism at Jamestown in 2012?
portions of the butchered skull and shinbone of a 14-year-old girl from England, dubbed “Jane” by researchers, were unearthed
What did John Rolfe bring to Jamestown in 1610?
Nicotiana tabacum seeds
What tobacco grew naturally in North America?
Nicotiana rustica, grown for a millenia in North America, was too bitter for European tastes
Who had the monopoly on Nicotiana tabacum at the time?
Spain
Who was Pocahontas? (5)
- daughter of Wahunsenacaw, chief of Powhatans
- kidnapped, converted to Christianity
- married English tobacco grower John Rolfe
- took English name Rebecca, “mother of two peoples”
- died in England, 1617 as “civilized savage”
When and how did the first Africans arrive in North America? (2)
- arrived in 1619
- result of the transatlantic slave trade
How was archaeology at Jamestown initiated? (3)
- 1994-present
- once believed to be lost (underwater)
- Dr. William Kelos and Dr. Ivor Noel Hume convinced it was just undiscovered
How was Port Royal established? (8)
- December 1664: Oliver Cromwell, Protector of England, launches an attack on Hispaniola to seize it from the Spanish
- the attack fails, and what is left of the English fleet heads south to Jamaica and seizes the island instead
- a sandbar extended from Kingston which allowed the English to set up a fort and defend the island
- around the fort, Kingston develops as a city of seafarers and merchants, developing a strong reputation for prostitution
- Port Royal became the most economically important port to England, especially since England legalized privateering in the 1660s
- this ‘Buccaneer Period’ was supposed to end in the 1670s, but it was so profitable that the English turned a blind eye
- Port Royal became the mercantile center of the English in the Caribbean, but became notoriously known as the ‘wickedest city in the world’
- Port Royal was the largest English city in the New World by 1692, visited by 226 ships in 1688
How was the Port Royal site formed? (3)
- some sites such as the sunken town of Port Royal are so well-known they are never lost; there is an abundance of historic documents and maps
- of course, the significant thing about Port Royal is that much of it sunk into Kingston Harbor during an earthquake on June 7, 1692, ca. 11:40 A.M.
- 2,000 people were killed immediately, while 3,000 died due to subsequent injuries and disease
What artifact suggests the exact time that the Port Royal disaster occurred?
the frozen hands of a recovered watch reveal details of everyday life in Port Royal in the 17th century
Who excavated Port Royal for 10 years?
the Institute of Nautical Archaeology
How many students worked at Port Royal?
more than 150
How large is the Port Royal site?
18-mile-long sand spit
What is a catastrophic site?
archaeological sites that are created in a matter of minutes, preserving in situ a wide array of artifactual material
Who founded the INA?
George Bass, “Father of Nautical Archaeology”
What project led to the founding of the INA?
excavated shipwreck in Turkey dating to 1200 BC
What specialists were gathered to form the INA?
specialists in amphora, Mediterranean trade, and ship construction
How did the INA end up at A&M?
originally pitching to a university in North Carolina, Texas A&M made Bass an offer he couldn’t refuse in 1976
Why is conservation imperative to nautical archaeology?
water-logged items have to be dried out before they can be studied
Who led conservation efforts for the INA by 1978?
Donny Hamilton
When did A&M and the INA become partners?
1980
What was one unique method used to conserve waterlogged wood at Port Royal? (3)
- sugar
- sugar acts as a natural preservative; works on wood as well
- however, everyone likes to eat sugar, inviting insects
Describe the excavations at Port Royal. (6)
- shallow diving is conducted from a support barge and is done during three-hour or longer dives using HOOKA - air hose from the barge
- dredges were also used to excavate - hose vacuums sediment away from the work area
- air lifts used in previous excavations were not as effective in shallow water
- excavated in 10ft square grid
- great abundance of well-preserved artifacts, including a pipe shop
- each excavated building becomes a chapter in the story of the daily life of the town
What was the artifact distribution in Building One? (3)
- rooms 1-2: cobbler
- rooms 3-4: tavern
- rooms 5-6: tobacco/pipe shop
What artifacts and features were found in Building Five? (4)
- earthenware pot in fallen doorway
- 21 pewter plates in stairwell
- cistern, privy, and walls
- pots, pewter plate, coconut and wicker fish basket
What followed the 10 year excavation at Port Royal?
detailed analyses of the thousands of recovered artifacts
What did excavations reveal about Building Four/Five? (3)
- the building was rammed by a ship during the earthquake
- built in two stages, building four was tacked onto five
- pattern of hearths and sharing of cisterns
Describe the artifact analysis of Port Royal. (6)
- slipware posset pot
- delftware vase and drawing
- Chinese export porcelain
- lighting in a Port Royal house
- pewter, because of the presence of maker’s marks and ownership marks are particularly useful for identifying occupants of a building; pewter is seldom found on land sites
- three skeletons of children in Building Five
