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The Somers Isles Company was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles, alias the Islands of Bermuda, as a commercial venture. It held a Royal Charter for Bermuda 'til 1684, when it was dissolved, and the Crown assumed responsibility for the administration of the Colony. Events June 2 - First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France. ...
Events France under Louis XIV makes Truce of Ratisbon separately with the Empire and Spain. ...
Bermuda Under The Virginia Company Bermuda had been settled, inadvertantly, in 1609 by the Virginia Company when its flagship, the Sea Venture, was wrecked on the reefs to its east. The Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers, was at the helm as the ship fought a storm that had broken apart a relief fleet destined for Jamestown, the Virginian settlement established by the Company two years earlier. He had deliberately driven the ship onto the reefs to prevent its foundering, thereby saving all aboard. The settlers and seamen spent ten months in Bermuda while they built two new ships to continue the voyage to Jamestown. During the building, the Sea Venture's longboat was fitted with a mast and sent to find Jamestown. Neither it, nor its crew, was ever seen again. When the Deliverance and Patience set sail for Jamestown, they left several people behind, some to maintain Somers' claim of the islands for England, some dead. Those aboard the two ships included Sir Thomas Gates, the appointed Governor for Jamestown, William Strachey, whose account of the wrecking may later have inspired Shakespeare's "The Tempest", and John Rolfe, who would found Virginia's tobacco industry, and who left a wife and child buried in Bermuda. Rolfe would find a new bride in Powhatan princess, Pocahontas. // Events April 4 – King of Spain signs an edit of expulsion of all moriscos from Spain April 9 – Spain recognizes Dutch independence May 23 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia. ...
The 1606 grants by James I to the London and Plymouth companies. ...
The Sea Venture was a 17th century ship which may have been the inspiration for Shakespeares The Tempest. ...
Jamestown was established in 1607, on the James River in Virginia, in what is currently James City County, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southeast of where Richmond, Virginia, is now located. ...
Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001...
Sir Thomas Gates (fl. ...
William Strachey (1572-1621) was an English writer and barrister, whose writings are among the primary sources for the history the English colonization of North America, and as one of the only narratives describing Powhatan society. ...
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John Rolfe (c. ...
Chief Powhatan in a longhouse at Werowocomoco (detail of John Smith map, 1612) The Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten) were a very powerful confederacy of Native American tribes, speaking an Algonquian language, who lived in what is now Virginia at the time of the first English-Native encounters. ...
A 1616 engraving of Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe, the only portrait of Pocahontas made within her lifetime. ...
Jamestown, and the 60 survivors of its original 500 settlers, were found in such poor state that it was decided to abandon the settlement and return everyone to England. However, the timely arrival of another reflief fleet from England granted the colony a reprieve. There was still a food short, though, made more critical by the newly arrived bellies. Somers decided to return to Bermuda aboard the Patience, captained by his nephew, Matthew, for provisions. He died in Bermuda, however, in 1610. Matthew Somers was keen to receive his inheritance (Sir George and his wife were childless, but had raised his two nephews,) and took the Patience to Somers' hometown, Lyme Regis, and not to Virginia. // Events January 7 - Galileo Galilei discovers the Galilean moons of Jupiter. ...
When news reached England of the adventures of the Sea Venture's survivors, the royal charter of the Virginia Company was officially extended to include Bermuda, subsequently known also as The Somers Isles (and also as Virgineola). A Governor, Richard Moore, arrived in 1612 with settlers, aboard the Plough, to join those left behind by the Sea Venture and the Patience. The new settlers were primarily tenant farmers, who gave seven years of indentured servitude to the Company in exchange for the cost of transport. Although the primary industry was envisioned to be agriculture, the early Governors enthusiastically, if mostly unsuccessfully, attempted to develop other industries also. These included pearl diving (there are no pearls in Bermuda), and ambergris. The first two slaves to arrive in Bermuda, one black, one Native American, were brought in for their skills as pearl divers. Events January 20 - Mathias becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ...
Formation of The Somers Isles Company The Virginia Company ran Bermuda until 1614, when the Crown briefly took over the Colony's administration. The adventurers of the Virginia Company formed a second company, the Somers Isles Company, to which Bermuda was transferred in 1615. The Virginia company was dissolved in 1622, with the administration of its continental colony passing to the Crown. The Somers Isles Company, with its seperate charter, continued to administer Bermuda for another six decades. Events April 5 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. ...
Bermuda As A Company Colony Bermuda was subdivided into nine equally-sized tribes, later called parishes. Eight of these were named for shareholders in the Company, and were further divided (by tribe roads) into lots which equated to shares in the Company. The Company's return on investment came specifically from cash crops raised on that land. The ninth, and eastern-most parish was Saint George's, comprising Saint George's Island, Saint David's Island, part of the Main Island, and various smaller islands and islets around Castle Harbour and Saint George's Harbour. This parish was held as common, or 'King's' land, and was not subdivided for exploitation by the Company. This was where the capital, Saint George's Town was located. The choice of this location followed the original settlement created by the Sea Venture survivors, and was also determined by the two eastern harbours being the only ones then readily accessible to shipping. A surveyor, Richard Norwood, was hired to produce a survey of the colony, which also served as a census. This was completed in 1616, although he made later updates. In the process, he discovered that the total landmass of the eight commercial parishes was greater than originally estimated. He appropriated a choice piece of land, equivalent to the excess acreage, for himself. St. ...
Local Government Under The Company The Company continued to appoint governors until its dissolution in 1684. In 1620, however, a colonial parliament was created, the House of Assembly. Suffrage was restricted to male land owners, and there was no upper house. An appointed council, composed primarily from the leading merchant families of the Colony, came to fill a role similar to both an upper house, and a cabinet, and often proved the true repository of power in Bermuda.
The immediate concern of the first govenors was for the colony's protection from a feared Spanish attack, and the building of fortifications, and the raising of militias, was sustained throughout the company's administration, and beyond. A review of the colony's defences was carried out by Captain John Smith. Captain John Smith John Smith (1580–1631) was an English soldier and sailor, now chiefly remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America, and his brief association with the Native American princess Pocahontas. ...
Immigration and Demographics Under The Company Immigration of indentured servants continued throughout the Company's administration, also, and this pool of cheap labour meant that Bermuda never developed the slavery-based economy that came to characterise other English agricultural colonies. Although the bulk of the population remained Anglo-Saxon at the end of the 17th Century, a number of minority groups were established under the Company's management. As England began to challenge Spain's supremacy in Florida and the West Indies, Spanish-speaking Blacks began to immigrate from territories taken from Spain. These immigrants arrived under the same conditions of indenture as most English immigrants, but the white majority soon became uneasy with the increasing numbers of blacks. The terms of indenture for black West Indian immigrants were consequently raised succesively from seven years to ninety-nine. An attempt was also made to encourage Black's to emigrate under threat of being enslaved. Numbers of Black slaves were also being imported to Bermuda, primarily as part of the prizes taken by privateers, although Bermudian vessels went as far as Africa specifically to acquire slaves. As England's settlements in New England expanded, large areas were ethnically cleansed to make way for European expansion. This resulted in various Algonquian peoples being shipped to Bermuda and sold into slavery. A great many Native American slaves were being brought to Bermuda by other means, also, possibly from as far as Mexico. The third main minority group was composed of Irish prisoners-of-war (POW), and ethnically-cleansed civilians, shipped to the Colony and sold into slavery following Cromwell's bloody adventure in Ireland in the 1650s. Smaller numbers of Scottish POWs were also sent as a result of Cromwell's forcing his 'protectorship' on Scotland. The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Largest city Tallahassee Jacksonville Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 22nd 65,794 sq mi 170,451 km² 162 miles 260 km 497 miles 800 km 17. ...
The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ...
Flag of New England The states of New England are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. ...
The Algonquian (also Algonkian) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family (others are Wiyot and Yurok of northwestern California). ...
Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ...
Unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. ...
Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ...
Bermuda had tended towards the Royalist side in the English Civil War, perhaps because the shareholders of the Somers Isles Company were primarily nobles, but was largelly spared the effects and the aftermath of that conflict. The term English Civil War (or Wars) refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651. ...
Economy and Industry under the Company Agriculture remained the mainstay of the economy under the Somers Isles Company. The primary cash crop was tobacco, but the quantity and quality produced were very poor. The Bermuda cedar boxes in which the tobacco was shipped to England were said to be worth more than their contents, and much of the tobacco was destroyed on arrival. The Colony also had little success with other export crops. Additionally, the several acres of arable land that had been cut from the forest meant that each farmer had only a very small area under cultivation, by comparison to the 50 acres granted to each settler in Virginia. Bermudian farmers had to raise as many as three crops a year in order to be economically viable. This meant that they could not allow fields to lie fallow, and the soil, already high in alkaline and low in magnesium (used by plants to form chlorophyll, became depleted. Bermudians began to turn away from agriculture quite early, building boats and ships to pursue maritime trades. As the Company derived no income, except from agriculture, it acted to stymie these activities. The building of vessels was banned without its license, and the first laws to protect the Bermuda cedar, which were passed early in the 'Seventeenth Century, may have been intended more to restrict shipbuilding than to conserve the resource. Species N. glauca N. longiflora N. rustica N. sylvestris N. tabacum Ref: ITIS 30562 as of August 26, 2005 Tobacco (, L.) refers to a genus of broad-leafed plants of the nightshade family indigenous to North and South America, or to the dried and cured leaves of such plants. ...
Chlorophyll is a green photosynthetic pigment found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. ...
Revocation of Charter and Dissolution of the Company It was this interference by the Company into the livelihoods of the islanders which led to its dissolution, following protests to the Crown. There was also discontent caused by the attempt of the last Company-appointed governor to rule without the consent of the colonial parliament. The Company's Royal Charter was revoked in 1684, and from then on the Crown assumed reponsibility for appointing the Colony's governors. Freed of the Company's restraints, the local merchant class came to dominate and shape Bermuda's progress, as Bermudians abandoned agriculture en masse and turned to the sea.
See Also The 1606 grants by James I to the London and Plymouth companies. ...
This is the history of Bermuda. ...
Jamestown was established in 1607, on the James River in Virginia, in what is currently James City County, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southeast of where Richmond, Virginia, is now located. ...
// Native Americans in Virginia Virginia Indian chief in engraving after John White watercolor At the end of the 16th century, among Native American people living in what now is Virginia were the Cherokee, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottaway, Pamunkey, Pohick, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Saponi, and Tuscarora. ...
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