Tobacco cultivation began in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and spread to Kentucky in 1792. England had a slow start in the tobacco trade due to problems financing ventures and losses to the Spanish Armada in 1588. The earliest English colonies in Virginia focused on searching for treasure, rather than establishing permanent settlements. Tobacco cultivation grew dramatically and became the primary export. The early settlers and slaves faced many hardships, including periods of starvation known as "The Starving Time" where some settlers resorted to cannibalism. Over time, the colonial government established institutions like the House of Burgesses and codified slavery, solidifying the role of tobacco and slavery in the Virginia colony.

1. “Tobacco’s older than the gummint itself!”

2. Jamestown, Va. (1607)

3. Kentucky, 1792

4. Jamestown, Va. (1607)

5. England’s Slow Start

6. Why?

7. Why?

8. Why?THE SPANISH ARMADA
(1588: RIP)

9. problem of finance

10. joint-stock company
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11. Plans for Virginia

12. “The chief Design of all Parties
concern’d was to fetch away
the Treasure from thence,
aiming more at sudden Gain
than to form any regular
Colony.”
– Robert Beverly, 1705

14. trading posts

15. trading posts

16. Indians, Settlers, Women, Slaves?

17. Indians, Settlers, Women, Slaves?

18. Indians, Settlers, Women, Slaves?

19. Indians, Settlers, Women, Slaves?

20. Indians, Settlers, Women, Slaves?

21. mining

22. mining

23. mining

24. citrus fruits

25. citrus fruits

26. citrus fruits

28. “The Stinking Weed”

29. 80%

30. 80%

31. “The Starving Time”

32. “thatt notheinge was Spared to
mainteyne Lyfe and to doe those
things which seame incredible, as to
digge upp deade corpes outt of graves
and to eate them. And some have
Licked upp the Bloode which hathe
fallen from their weake fellowes.”

33. “that nothing was Spared
to maintain Life and to do those
things which seem incredible, as to
dig up dead corpses out of graves
and to eat them. And some have
Licked up the Blood which had
fallen from their weak fellows.”

34. “that nothing was Spared
to maintain Life and to do those
things which seem incredible, as to
dig up dead corpses out of graves
and to eat them. And some have
Licked up the Blood which had
fallen from their weak fellows.”

35. “that nothing was Spared
to maintain Life and to do those
things which seem incredible, as to
dig up dead corpses out of graves
and to eat them. And some have
Licked up the Blood which had
fallen from their weak fellows.”

36. Sir Thomas Dale
(1610s)

38. martial law

39. Sir Edwin Sandys
(1618-19)

42. “headright” system

43. “headright” system

44. indentured servants

45. families

46. “one hundredth and fiftie [pounds]
of the best leafe Tobacco”.

47. colonial assembly (1619)

48. House of Burgesses (1619)

49. Indian Relations

52. Massacre of 1622

53. dissolved

54. royal colony

55. Slavery

56. 1619

57. 1670

62. 1619

63. 1619

64. “20. and odd Negroes”

65. treatment?

66. Interpretation #1

67. indentured servants

68. December, 1662
“Whereas some doubts have arisen
whether children got by any Englishman
upon a Negro woman should be slave or
free, be it therefore enacted and declared
by this present Grand Assembly, that all
children born in this country shall be held
bond or free only according to the
condition of the mother…”

69. December, 1662
“Whereas some doubts have arisen
whether children got by any Englishman
upon a Negro woman should be slave or
free, be it therefore enacted and declared
by this present Grand Assembly, that all
children born in this country shall be held
bond or free only according to the
condition of the mother…”

70. Interpretation #2

71. Interpretation #2

72. 1625 Muster

73. Name Muster Status Location Corporation Age Ship Date of
Arrival
Muster
Date
Notes
servant
servant
servant
servant

74. “Indentured servitude, appears from both
positive evidence (much higher
evaluations in wills and inventories and
anonymous entries in censuses) and
negative evidence (absence of contracts
and unrecorded ages or dates of arrival)
to have been an unlikely status for most
of Virginia’s blacks” (157).
– Alden T. Vaughan

75. “Indentured servitude, appears from both
positive evidence (much higher
evaluations in wills and inventories and
anonymous entries in censuses) and
negative evidence (absence of contracts
and unrecorded ages or dates of arrival)
to have been an unlikely status for most
of Virginia’s blacks” (157).
– Alden T. Vaughan

77. Conclusions

78. Predictions?
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