400th Anniversary of the First Landing of Permanent English Colonists In America Today

Today is the 400th anniversary of English colonists landing at Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesepeake Bay. They arrived in three ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery. This kicks off a year of activities commemorating the founding of the Virginia colony at Jamestown in 1607.

Before setting sail, the London Council offered some interesting advice on how the colonists should deal with natives. To wit:

Secondly you must in no Case Suffer any of the natural people of the Country to inhabit between You and the Sea Coast for you Cannot Carry Your Selves so towards them but they will Grow Discontented with Your habitation and be ready to Guide and assist any Nation that Shall Come to invade You and if You neglect this You neglect Your Safety. . . .

In all Your Passages you must have Great Care not to Offend the naturals if You Can Eschew it and imploy Some few of your Company to trade with them for Corn and all Other lasting Victuals . . . and this you must Do before that they perceive you mean to plant among them. . . .

And how Weary Soever your Soldiers be Let them never trust the Country people with the Carriage of their Weapons for if they Run from You with Your Shott which they only fear they will Easily kill them with all their arrows. And whensoever any of Yours Shoots before them be sure that they be Chosen out of your best Markesmen for if they See Your Learners miss what they aim at they will think the Weapon not so terrible and thereby will be bould to Assailt You. Above all things Do not advertize the killing of any of your men that the Country people may know . . . they are but Common men. . . . Do well also not to Let them See or know of Your Sick men . . . which may also Encourage them to many Enterprizes.

In any case, Jamestown was officially founded on May 14, 1607 and the rest is history. Happy 400th!

Disclosure: I grew up in Virginia and currently live most of the time in the Old Dominion. Apparently, my Scots-Irish ancestors arrived in Maryland sometime around 1750 and eventually ended up in hollers of what became West Virginia. My branch emerged from coal country in the 1950s. On the other hand some of my Texas forebears apparently arrived in central Texas from Bavaria sometime around 1900. And I admit it, I am very happy that my ancestors had the gumption and good sense to leave Old Europe for the New World.

Comments

Queen's Gambit Declined | April 26, 2007, 10:29am | #

And I admit it, I am very happy that my ancestors had the gumption and good sense to leave Old Europe for the New World.

I agree, but I do wish my ancestors had stolen more stuff to pass on to me besides just a country. Oh well.

Kevin K | April 26, 2007, 10:46am | #

The Terrance Malick film "The New World" about the Jamestown settlement was quite good.

tijjer | April 26, 2007, 10:50am | #

Sweet! Now my license plate is no longer so unfashionably premature.

emmajane | April 26, 2007, 10:55am | #

"The New World" was a TERRIBLE movie--gorgeous cinematography, yes, but slow paced (until they get to England) and really bad history. Lots of soft-focus romping between Pocahontas and our boy John Smith. Didn't happen. Even my 11 year old niece was offended by how wrong they got it.

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 11:03am | #

thanks to the involutary migration of many Africans to North America (slavery),

Yeah, you'd think African Americans would be more grateful to the white man for rescuing them from those nasty white men who were colonizing Africa.

Pro Libertate | April 26, 2007, 11:09am | #

Hey, that's right--1607! I always forget these anniversaries until someone reminds me. The first representative assembly of the colonists in the New World was 1619, I believe.

Dave W. | April 26, 2007, 11:09am | #

The whites totally kicked the ass of the Indians.

Cesar | April 26, 2007, 11:15am | #

"The whites totally kicked the ass of the Indians."

I think European *diseases* kicked the ass of the Indians.

Dave W. | April 26, 2007, 11:17am | #

I think European *diseases* kicked the ass of the Indians.

Germ warfare kicked the ass of the Indians. The important thing to remember is that they got their asses kicked. Iraqi insurgents need to learn about the ass-kicking power of the USA and the other white nations. Iran is next. Then Syria!

Queen's Gambit Declined | April 26, 2007, 11:36am | #

The Indians' problem is that they did not recognize until 400 years later that whites cannot resist wagering on games of chance, even when they are told that the games are rigged against them.

ed | April 26, 2007, 11:54am | #

I'm as white as they come but I'll bet my ancestors were at least surfs at some point, if not actual slaves. I'm just happy one of them stopped geting drunk long enough to immigrate here.

joe | April 26, 2007, 11:59am | #

I dunno, Lichtberg. Is there where we mention that, thanks to the Holocaust, the descendants of European Jews who were displaced by the war and ended up in Israel live better lives than those who still live in Russia?

jb | April 26, 2007, 12:08pm | #

This sounds like good advice for any occupying power *cough cough* Iraq...

ed, former serf | April 26, 2007, 12:18pm | #

Serfs. Right. I doubt they did much surfing in the Scottish highlands.

Lou Two-Dobbfeather | April 26, 2007, 12:23pm | #

Damned illegals.

B.P. | April 26, 2007, 12:27pm | #

The London Council forgot the part about lobbing the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Wild Pegasus | April 26, 2007, 12:28pm | #

And when ye Read of said London Council bee ye of the Mind that one ought to Capitalise random Words and to Eschew the use of Commas wherever possible.

May the Providence of Heaven guide you to Victory ouver the Indian scourge.

- Josh

Cracker's Boy | April 26, 2007, 12:42pm | #

Or is this where we mention that those darn Indians took the land from those apparent Western Europeans who found a way to get to the Mississippi delta about 10,000 years ago?

CB

Dave W. | April 26, 2007, 1:06pm | #

Or is this where we mention that those darn Indians took the land from those apparent Western Europeans who found a way to get to the Mississippi delta about 10,000 years ago?

Maybe they bought it with honest contracts.

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 1:11pm | #

their decendants grow up in a country where there is no malaria, no contaminated water, no endless tribal war, and the chance to become rich and powerful.

And I hope you understood my point was that Africa might be a better place now if it hadn't been plundered by European colonization. I'm going to assume you don't mean it this way, but your comments could be taken as implying that when black people aren't competent to run their own countries, so they're lucky to live in a country run by white people.

creech | April 26, 2007, 1:12pm | #

Dr. Walter Williams, for one, has said many times that he is grateful his ancestors couldn't outrun the African slavers.

joe | April 26, 2007, 1:27pm | #

The people who died in the Middle Passage - estimates run from 30% on up - don't have descendants.

I wonder if any of those non-persons could have cured malaria and built water systems.

Pro Libertate | April 26, 2007, 1:37pm | #

Lichtenberg,

Scottie don't surf!

R C Dean | April 26, 2007, 1:40pm | #

And I hope you understood my point was that Africa might be a better place now if it hadn't been plundered by European colonization.

At this point, I don't know if it was the plundering, so much as the detritus of European thinking and governance that is the problem.

Most of Africa's problems can be chalked up to the burdens of (1) artificial states being run by Marxists kleptocrats and/or (2) ethnic cleansing by Muslim maniacs.

joe | April 26, 2007, 1:42pm | #

If it makes you feel better to use the word "guilt" as a talisman against thought, so be it. For my part, I'm going to stand pat in my "slavery made the world a worse place" position.

If you don't want to engage in "What if...," sir, then you shouldn't write "What if..." comments, as you did at 10:40.

joe | April 26, 2007, 1:43pm | #

RC,

Kleptocrats and genocidists don't come to power in societies that haven't seen their populations ravaged.

Pro Libertate | April 26, 2007, 2:09pm | #

I'm not sure what the point of this argument is. Men do bad things to each other. Always have, still do. Most of the good things about our society came from cultures that did evil--slavery, conquest, etc. I'd say worrying about the present and the future serve us better than trying to pass blame for past evils. Also, it's not like the victors or dominant in these clashes were all evil and the victims all good. Plenty of nasty business in our history to go around.

Seamus | April 26, 2007, 2:39pm | #

The Terrance Malick film "The New World" about the Jamestown settlement was quite good.

Yeah. I learned from it that Captain John Smith spoke with an Irish accent.

Seamus | April 26, 2007, 2:44pm | #

And I hope you understood my point was that Africa might be a better place now if it hadn't been plundered by European colonization.

Right, as can be seen from the fact that Ethiopia, having avoided colonialism, and Liberia, having been colonized by African Americans rather than Europeans, are so much better off than the rest of Africa.

Oh, wait. . .

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 2:44pm | #

Sorry, like I said, I didn't assume you were being racist. I agree that engaging in "what ifs" is kinda pointless.

I'd say I'm more white, classically-liberal, empathetic than white liberal guilty.

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 2:49pm | #

I believe Mussolini annexed Ethiopia into Italy in a very nasty war. That doesn't count as colonization?

Dave W. | April 26, 2007, 3:13pm | #

we should celebrate from the past what we take as good now, and I believe, be forgiving of what we now deem bad if it was good or neutral then.

Bailey didn't choose a very good quote for the celebration of goodness. Especially not the 2007 celebration of goodness.

Bob Smith | April 26, 2007, 3:27pm | #

Yeah, you'd think African Americans would be more grateful to the white man for rescuing them from those nasty white men who were colonizing Africa.

The African slave trade was run by Muslim Arabs, not European colonialists.

Seamus | April 26, 2007, 3:29pm | #

I believe Mussolini annexed Ethiopia into Italy in a very nasty war. That doesn't count as colonization?

When Italian domination lasts for all of five years, during which the Italians were able to accomplish roughly nothing (well, except for abolishing slavery and building the country's first good system of roads), no it really doesn't.

R C Dean | April 26, 2007, 4:02pm | #

Kleptocrats and genocidists don't come to power in societies that haven't seen their populations ravaged.

Oh, c'mon, joe. Exceptions abound, unless you count every society that isn't a First World liberal democracy.

Nearly every damn country in the world is ruled by kleptocrats. When has any Middle Eastern country had its population ravaged, just to pick a continent at random? How about South America? Was Cuba's population "ravaged" before Castro took power?

I'm not letting the West off the hook for the mess in Africa by any means. Hell, I'm blaming the West for doing such a godawful job of preparing the place for liberal democracy that it was fertile soil for kleptocratic Marxist nutjobs.

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 4:12pm | #

during which the Italians were able to accomplish roughly nothing

I suppose murder, mayhem, mustard gassing, and prison camps can't really be counted as accomplishments.

Pro Libertate | April 26, 2007, 4:47pm | #

Mike Laursen,

Don't forget the aqueducts.

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 5:20pm | #

I don't know about the aqueducts. Did the Italians build them, tear them down, swim in them?

Deus | April 26, 2007, 5:41pm | #

I believe Mussolini annexed Ethiopia into Italy in a very nasty war. That doesn't count as colonization?

By that definition, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria would be considered German colonies.

Pro Libertate | April 26, 2007, 5:58pm | #

Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Mike. Remember what the country used to be like?

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 6:03pm | #

By that definition, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria would be considered German colonies.

You're absolutely right. I should have said "plundered by Europe" instead of "plundered by European colonization." The aspect of colonization where the conquering country establishes settlements in the conquered country isn't salient to the point I was making.

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 6:14pm | #

Pro Libertate, I'm not following whatever you're saying about aqueducts. So, I'll just state that I am and always have been in favor of plumbing, unless it's harming the environment or something, in which case I think we need to study the problem.

Pro Libertate | April 26, 2007, 6:23pm | #

Mike Laursen,

I apologize. Intermixed among my serious remarks are gratuitous quotes from Life of Brian. Italians, Romans, what's the difference?

Mike Laursen | April 26, 2007, 9:07pm | #

Italians, Romans, what's the difference?

Motor scooters?

Genghis Kahn | April 27, 2007, 3:18am | #

And I hope you understood my point was that Africa might be a better place now if it hadn't been plundered by European colonization.

And I hope you understand, my point is that if you really believe Africa have gotten its act together, if only the Europeans hadn't invaded/colonized/whatever, then either you've never read any history, or you're just a tad on the nut case side.

Or both.

Genghis Kahn | April 27, 2007, 3:24am | #

Boy I tell ya, those Indians back 400 years ago were racists. Every last one of them. Why, did you know that many of them were not in favor of open borders and unlimited immigration? And they expressed themselves about this, by firing arrows and jamming spears into the bodies of European immigrants.

How many more bridges would have been built, and gold dug, and industries erected, if not for all the Europeans that those Indians killed.

Those damned Indians needed to learn a lesson, yessir. Somebody should have told them how much better off they would have been, if they had just been able to get over their simple, foolish racism, and adopt an open door policy.

Oh wait....

Genghis Kahn | April 27, 2007, 3:25am | #

In any case, I for one am very happy that the Indians were here, for without them we might not have the second amendment. Or it might never have survived as long as it has.

Genghis Kahn | April 27, 2007, 3:43am | #

That letter they gave to the first colonists -- we better make sure the Mexicans coming over the border don't get to see that thing. They might start getting ideas.

golden | April 27, 2007, 8:38am | #

African-Americans aren't grateful for the our ancestors were enslaved.

What you are essentially arguing that it is right that we had to pay a much steeper price to gain the same opportunities that whites got for much less.

How on earth is that acceptable?

Oh and Walter Williams is an ass.