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In late December, 1606, in London’s River Thames, three small ships were anchored awaiting a voyage across the Atlantic. Those three ships were the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery, and they would take 105 men and boys to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to establish the Virginia Company’s southern colony. They would plunge into a complex geopolitical morass that would very nearly destroy the venture. This episode looks at the context for the expedition that would become Jamestown, including especially the rise of the powerful Powhatan confederacy that would be waiting there when the English arrived, and prepared by a long-ago confrontation with the Spanish to confront the newcomers .
Selected resources for this episode
Carl Bridenbaugh, Jamestown, 1544-1699
Charlotte M. Gradie, “Spanish Jesuits in Virginia: The Mission That Failed”
James Horn, A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America
James Horn, A Brave and Cunning Prince: The Great Chief Opechancanough and the War for America
David Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
I wish to congratulate and thank you for creating this podcast series! A survey course of America’s origin that includes detailed context WAY before Jamestown has not been so easily available before and in such a congenial format. Much appreciated!
Now that we have arrived at Jamestown, I feel a need to offer a criticism of something that seems small, but is nevertheless quite grating: your pronunciation of “Powhatan.” I live in Virginia (land of Powhatan), and it has always been pronounced POW-whaht-tan without exception to knowledge. I have never heard the pronunciation you use of pow-HAT-tan. Given your attention to detail elsewhere in the series, I find this decision odd. It grates as much as hearing a series about North America repeatedly talk about ca-NAY-duh instead of CAN-ah-dah. Given that many people will learn about this foundational part of American history from your podcast, I think it is important to get it right. Having said that, I am willing to stand corrected if you can provide evidence that your pronunciation is correct and the one people use in Virginia is wrong.
Keep up your good and valuable work!