Breaking New Ground
It is the intention of the prose that shall follow to compare and contrast the Jamestown settlement in Virginia and the Plymouth settlement in Massachusetts. Though formed through trials and triumphs, the two townships share similar characteristics as well as reveal startling differences. The reasons for the creation of the Jamestown settlement were perhaps due to King James 1. Settlers were told upon leaving that they were to settle in Virginia, find gold, a water route to the Orient, and also to find the lost colony of Roanoke. The decision to leave Holland was based on a number of considerations. In the early 17th Century, Holland was overpopulated in relation to the economic situation of the day-much like England. The colonists promised to send lumber, furs, and fish back to Weston in England for seven years, after which they would own the tract. The first European to see Virginia may have been John Cabot, who reached the North American coast for England in 1497 and may have explored it in the next year. The Italian Giovanni de Verrazzano explored the coast for France in 1524. In 1570 the Spanish started a religious mission on the Rappahannock River near the site of Fredericksburg, but Native Americans wiped it out.