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Britain's
Queen Elizabeth to Visit Historic Jamestown at 400th Anniversary |
Posted:
04.30.07
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will visit Virginia this week to
celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown,
the first permanent English settlement in the New World, which
shaped the America of today.
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 The
queen will be accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the duke
of Edinburgh, during the May 3-8 visit, which also will include
visits to the state capital Richmond to address the General Assembly;
Williamsburg, home of colonial Williamsburg and the College of
William and Mary; and to the White House in Washington, D.C.,
for a state dinner.
This will be the royal couple's second visit to Jamestown. Their
first visit was 50 years ago to celebrate the famous settlement's
350th anniversary in 1957.
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Archeological
discoveries |
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Since the last visit, archeologists have made several important
discoveries about Jamestown Settlement, including unearthing the
site of James Fort where the first settlement was located.
 "On
their last visit in 1957, it was commonly believed that the 1607
James Fort site had eroded into the James River," Elizabeth
Kostelny, executive director of APVA Preservation Virginia, said
in a statement, the Washington Post reported.
"Since then, we have discovered almost the entire outline
of the fort and we will be able to share with them evidence of
the buildings, wells and other archaeological features, as well
as objects last used by the colonists and the Virginia Indians
they encountered."
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Jamestown
Settlement history |
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The history of the Jamestown Settlement begins with King James
I of Britain, who granted a charter to the Virginia Company, a
group of London businessmen, to establish an English settlement
in the Chesapeake region of North America in June 1606.
 Those
early settlers arrived on Jamestown Island on the banks of the
James River on May 14, 1607, where they eventually built a wooden
triangular fort that encased a storehouse, church and several
houses.
The new colony was governed by a council of seven men, including
the famous Capt. John Smith. Eventually Smith became the sole
leader of the struggling group.
The new settlers were plagued with harsh weather, attacks by
indigenous Algonquian Indians, disease, and shortages of food,
water and other supplies. But under Smith's tough rule the colony
survived through 1609, when he returned to England following a
gunpowder accident.
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Historical
significance |
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For many historians, the ability of the Jamestown Settlement
to endure determined the eventual creation of an English-speaking
America. The Spanish, who hoped to spread Roman Catholicism, were
twice repelled from the area.
"There's no question that Jamestown throws down the gauntlet
to the Spanish," James Horn, who wrote "A Land as God
Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America," told the Associated
Press.
This is also the area where Pocahontas, daughter of Algonquian
Chief Powhatan, was kidnapped and eventually married tobacco grower
John Rolfe.
Tobacco, which became one of the first successful exports for
the fledgling colony, remains important to Virginians today.
Many sociologists and authors trace the American desire to economically
succeed to these first European entrepreneurs who were seeking
a more prosperous future in the fledgling colony.
 "The
colony that developed from those beginnings was, in many ways,
more quintessentially American since it was all about making money,"
wrote Nathaniel Philbrick, author of "Mayflower: A Story
of Courage, Community, and War," according to the AP.
By 1619 the first representative assembly in the New World was
established at Jamestown. This was also the year in which Africans
first came to Virginia, exchanged for food by a Dutch slave trader
to become indentured servants.
The king revoked the Virginia Company charter in 1624 and Jamestown
became a crown colony.
The land where the fort was located, which was eventually privately
owned by the mid-1700s, was also home to a military post during
the American Revolution and occupied by Confederate soldiers during
the American Civil War.
Today Jamestown is operated and maintained by both the National
Park Service and APVA Preservation Virginia.
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Rediscovering
Virginia's Indian heritage |
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This year's anniversary events involved the region's Native Americans
in more ways than at past celebrations. Members of local tribes
served on planning committees to help shape the way their history
is shared with the public.
 "We
want our story to be told," Steve Adkins, chief of the Chickohominy
tribe, who serves on the official Jamestown commission, told the
Washington Post. "And we want to be the ones to tell it."
They hope to instill in visitors that the Powhatan were part
of a complex civilization with agriculture, trade and political
systems long before the English arrived, Adkins said.
--Compiled
by Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra
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