Colonial Culture Flashcards
Henry Hudson
An English explorer sponsored by the Dutch East India Company, Hudson sailed up the river that now bears his name in 1609. His explorations gave the Dutch territorial claims to the Hudson Bay region.
New Amsterdam
A company town on Manhattan Island (purchased by the Dutch from the Indians for virtually nothing.)
New Sweden
A colony on the Delaware river which was defeated and taken by the Dutch in 1655.
bread colonies
The nickname of the middle colonies due to their grain production.
indentured servants
English settlers who worked in Virginia in exchange for free passage.
freedom dues
Given to indentured servants in Virginia, consisted of a few barrels of corn, a suit of clothes, and possibly a small piece of land.
Headright system
Encouraged the importation of servants. Whoever paid their passage, received 50 acres of land.
Bacon’s Rebellion
1676- Lead by frustrated freeman Nathaniel Bacon, a mob of former indentured servants took Virginia into civil war after the governor refused to retaliate for Indian attacks. It was squashed after Bacon’s sudden death and colonists now looked to Africa for servitude.
William Berkeley
Governor of Virginia during Bacon’s Rebellion.
Royal African Company
A slave trade company which eventually lost it’s charter leading to many Rhode Islanders cashing in on the slave trade.
slave codes
Beginning in Virginia in 1662, they set up the iron-clad conditions of slavery.
Gullah
A language evolved by slaves which blended English and traditional African languages.
Great Planters
Owned gangs of slaves and vast domains of land; ruled the region’s economy and monopolized political power. Top of the Virginian social pyramid.
Small Farmers
Largest social group; tilled their own modest plots and may have owned one or two slaves. Second of the Virginian social pyramid.
Landless Whites
Former indentured servants, they made up the bottom of the Virginia social pyramid, just one above black slaves.
