The Death of Early Jamestown

By 1611, 80% of the settlers that had come to Early Jamestown had died. Jamestown is located in modern day Virginia. The area where the English settled was already inhabited by the Powhatan Indians. However, the Indians were not the ones the English were trying to protect themselves from it was the Spanish. They settled in the spot where Jamestown is because it was near water, fertile and has more protection from the Spanish. In Early Jamestown, which was from 1607 to 1611 many English colonists died because of environmental issues, poor relations with the Powhatan Indians and lack of settler skills.

The first reason why so many colonists died in Early Jamestown is because of environmental issues. The rivers and creeks became full of brackish water because as the water levels rose the salty water from the ocean entered the freshwater. (Document A) There were many deaths because diseases was more common with filth festering in the water instead of flushing away. It also wouldn't be healthy for the English because they may have used that water to drink or use for other resources and it was not completely fresh. Also there was little rainfall in the years of Early Jamestown making for bad growth and agriculture. (Document B) This lead to more deaths because with little rainfall the English would have a hard time growing crops for food. Little rainfall and brackish water are two main environmental issues that lead to great death in Early Jamestown.

Secondly, many Early Jamestown colonists died because they had poor relationships with the Indians.The English were able to get shiploads of grains from the Indians but in return they did terrible things to the Indians like cutting off their heads. (Document D) The English were making themselves enemies of the Indians. They had cut off their people’s heads and the Indians wouldn't just allow them to get away with that. They would look for revenge on the English. The English would not know that they have another group of people to watch out for they would not be expecting an attack from the Powhatan Indians. The Indians were capable and killed nearly half of the English men in battle. (Document E) This is leading to more deaths because people are now fighting and killing each other. The Indians and English are now at war and the English do not have much protection from the Powhatan because when they settled they were not planning on war with them. The English created a bad relationship with the Indians by bringing in violence which then lead to many of the English’s deaths.

The early settlers in Jamestown lacked skills which lead to their many deaths. Of the 110 original settlers in 1607, six were governors, forty-seven were gentlemen, twelve were laborers, four were carpenters, four were boyes, and twenty-eight had an unknown occupation. (Document C) The English had a very low variety of jobs. The jobs that were actually useful like surgeon and apothecaries only had a single person in the occupation. The useless jobs, which meant that the people did not work and get their hands dirty were taken up by the majority of the population. These jobs were like the gentlemen who had forty-seven people in the occupation. The majority of the population in Early Jamestown did nothing to contribute in a positive way to the settlement. This lead to many of their deaths because people would get sick and they would not be able to get cured because of the lack of a doctor. Also if they might not have enough for a job that gets them the resources they need to make a settlement. The English settlers didn't have many skills which lead to their many deaths.

There were many deaths of colonists from 1607 to 16011 because of environmental issues, poor relationships with Indians, and lack of settler skills. The ocean created brackish water in the freshwater rivers causing an unhealthy and filthy environment for the colonists. The English started a bad relationship with the Indians by stealing and killing their crops and people. The majority of the English settlers that came to Jamestown were gentlemen who did not work to help out the settlement. In order to have something new to succeed then you need to have a good relationship with the people it affects, adapt to the surrounding environment or how it may affect your goal and work hard. 

Bibliography:
Document A - Dennis B. Blanton, “Jamestown’s Environment,” Center for Archaeological Research, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2000. 
Document B - “The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts,” Science, April 24, 1998.
Document C - John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, Book III, 1624. 
Document D - Ivor Noel Hume, The Virginia Adventure, Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. 
Document E - J. Frederick Fausz, “An Abundance of Blood Shed on Both Sides: England’s First Indian War, 1609-1614”, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, January 1990.

Atahualpa Looks for the Truth

   

Atahualpa
http://digital.library.unt.edu
/ark:/67531/metadc41704/ 

                Atahualpa was the leader of the Inca village that the Spaniards arrived in. The Inca saw Atahualpa as the son of the sun, so they treated him like a god. The Spanish came to the Inca village with the goal of converting the Incas to Christianity in mind. They confronted Atahualpa in front off thousands of Incas and declare their proposal. There are many different sources that have been written that explain the popes encounter with Atahualpa. In theses sources they all tell different stories. Some of which make no sense and are based off biased point of views and some that tell the complete story accurately. It can be hard to find which source is accurately telling the events of this meeting between Atahualpa and the Spanish pope. In class we did an activity with three different sources on this event. We used the textbook's point of view and two other documents one taken from the account of a Spanish explorer and one account from Pizarro. Our class split up into three groups; each group was assigned one of the sources, then we had to come up with a skit that explained what happened in the document. Once everybody was ready we presented the skits and compared them in a whole class discussion. After we had created the closest story we could we watched a short video of the accurate story of Atahualpa and the Spaniards encounter.

                   The textbook is not a reliable source for information on this topic. The textbook states "Atahualpa held the book to his ear and listened to it. When the book didn't speak, he threw it on the ground." This is not what happened when Atahualpa received the book from the Spanish Friar. This account doesn't even make sense. Atahualpa knew that this book wasn't going to speak to him he just didn't know how to open it. Atahualpa and the Inca's didn't have a written language so they had never seen a

Pizarro
http://www.biography.com/people/francisco-pizarro-9442295

book before. Document A was a reliable source when looking at this event. It accurately explains what Atahualpa did with the bible. "Atahualpa asked for the Book, that he might look at it, and the priest gave it to him closed. Atahualpa did not know how to open it...........Then he opened it himself, and, without any astonishment at the letters and paper, he threw it away from him five or six steps" Atahualpa didn't try to listen to the book. Atahualpa struggled with opening the book then when he got it open the words didn't make sense to him so he threw it on the ground thinking it was worthless. Also in the Textbook version of this story they make it seem like the attacking started right away. While the Spanish Pope had to go and tell Pizarro, who then ordered his men to attack. This is states correctly in Document A and document B. These sources all tell different stories because some are biased and are in favor of one of theses groups. The textbook is biased and is on the side of the Spaniards. It said that Atahualpa held the book to his ear to make him seem dumb and unintelligent while he just didn't have the knowledge on that certain object. Many sources can be biased to support what a group of people does or says. Some sources are based of Primary sources that didn't actually know what happened at the time and made up the story that they had written. Primary sources can't always be relied on and you have to be careful about what sources to use. 

                Through this lesson I have learned to try and base my research off of multiple sources. It is important to have one source from each point of view, so in this case one source from the Spaniards and one source from the Inca's, but because they didn't have a written language a source from someone that could write that was in favor of the Inca's. Although the textbook is supposed to be a reliable source it really isn't. The textbook bases their information off of one source that may not be all that accurate. However, people have learned  to only believe what is in the textbook which is not a smart thing. We have to use the textbook then use other sources and decide if the textbook is telling the right story or not. In theses sources you should be able to identify the perspective it is from. You have to think of who the document is in favor of. If you read all documents in favor of one side and none from the other side you could be reading multiple sources and still not get the correct story. So you have to be able to identify the biased and use that information to find the next source and decide the true story for yourself. When researching history it can be hard to find good reliable sources, but if you don't your story could be completely different from what actually happened. 

Pizarro helps Atahualpa
https://wikis.engrade.com/colonialisminbolivia/3 

Link to Sources:
http://www.edline.net/files/_6NLRg_/a1ef44fb0b0778ce3745a49013852ec4/Atahualpa_and_the_Bible_0.pdf 

A World of Inequality all the Way Back to 1492

The Colombian Exchange

The Colombian exchange is the exchange of diseases, food crops, populations (people and animals), and cultures between the New World and Old World after the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The Colombian Exchange began when Christopher Columbus first arrived in America in 1492. He had brought horses and other animals and food with him that were new to the Indians. This began the exchange because the Europeans were bringing over goods to the Natives while the Native were also trading things with the Europeans. Both the Americas and the Europeans had begun the exchange of goods which soon led into the exchange of diseases and people along with the plants. animals, and food. The New World (the Americas) however didn't benefit as much as the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa)  did form this exchange.


The Old World had more benefits from this exchange then the New World. They received cash crops from the Natives that lived in the Americas. Some of these cash crops were sugar and tobacco. These were very valuable to the Europeans because they could not grow this on their own at the time, so there value was ranked highly. There was a demand for theses crops by the people because they needed theses crops that they hadn't known about. Also they could starts growing them in Europe once they got them from the Natives. The Natives also received crops like bananas, coffee beans, and grapes but the suffering was larger then the profit form the goods they received. 

The Great Dying

The New World suffered through this exchange. The Europeans and others were bringing diseases with them to the New World hen they came. The New World had never experienced theses symptoms and diseases before. All of theses things were new to them. So they didn't have experience with curing them. The Old World kept on bringing new diseases every time they came. They tried to stop people from coming once they found out that the people from the Old World were causing it. However, they didn't have the power to stop people from sailing and settling on their land. This lead to the Great Dying. The Natives went through suffering like aching bones, small pox, burning chest, and high fever. Typical Native American societies lost 90% of there population in the years following Christopher Columbus's expedition.

Triangular Trade

This Colombian Exchange is also know as the unequal exchange because of the suffering in the New
World and the benefits in the Old World. It is known as the unequal exchange because the Old World hurt the New World population with bringing in diseases while the Old World was receiving money and power from selling the crops they were receiving form the Old World. These exchange had brought success for most of the world at one point, but when people began the exchange of disease and other people it hurt the New World and kill off most of it's original inhabitants. The Colombian exchange was the exchange of benefits to the New World and suffering to the Old World.




Link to Resources on the Colombian Exchange: 
 http://www.edline.net/pages/Reading_HS/Classes/1415_10211202/Unit_2_-_Scientific_Revolutio_/Unit_2_Activity_3_-_Columbian_

A Hero or A Murderer

"Christopher Columbus, the brave captain that risked his life to discovered America."  No, how about Christopher Columbus, the greedy discoverer that took advantage of the Native Americans and killed them for something they didn't have. Christopher Columbus is a European explorer that used his knowledge of the world against the Native Americans. He first discovered "the new world" in hopes of getting rich and finding gold. When he got there he discovered that the Natives wore gold and to Columbus that meant that they were rich. However, the small gold chains that the Natives wore was all they had for gold. Once Christopher Columbus saw the gold he immediately took control of the Natives and forced them to find gold for him. He would have monthly gold collections from each person. If they had enough gold to offer each month they were awarded by wearing a coin around their neck. If the Natives did not collect enough gold to Columbus's liking he would have their hand cut off and they would have to wear it around their necks. Christopher Columbus also hung many Natives and began war against them. The Natives were welcoming people and once Christopher Columbus came they were willing to do anything for him. That should not mean that Columbus is allowed to take over their land and kill innocent people. The Natives offered him many goods from their people however the goods they presented him weren't what he came to collect. He also treated his crew very poorly. Almost half of the people that went on voyages with Christopher Columbus died on the way. Christopher Columbus treated the Natives so poorly that when he went on his forth voyage to the new world he compiled a Book of Privileges. He created this book because when he left people were concerned with whether Columbus was doing the right things. It shows that even people in Europe were questioning the things that Christopher Columbus was doing. No one agreed with Christopher Columbus but he still continued his tactics so he would become rich. Christopher Columbus was a rich, greedy man that didn't care about the lives of others. 

The question that many Americans are still trying to answer is the fact that we still have Columbus day and if it is actually something worth celebrating. Christopher Columbus does deserve some credit he connected Europe and the Americas. That is an extraordinary discovery. He was also capable of telling when an eclipse was going to be and the cycle of the moon and stars. However, the way that Christopher Columbus is presented to younger kids through Columbus day should not be celebrated. Christopher Columbus did take a risk on going on a journey where no one else had gone. We are taught in a manner that seems like Christopher Columbus took a huge risk.That may be true, but he had pretty much known that he was going to hit land. He may have discovered something different from what he was looking for but he still hit land. The way we celebrate Christopher Columbus should be changed. I think that we should still celebrate this holiday, but it should be viewed differently. Rather then making the holiday all about Christopher Columbus it should be altered to be celebrating the achievement of the Europeans. This should be the way we look at Columbus day because Christopher Columbus did not discover America by himself. He had many sponsors and crew to sail the ships. So, rather then us celebrating someone who started the slave trade we should focus more on the whole achievement and the factors that went into it to be accomplished. Christopher Columbus may not be the most model citizen, but he deserves credit for a major discovery. 

Links to Christopher Columbus resources: 

Columbus's report on his first Voyage, 1493 
http://www.edline.net/files/_5PJlR_/716be5ec5e1ee8c33745a49013852ec4/Columbus_reports_on_his_first_voyage.pdf 

Christopher Columbus Mini Biography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8Vd-NZ8Qo&feature=youtu.be

Columbus' Cook of Privileges
http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/exploration-of-north-america/videos/columbus-book-of-privileges

The Conflicts of Truth

The Scientific Revolution was a great change in the medical field from what it used to be. Almost all of the most important discoveries were made by using the scientific method. The scientific method if a series of steps used to test new ideas and theories. The seven steps of the scientific method are state the problem, gather the information on the problem, form a hypothesis, experiment to test the hypothesis, record and analyze the data, state a conclusion, and repeat the steps. Usually scientist would repeat these steps over and over multiple times to make sure that their data was accurate. There were multiple ways in which they understanding of science changed in this time. The understanding of astronomy was greatly impacted during the scientific revolution. The understanding had always been that earth was in the center of the "world." This was how people understood it because the Roman Catholic Church taught people that god had created the earth first so it would have to be the center. However then a scientist called Nicolaus Copernicus came along and said that the universe was heliocentric, which means that it has a sun center. People didn't believe him because it went against the church teachings and that would mean the first thing in the Bible was wrong. Then Galileo cam along and proved Copernicus's theory. Galileo had proof because he had built a telescope so he could actually see the sun sand planets. The Roman Catholic Church was so appalled that Galileo was going against everything that they had taught that they made him go too trial. They said if he didn't take back what he had said then they would kill him. The church was so scared because they new that if Galileo was right people would start questioning all that the church was teaching them. Galileo said that he didn't mean what he said and would never say it again. Boyle was another famous scientist who discovered the process of combustion. He made air pumps to test pressure and made up the formula PV=K, which means pressure times volume will always equals a constant. Their was also Paré who was a military surgeon and a royal surgeon. He discovered the use of prosthetic limbs and ligatures for binding arteries. All of the scientists at this time were hoping to discover something that hadn't been discovered yet. This mock primary source was written in October of 2014 from the perspective of a merchant, who is a devout Catholic reacting to the scientist who are dissecting human bodies. 

I just found out that the scientists are going against the rules of the church. If they aren't following the rules of the church then no matter what their discoveries are they will always be wrong and inaccurate. Da Vinci, Vesalius, and Harvey they are great scientists who are using their knowledge against everybody else. They aren't allowed to study a corpse of a person. Everybody should get properly buried by the Roman Catholic Church, after they have passed. The scientists shouldn't put people they may not even know at risk of not going to heaven. Who knows if once someone dies if they go directly to heaven what if it takes awhile and then when they are dissected then they don't go anywhere. They may be studying the human body, but until then can actually help anybody they shouldn't have the privilege to take apart someones resting body. Da Vinci, Vesalius, and Harvey may be sacrificing their entrance into heaven. They shouldn't be dragging anybody else with them. Who knows if god will change his mind about where they go when they pass. I support the Roman Catholic Church one hundred percent. It is wrong for these scientists to be able to worry anyone about what is happening. I refuse to believe anything that they are doing because the Church and God are the ones who make the rules and tell us what we need to know. If we needed to know more about the human body then the Church would inform us, but to prove the church wrong is going against everything. That would be like saying that the god didn't create anything. These scientists are wasting their time on studies that will go nowhere. Who would believe then after they have defied the church? The Roman Catholic Church should overrule these scientists studies and say that they are no longer allowed to dissect human bodies. 

Da Vinci

Harvey

Vesalius

A Time of Achievement and A Time of Sorrow

The Printing press was the greatest invention of its time. Before the printing press was made people who weren’t church or royalty could not afford books. Books were originally hand copied by monks. If they wanted to make another copy of a book they would need to hand write the whole thing over again. This made it so books that were written at the time had a lot of mistakes in them and they took a long time to make. Since the book took so long they were priced very high. So citizens weren't able to afford them. This meant that ideas and knowledge weren't spread as easily. Once they invented the printing press it allowed them to be able to make multiple copies of the same page in a much faster time. This made it so the books were lower priced and everybody could afford them. Now that everyday people could afford books people became more literate and therefore they were smarter and more intelligent overall. Since ideas could spread more quickly the reformation spread quickly also. They used paper pamphlets, discussions, news ballad, and woodcuts.  The printing press helped spread ideas throughout Europe much faster than they were every spread before.

This is a fictional conversation between two people that lived in Europe during the time that Mary Tudor ruled. Sarah and her boyfriend, Jack who lives a couple miles away are reacting to the events happening around them.

Sarah: Jack I really need you right now. My parents are fighting about Mary as queen. They are worried that she will have strict rules and they won’t pay attention to me. #needy

Jack:Why are you parents so worried? Mary was raised as a Catholic she can stop the Protestant religion from spreading more. Mary can help us by becoming queen.

Sarah: That’s the problem yesterday she did something that goes against everything that I believe. There was a woman four months away from having a baby and she was burned. #scared

Jack: I’m scared too. I don’t know if that was right, but I want to be able to practice my catholic faith and Mary will help me achieve that. #sidemary

Sarah: My parents will do anything to save their religion. We are Protestant. If my parents do anything that’s not catholic my whole family will be punished like that woman.

Jack: Just become Catholic. Forget about that Protestant. It’s the only way to stay safe. Otherwise Mary will kill you. #protectyourself

Sarah: I’m sorry I can’t go against my religion. I will be the burning flesh you smell for weeks after my death. Sorry Jack.

Martin Luther: Good or Bad?

Martin Luther was a catholic monk who was very religious, however he had his own ideas on the Catholic Religion. He believed that people made it into heaven themselves and not by paying for indulgences. As he says in the 95 Theses  "I do not bring accusation against the outcries of the preachers, which I have not heard, so much I grieve over the wholly false impressions which the people have received from them (the indulgences.)"  Martin Luther challenged the Church because he didn't think that their intentions were to make the citizens believe that by buying indulgences they would get into heaven. He wasn't against the indulgences he just thought that the people were seeing them as something they weren't. Martin Luther didn't know that the Catholic Church was actually intentionally preaching to the citizens about paying for passage way into heaven. They did this so they could send money to Rome to build cathedrals. Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses to explain all the things wrong with the indulgences he sent this to the Archbishop. He didn't think that the Archbishop knew what was happening and that he should inform him, but instead the Pope took it as being heretical and excommunicated Luther from the Catholic Church. 

Martin Luther's intentions were good at first for the people, but then his intention changed. Martin Luther had gotten power from writing the 95 theses. Martin Luther was sympathetic to the peasants because the peasants believed that Luther could change their lives and give them more freedom. So what Martin Luther did was make an admonition to Peace. However, when the peasants started the Peasants Revolt Martin Luther decided that he was going to side with the German rulers. Once he was on the German rulers side he wrote documents such as Against the Murderous and Thieving Hordes of Peasants. Martin Luther had so much power that the Prince saw these documents as the approval for harsh military action. Martin Luther's writing had allowed German soldiers and mercenaries to slaughter the peasants. In the end about one hundred thousand peasants were killed and hundreds of thousands were now homeless. So all though Luther may have helped the peasants and people out at first he made decisions that were not for the good of the people. 

Links: 

95 Theses document: 

http://www.edline.net/files/_4XLpw_/803fa369abd8e34c3745a49013852ec4/Martin_Luther_Document_Analysis_Packet.pdf 

Indulgences video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZTKKjxvBhE&feature=youtu.be

Peasants Revolt Video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzZYmcW8T-U&feature=youtu.be 

Definitions:

Heretic - Person who has betrayed the Church and it's laws.

Excommunicated - Banished from the Church. The Pope banished Luther on June 15, 1520.

The Fight to Power

Throughout this lesson my class has been trying to figure out how the wealthy in Florence used their money to inspire new art and ideas during the Renaissance. We created a better understanding of this by looking at a map, watching videos, and reading articles about the Medici and Machiavelli family. In Florence wealthy people used patronage to support artists, so family's could gain power and respect. he wealthy would hire an architect or painter depending on what they wanted. They would then have the artist make a work of art specially for the family and they would be paid in return. The Medici family was know for their patronage; their goal was to gain wealth and power. They first sponsored a pirate who became the Pope and then they sponsored Brunelleschi who constructed a temple for Giovanni's tomb, an orphanage, and the dome to the Cathedral which was an essential part of Florence. Machiavelli wanted to gain their power back from the Medici so he wrote The Prince which was about his ideas of leadership in which he dedicated to the Medici. However he didn't impress them and was not able to work their their new Florentine regime. 

In the excerpt Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether it is Better to be Loved than Feared it states that a Prince would be better off being feared by his subjects than loved by them. It is better for the Prince to be feared by his subjects because when they turn against him he will be stronger then if he relies entirely on their promises and doesn't take precautions. Men respond to someone they fear better then someone they love because they are ungrateful and overlook the love, so if they are in fear they will be more likely to give up anything for the Prince. The Prince wants to make sure that he is not hated though, but only feared. If the Prince stays away from the property and wife of his citizens then he will be both feared and liked.  

I think Machiavelli's points may be somewhat valid. If we had a president that loved everybody then he would never enforce the rules that are needed. The environment around us would change and their would be limited organization of important matters. I think the President does have to be feared a little so everybody thinks twice about impressing him and doing the right thing in order to not be punished. I also agree that in order for the President or anyone in charge to not be hated that they don't do anything negative to the citizens property. If the people in charge didn't let the citizens take care of their own personal property they would be hated because each individual person needs control of at least something. However, the president or person in charge should not be feared to the extent that people are afraid to do anything without their permission because then people would not be able to produce new things that may be needed. 

Links: 

Birth of a Dynasty Video - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FFDJK8jmms&feature=youtu.be 

The Prince article:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/prince-excerp.asp 

Machiavelli & a new generation of Medici article:

http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/renaissance/machiavelli.html 

Sources of Death

Our class learned about The Black Death through many sources. We used an interactive map, watched two videos and examined two different article. Throughout our lesson we were trying to find the best sources for the truth about the Black Death.

The Florentine Chronicle is a passage written about what happened to the Florentine and it's people when Black Death came open them. It was written in the late 1370's to the early 1380's by Coppola di Stefano Buonaiuti. Coppola di Stefano Buonaiuti was born in 1336 and lived in Florence when the Black Death struck. This source is believable because in the article it states "as was said" which means what was written he heard from other people as well as experiencing for himself. This source is not believable because Coppola di Stefano Buonaiuti was only two when the black death was around. Most people can't remember anything from when they were two and if Coppola did his memories could have been altered by other people because he wrote the passage many years after the Black Death had occurred.  

The Decameron is a passage about the Black Death and what had happened. The Decameron was written by Boccaccio in 1351.Boccaccio was ten at the time of the Black Death. This source is believable because Boccaccio actually lived through the Black Death in Florence and was able to experience it himself making him a primary source. This article is not believable because it is a piece of fiction. This makes it less believable because fiction does not have to include real facts and it can be changed to make the article more interesting.

In my opinion the Florentine Chronicle is a more believable source. I think the Florentine Chronicle is more believable because even through Coppola di Stefano Buonaiuti  was only two at the time is memories may be mixed with other stories that people who can actually remember the Black Death told him. The Decameron is fiction which means all of it could be made up while the Florentine Chronicle includes actually facts and thoughts of the Black Death. 

Lasting Impressions

I am a ninth grade blogger and the purpose of this blog is to share my true ideas and opinions. It will contain accurate facts but should not be depended on completely.This blog was created to share my point of view on the concepts of ninth grade history.

My definition of a great teacher is someone who understands the point of view of a ninth grader. A good teacher prepares their student for the future. Their goal is to make every kid understand the information being presented and for their students to get the best grades they can. The best teachers push their students to be the best they can be and they always know when to enforce the rules.

I agree with John Green. We go to school so that we can get an education. An education will help the world achieve goals and invent new technology. My goal for this year in swimming is to qualify for states. In order to achieve this goal I will have to work extra hard a practice and improve my stroke technique. My goal for the future is to get an education in school so I can become a teacher and teach students.