Causes and Consequences of Exploration, Immigration, Settlement Patterns, and Growth

Jamestown, Virginia—England

Early attempts at English colonization of the New World were sporadic. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh set up a small colony in a territory he called Virginia (after Queen Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen”), which lasted a year before the settlers returned to England. In 1587, a second colony, Roanoke, was attempted; when supply ships arrived at last in 1590, they found that the entire colony had disappeared. In 1606, James I granted the Virginia Company of London a charter to settle the area, which included present-day Virginia and North Carolina. Jamestown, established in 1607, became a permanent settlement, although not without first experiencing disease and starvation. By 1616, however, tobacco had become a staple crop and Jamestown had found an economic basis for survival.

India—England

Formed for the purpose of trading in cotton, silk, indigo, salt, tea, and opium with the East Indies (most of southeast Asia), the English East India Company was granted a royal charter in 1600. By the end of the century, the company's focus was primarily in India. Settlements such as Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta began as trading posts supplying a worldwide demand for inexpensive fabrics and became major commercial towns. The East India Company became a force that dominated South India with its private armies, setting the stage for the rise of the British Empire in the rest of India and other parts of Asia.

Australia—England

The loss of English penal colonies in America after 1776 and overcrowding in English prisons were primary factors in England's colonization of Australia. Founded in 1788, the Colony of New South Wales remained a penal colony till 1823, at which time the New South Wales Act created a legislative council and supreme court to supersede the governorship, an office which had had virtually unlimited power over the colony. The Act was an important step toward Australia's system of representative democracy. As colonization pushed westward, Australia became an important agricultural producer, especially noted for fine wool. By the end of the 19th century a federation movement arose, and Australia became a commonwealth in 1901. It was not till 1986, with the passage of the Australia Act, that Australia gained its final independence from England.