An Englishman named Raleigh sent 400 people to explore America. These men landed on an island named Roanoke near the coast of North Carolina. Tribes of Indians were living there when the Englishmen arrived. One of the Englishmen wrote that the natives made great and horrible cries. He also said that the Indians felt better when the English gave them glasses, knives, dolls, and other trifles, which were exchanged for food, corn, and fur.
Other people from England came to what is now called Virginia. Many of them died because they did not have enough food supplies; but after they landed, they found other kinds of food that they had never eaten before.
The most important Indian food was corn. The Indians taught the white men how to prepare different cornmeals. Here in America the English saw their first pumpkins, white potatoes, and tobacco. Sir Walter Raleigh started smoking and carried tobacco with him back to England. When he started smoking there, his servants threw a pitcher of water on him. They thought he was on fire!
Tobacco leaves soon grew valuable. They took the place of money. Even teachers were paid with leaves of tobacco. Because more men began smoking at this time, the demand for tobacco rose. Soon more tobacco plantations opened up in the New World, and that brought more and more people from England to farm the tobacco. More housing was needed for the immigrants, too. Soon whole towns appeared; the largest and most beautiful town in Virginia was Williamsburg.
Several important leaders of this country came from Virginia. Among them were George Washington, the first President of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the
Declaration of Independence
of this nation. (Here the teacher should try to instill in the students a motivation to read and learn more about other aspects of American history. The teacher should build a classroom library with a variety of easyreading books.)
Some settlers became very rich. They did not want to farm the plantations any more and decided to bring men from Africa to work planting tobacco and performing other duties.
Questions for Discussion:
1.
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Why do you think that the Indians cried and were afraid of the Englishmen?
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2.
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Why do you think that the Indians were happy with the gifts, especially the knives, that the white men gave them?
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3.
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Who taught the white people to smoke tobacco and to eat cornmeal?
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4.
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Can you find on the map Virginia, North Carolina, and Williamsburg?
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