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Undeterred by three failed colonies in the Carolinas, England attempted another Middle Atlantic settlement in the early 1600s. This Jamestown colony would succeed in becoming the ¤rst permanent English settlement in the Americas. Much like the ill-fated European colonies at Ajacan and Roanoke, socioeconomic clashes contributed to intercultural hostilities at early Jamestown . The English faced seven sets of Powhatan attacks during their initial ¤ve years in the Chesapeake. Although the ¤rst was unprovoked, economic violations by the colonists likely played a role in all but one of the others. In fact, excluding interaction with the Nansamund tribe, all of the Powhatan hostilities with the English followed speci¤c European exchange transgressions. The History Fluctuating English/Powhatan relations divided the ¤rst ¤ve years of European settlement at Jamestown into the following 11 periods of alternating hostility and alliance: (1) Initial ambiguity; April–June, 1607, (2) Peace; June–October, 1607, (3) First inundation and the search for untapped food sources; October– December, 1607, (4) Abduction; December, 1607, (5) Adoption, peace, and second inundation; January–March, 1608, (6) Deteriorating relations; March–June, 1608, (7) Chesapeake exploration; June–August, 1608, (8) Third inundation; September, 1608–January, 1609, 5 Jamestown (9) Assassination attempts; January–August, 1609, (10) Resuscitation; August–September, 1609, and (11) Smith’s departure and war; October, 1609–1611. Unlike the case studies of Ajacan and Roanoke that dealt with dozens of exchanges , contemporary historical records of Jamestown detailed hundreds of transactions between colonists and the indigenous population during the ¤rst¤ve years of this English settlement. As a result, this chapter summarizes the exchange patterns by period instead of visiting each of them individually. Period I: Initial Ambiguity; April–June 1607 Over 100 colonists set sail from the London area for the Chesapeake on the evening of December 19, 1606, aboard three English ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. Led by Captain Christopher Newport, an experienced commander who had already spent time in the West Indies, the ®eet endured many transatlantic storms during the four-month journey. After entering the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry, the English made their ¤rst landfall on the evening of April 26, 1607. Captain Newport led 30 men ashore, whom “certaine Indians”promptly assaulted (Smith et al. 1986, 1:27). None of the primary sources speci¤ed the tribe that had led the attack. However, Newport avenged the violence a year later on natives he held responsible—the Nansamunds. The Nansamunds were the only Powhatan tribe to engage the English in repeated hostilities not immediately preceded by exchange violations. It is also worth noting that the Nansamunds lived at the south edge of the Powhatan chiefdom in an area that bordered the Carolina’s Ossomocomuck territory. The Nansamunds neighbored the Chesepians, a Powhatan tribe that had participated in assaults against the Roanoke colonies in the 1580s. Therefore, this initial attack on the Jamestown settlers might have also been a continuation of unresolved Roanoke hostilities. During the week following the colonists’ arrival in the Chesapeake Bay, English interaction with the local indigenous population improved. Kecoughtans welcomed and feasted the colonists. Newport requited them for the offerings, presenting the natives with beads.Within a few days,the settlers journeyed into Paspahegh territory,the future site of James Fort.There the Algonquians elaborately entertained the colonists. The settlers did not reward the Paspaheghs for their hospitality. This omission of reciprocity was the ¤rst of four consecutive English failures to compensate the Paspaheghs for their offerings. These occurred in a matter of a few weeks, and each of these violations of Algonquian gift-exchange norms alienated the natives. The ¤rst in this series of offenses Jamestown / 81 took place between the colonists and Chief Pemiscuminah, the leader of nearby Quiyoughcohannock. Chief Pemiscuminah sent a message to the colonists, inviting them to visit. Newport accepted the offer and presented tri®es to the natives who delivered the summons. The messenger then led the English to his village. The colonists requited the messenger for his guidance but failed to compensate Pemiscuminah for “entertain[ing them] in good humanitie”(Barbour 1969 I:137). In failing to reciprocate to the Quiyoughcohannock weroance, the English again transgressed indigenous socioeconomic standards. The next offense took place one week later when two Paspahegh messengers visited the settlers and announced that their weroance, Chief Wowinchopunk, was coming to present the colonists with a large deer. The Algonquian leader kept his promise and also offered the English “as much land as [they] would desire to take...

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