The legacy of colonialism in the United States is strong. It has come in many different shapes and sizes, documented in our past and felt in our present. We must learn to talk about it. English colonialism in the Americas started here on the shores of Cape Henry. Landing on this beach, the English colonists invaded a territory that had been home to Native peoples such as Chesapeake and Nansemond for centuries.
Four hundred years ago, 105 men and boys set sail from England aboard three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. A group funded and sent by the Virginia Company, these men had instructions to do three things in the “New World”: build a secure settlement, find gold, and seek a water route to the Pacific Ocean. They sought to claim this land for England, competing with the French, Dutch, and Spanish settlements already in North America. Yet, long before any European colonists arrived, this land was inhabited by Algonquin-speaking tribal peoples whose kinship with this land and these waters had existed for centuries.
These 105 English men and boys first caught sight of the land they would rename Cape Henry at 4 o’clock in the morning on April 26, 1607 after about five months at sea. Captain Christopher Newport, in command of the fleet, came ashore with about 20-30 men to scout the area. Colonist George Percy wrote they found “nothing worth the speaking of, but faire meddowes,” “goodly tall Trees,” and “Fresh-waters running through the woods.” He couldn’t have been more wrong. Later that evening the Native peoples, defending their land from intruding strangers, fired arrows at the colonists and the colonists fired their pistols in return.
Three days later, the colonists named this corner of Virginia Cape Henry in honor of King James I’s eldest son, Prince Henry, and placed a wooden cross to mark the site. Then they began to sail north, farther upriver in search of a more ‘sheltered’ location to build a fort that would protect them from a surprise Spanish attack. They established their permanent settlement at Jamestown two weeks later in May 1607.
Although this historic narrative describing the colonists’ arrival lays the foundation for the creation of the English colonies, and eventually the United States, there was a community of Nations already present on this land, which was and still is known as Tsenacomoco. Today, descendants of these Tribes are present and thriving in Virginia and along the Chesapeake watershed. Their cultures, practices, and beliefs are a valued part of our community.
Online primary sources:
- “A True Relation, by John Smith 1608” published by American Journeys
- Excerpts from “Observations gathered out of a Discourse of the Plantation of the Southerne Colonie in Virginia by George Percy (1625)” published by Encyclopedia Virginia
- “Colonial Settlement, 1660s-1763” US History Primary Source Timeline by the Library of Congress
- “We Have a Story to Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region” by the National Museum of the American Indian
Online resources to learn about the tribal nations of Virginia, past and present:
- “Tribal History” by the Nansemond Indian Nation
- “We Have a Story to Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region” by the National Museum of the American Indian
- “Before It Was Virginia: Setting the Stage” talk given by Helen C. Rountree at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, March 16, 2012
- See also many of Rountree’s books and other scholarship
- “Tsenacomoco (Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom)” by Encyclopedia Virginia
Online resources to learn more about European colonists in Virginia:
- “History of Jamestown” by Historic Jamestowne
- “Cape Henry Memorial” by the NPS Library and Archive
- “Virginia Company of London” by Encyclopedia Virginia
- “Ajacan Mission” Research Starter by EBSCO
- “450th Commemoration of Ajacan – the Spanish Mission of 1570” by Nancy Egloff published on the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Blog