The Chesapeake Colonies

While England was ruled by landed nobles and people of refined education and manners, Virginia and the colonies of the Chesapeake Bay area were ruled by merchants and mechanics that worked hard and made something of themselves in a new land.  It was a meritocracy instead of an aristocracy.  The rise and fall of tobaccoContinue reading “The Chesapeake Colonies”

Virginia

Between the Spanish to the South and the French to the North the English sought to carve out their own colonies in what they called “Virginia” named for the virgin queen Elizabeth I.  The English relied on private investors operating under royal permission to found colonies that were some of the first international joint stockContinue reading “Virginia”