Jamestown Question Review

1. State the factors that led England to begin colonization.

There were several things that led England to move to the Americas, and most of them were because their where to many issues going on in England, that made people want to start a new life in the Americas.

One of the main reasons where overpopulation. The population in England went from 3 million people in 1550 to 4 million in 1600. That’s 1 million people in only 50 years. The overpopulation alarmed many people in England. This crowded

Space left little room for farmers to grow their crops and yearned for more land.

Another reason for the English to begin colonizing the Americas was the “Laws of Primogeniture”. This law decreed that only the eldest son were eligible to inherit land. This made many younger siblings thirst for adventure and land just like their siblings before them, making them want to come to the Americas as well. This law not only profited the first born sons but it made an income in a way other that inheritance. By the 1600s the joint-stock company had been perfected and made it easier for the second-borns to settle in America.

The third main reason for moving to the Americas was enclosure. In the 1500s farmers were forced off their land to convert it into sheep grazing, this normally happened in the green pastures of the woolen district, where many of the puritans resided. This resulted in too many people traveling the country on foot as beggars and made farmers move to America to grow more profitable crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and so forth.

These were some of the main reasons for the English people to move to the Americas. “Laws of Primogeniture” giving the first born son’s to inherit land in the Americas, the farmers being forced off their land because of enclosure, and overpopulation in England where one of the three main reasons for moving to the New World. All these new hopeful English colonists were the beginning of a new era in the Americas, and it would...