Author: Dr. Shrout

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Based upon the initial reading of the Introduction to the Jamestown Project by Karen Kupperman and the Ecological Perspectives on the Mande Population Movements… by George E Brooks, one would think that these two readings have nothing in common. After closely analyzing the texts, we could find that the success or failure of a group of people is dependent on their survival skills and being able to negotiate the changes in their environment.

Before Jamestown, English ventures into the North American continent for the purposes of setting up a permanent colony of Roanoke in 1585 and then again in 1587, were met with failure (Kupperman 4). So how did the Jamestown colony become the model for later English settlements? My colleague Matthew Liivoja states that the relationship between the Algonquian people and the newly arrived English were uneasy until trade relations were established. While that might be true, the fact is the Algonquian people allowed Jamestown to survive (Kupperman 7). Now if the relations between the Algonquian people and the English settlers were tense, why didn’t the Algonquin people leave the Jamestown colony to their devises and fail as they did with the Roanoke colony? The reason might be Powhaten. Powhaten was no stranger to European men visiting the Virginia area. Hence he and his people knew of ways to handle the European invaders. What he did not expect was for Jamestown to become successful and the Europeans staying for the duration. Also since the Jamestown colony was dependent on the Algonquian people for their survival (Kupperman 8), the English started to improvising their relationships with the Native peoples (Kupperman 10).

Talking about survival, we now look at the Ecological Perspectives on the Mande Population Movement, Commercial Networks, and Settlement Patterns from the Atlantic Wet Phase by George E Brooks. In this article, Brooks looks at the migration habits of the Mande-speaking people as they lived and thrived during the eight climate periods that affected Africa from 5500 B.C. until now. Brooks suggest the origin of the Mande-speaking people began as small dispersed groups living in the area between the Senegal and Niger river (Brooks 26). I share my colleague Robert Deleon’s assessment of the Mande-speaking people. As the climate changed (either it got wetter or dryer), the Mande-speaking people would migrate to different areas in southwestern/southeastern Africa. One interesting fact I found about the Mande-speaking people was the emergence of a tradesman class called the nyamakalaw. It appears that these “occupational specialists” helped facilitate the inter-African and trans-Saharan commercial networks with their formation of commercial hubs in the savanna-woodland areas of Africa (Brooks 34).

Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Jamestown Project. Harvard University Press: Feb. 2009

Brooks, George. “Ecological Perspectives on Mande Population Movements, Commercial Networks, and Settlement Patterns from the Atlantic Wet Phase (Ca. 5500-2500 B.C.) to the Present” History of Africa. 16, (1989), pp. 23-40.

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The introduction of of The Jamestown Project talks about the difficulty of setting up a new colony in North America. The first decade were a struggle to the colony; they were not welcome by their Natives neighbors. Things were quickly turn around when John Rolfe developed a marketable crop, tobacco (Kupperman, 1). Tobacco generated the colony huge profits and other ventures. Within few years, The English colony created a successful society with systems of land ownership, taxation, and a profitable market economy (Kupperman, 2). Jamestown set up an example for future colonies to success in America.

Some of the theoretical intervention I got out of this reading are Discovery and Culture Clash. When English colony planted Jamestown in Virginia in 1607, that land already owned by the Natives for hundreds of years before. The Europeans tend to view Native people as uncivilized savages and they were wrong. The Natives were far from clueless; they understood a great deal about the European. They knew about the transatlantic voyagers, about the European’s characters.

George Brooks’ article discusses how ecological factor influenced the migration and settlement patterns of the Mande. Like Matt Everett stated on his blog, the Mande were aware of the climate around them and knew they have to learn how adapt to changes in order to survive and flourish. This article also reminds me of the argument in Grove’s Green Imperialism, that in other to understand imperialism, one has to study and understand environmentalism first.

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Populations attempting to establish colonies have run into various similar difficulties throughout time and across the world. Karen Kupperman’s introduction to the Jamestown Project discusses the common narratives surrounding the establishment, and the intricacies that are often overlooked when analyzing history of the space. George Brooks’ work focuses on similar environmental and social circumstances Mande-speaking people faced, thousands years prior to British settlers, as they migrated East across Africa. The Mande speaking people thrived as they either adapted or followed favorable weather conditions east toward the Nile. Kupperman references, “A time of environmental crisis,” during the establishment of Jamestown in 1607, “that made establishing thriving settlements even more difficult than it should have been.” (Kupperman 9)
A difference in the two groups was how they were funded, and their solutions to poor economic conditions. British colonies were investments dependent on the Crown whereas Mande-speaking people were commanded by a desire to survive. The British colony was in competition with other European empires while Mande-speakers were forced to integrate with other populations on the continent who differed linguistically. Integration of outside groups were important to both the colonists in Jamestown and the expanding Mandekan population. Mande-speaking people were able to master essential crafts such as leather and iron work and covered large expanses of land on horseback, forcing encountered groups to adopt dominant foreign customs. Jamestown colonists initially integrated to a native Chesapeake Algonquin population by marrying into a prominent family. Neither Mande-speakers nor British colonists were content with sufficiency. Both populations would eventually take advantage of groups of people in hopes of expanding their territories.
Matthew Liivoja was right when he wrote that a colony can only be successful “if the resources can offer sustenance the settlers.” British colonists and travelling Mande-speakers relied on sustainable agriculture with success depending on climate conditions. They both also depended on interactions with indigenous populations when necessary, and exploitation of others when conditions were dire. Colonists relied on slave labor for the cultivation of tobacco, and in Africa, “those constrained by circumstances to use Mandekan dialects.” (Brooks 33) This included, according to Brooks, a large number of captives, “taken in war or purchased by Mandekan speakers.” (Brooks 33) A virtuous colony seems like a paradox, but it is important to note the varying conditions afflicting the individuals attempting to establish foreign residence. Like Russian nesting dolls, colonies and empires are only dominant until a more advanced population has the means to absorb or marginalize them into obscurity. Colonists and early migrants depended on ingenuity, resiliency, and resources to further their existence and development.

Brooks, George. “Ecological Perspectives on Mande Population Movements, Commercial Networks, and Settlement Patterns from the Atlantic Wet Phase (Ca. 5500-2500 B.C.) to the Present” History of Africa. 16, (1989), pp. 23-40.

Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Jamestown Project. Harvard University Press: Feb. 2009

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In Kupperman’s Jamestown Project, the first Europeans to settle within the North American continent contested among themselves through their desires to establish a thriving town along the Atlantic coast. The English were keen to their interests in surpassing the Spanish empire in riches and trade commodities through their maritime commonwealths. Shortly after settling along the Virginian coast, the English already set their economic diversions on the surplus of tobacco that grew rampantly in that area. While trading it among the Algonquian Indians, they were able to establish small towns that provided labor for European immigrants looking to prospect out of the productivity of New World goods and services.

This newfound desire to create autonomous towns in Virginia was meant to allow commercial wealth and power operate overseas, wherever merchants saw fit to prospect out of the ecological advantages of. With the influx of migrant European lower-class communities, this led to the institution of indentured servitude, which served to be a common customary phase for most Virginians in their youth, like going to school for 12 years or so and then getting a job as you get older. “Now the servant got the benefit – the 5-pound sterling cost of passage over – before the period of servitude began, and then had to work seven years to repay the master.” (Kupperman, pg. 286). I am intrigued by how my colleague Robert notes that some European indentured servants had permissible freedoms by their masters to own land or even office positions in contrast to native and African servants. After all, many servants who tended to follow the autonomous mindset of “This ought to be this” were in fact white, and looked upon with respectable qualities in defining the abuses of the local government.

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Throughout history different nations migrated from one area to the next for various reasons. Some of these reasons could have been as basic as survival, while others could have been as complex as empire building through colonization. The struggles of colonization is the main subject for Karen Ordahl Kupperman’s Jamestown Project. I found her work to be informative on the levels of success and failures that plagued early English colonies in North America. Kupperman’s discussion regarding the similarities and differences between the Jamestown colony and the Plymouth colony showcases the difficulty with maintaining a successful colony. Jamestown was established before Plymouth, in May 1607, and had to start from scratch without any previous English colony successes to learn from. I thought it was interesting that the colony may have been settled to produce goods and add territory for the motherland, but soon struggled to maintain basic survival for the English colonist living within. Disease, lack of useful farming knowledge, and poor environmental conditions nearly killed off the English colonists. Only through the intervention of the Chesapeake Algonquians did the colonists gain colonial successes through trading of goods and sharing of farming techniques. As my colleague Matt Everett had put it, “Jamestown was able to learn from past mistakes in a short time given how late England was in comparison to other European powers.” In contrast, the colonist in Plymouth achieved quicker success in 1620 by learning from the mistakes of Jamestown. Though, instead of migrating for economic gain and free land, these colonist left England to escape religious persecution. Putting their beliefs in God before profit, these Puritans were able to establish a successful community in an environment with adequate resources.

These examples of English exploration and colonization in North America both expressed similar patterns in maintaining survival and striving to adapt to a new environment. I believe that these patterns are similar to the concepts brought up in George E. Brooks Ecological Perspectives. Though a lot dryer in information than Kupperman’s work, Brooks ideas are still interesting as he discusses the migration patterns of a West African tribe of Mande-speaking people. The West African tribe would often migrate in response to climate conditions in the region. These Mande-speaking people would strive to establish their culture and beliefs within their new settlements similar to the English colonists in North America. The West African tribe would migrate northwards to take advantage of the “Green Sahara,” a favorable environment with an abundant of resources. Though the Mande-speaking people moved for, seemingly, primitive reasons their motives are still relatable to English colonists motives in Jamestown and Plymouth. Both colonies had sought out environments with favorable amounts of resources. What is even more eye opening is that the Mande-speaking tribes were able to convince other tribes to adopt their languages, institutions, and cultural patterns through trade, land usage, and (sometimes) dominance. This is comparable to the manner of which the Europeans would further colonize the Americas and its native people, though the method of dominance would play a more substantial role for European colonization. By striving to establish settlements colonist had enacted commonly held strategies for survival in an unknown area. These commonly held strategies help us to further understand that migrating great distances and establishing settlements is not a uniquely European concept.

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The book The Jamestown Project looks at the different experiences and events that made up the Jamestown’s background. It focuses on the survival and evolution that Jamestown endured for ten years, also focusing on the world and situations that surrounded it. Jamestown is depicted as a greedy colony, focusing on quick wealth rather than having long term goals. It is compared to the Plymouth colony, which is seen as a more humble and religious founding. They were kind to their native neighbors and had family farms. In the case of Jamestown, they landed on land, belonging to the Paspahegh tribe. The colonists were not welcomed, but they “came to understand that many polities around Chesapeake Bay were under the influence of one great overlord” known as Powhatan (Kupperman, 7). One of the biggest reasons for Jamestown’s poor reputation was because of the goals it had to accomplish. The people had “to find a good source of wealth, preferably precious metals, or a passage to the Pacific and the riches of Asia” (Kupperman, 9). It took the colony ten years, but they managed to set up their foundation, which changed their survival rate greatly and allowed for the other colonies to succeed.

In “Ecological Perspectives on Mande Population Movements, Commercial Networks, and Settlement Patterns,” the paper discusses the migrations and settlements by the proto-Mande and Mande-speaking groups. Mande groups migrated due to changing climate conditions. They “[adapted] to changing rainfall patterns in a given area, [migrated] to different locations, [took] advantage of circumstances regarding commercial exchanges or raiding neighboring groups” (Brooks, 24). During 5500-ca to 2500 B.C., proto-Mande-speaking hunter-gatherers moved north “to take advantage of living conditions in the ‘green’ Sahara” (Brooks, 26). The “green” Sahara had grasslands with various water areas, making it an area that attracted human settlement. When conditions worsened, people in the Sahara either changed their way of living or migrated to different areas. Some went to herding cattle and other domestic animals. Some groups towards the south took advantage of receding shorelines to grow wild grain. Later on, rainfall pushed people north towards herds. These migrations led to “exchanges in commodities” from ancient times, leading to “the origins of caravan and riverine routes transporting goods over long distances across ecological zones” (Brooks, 31). This idea leads to the idea discussed in Benton’s reading of river trade routes brought up by Matt Everett.

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Kupperman’s Jamestown project paints the picture that colonization was a difficult venture. Jamestown was important to the British because they were late to the game when it came to setting up colonies in the Americas and their previous attempts did not end well. While the British wanted the Jamestown colony to thrive they did not provide their colonists with the best equipment for the job. When they first arrived there was no existing infrastructure and the town had its own semi-independent government which made every decision the settlers made important and as Kupperman noted “the keynote of their activities was improvisation” (pg5). Kupperman notes that the Jamestown settlement’s environment was extremely different from the environment the Europeans and African slaves were accustomed to. As mentioned above the settlers relied heavily on improvisation and this unfamiliarity would lead them to adopting trial and error methods in order to successfully adapt to their knew environments. Given enough time however the settlers were able to set up a thriving tobacco crop that could sustain them through trade with the imperial power that watched over them, the British. Regarding the production of tobacco Matthew makes a good point when he brings up its production in Jamestown and the parallels with the information in chapter 5 of The Atlantic World.

This work in particular has some loose connections with previous readings we have covered thus far. The Tobacco based cash crop farming link it with Ch. 5 of the Atlantic World as well as Sugar Islands reading. One could also make the argument that this works mentioning of cash crops and imperialism could link it back to Grove’s work. You could also link the treacherous environment surrounding Jamestown back to the Benton reading.

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The whole of Jamestown project by Kupperman is dedicated to talking about aspects of the lives of the colony and some background information about it. It goes into why the groups struggled as well as talking about the way in which these colonies would function. Somethings that are discussed include relations with native peoples, why people would go to the colony, and the social structure of the colony. The concept of having difficulty surviving in a region is shared by the article Ecological perspectives on Mande populations movements by Brooks which deals with the Mande people and their survival in the harsh African environments while also talking about their history. The concept of having to fight and somewhat adapt was brought up by Matthew Liivoja who made a similar point about these settlements not having an easy time, though he went a somewhat different course with his discussion.

One observation that I found that I thought was interesting was the various push and pull factors that influenced people to go to Jamestown. Like for instance, the obvious religious freedom or escape from persecution. Another factor was just the decade of the 1620’s which saw things not going well in England with failed harvests, poor economy, and growth in population (Kupperman, 292). This topic piqued my interest as in my background regarding this topic it has always been overly emphasized that people came to the Americas from England in an effort to have freedom of religion while possibly hinting at the possibility of there being other factors for people emigrating. This ties into the idea that in the Atlantic world there was a number of reason why a person would try to leave England for wealth, glory, religion people had a plethora of reasons for leaving.

Overall I liked both of these readings because they talked about topics that I’ve personally not seen too much of in my academic career. My only gripe is that the Kupperman reading was a bit long and it covered a lot of different points that it made it a tiny bit difficult to stay focused.

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The introduction of Jamestown Project keys in on the struggles of English colonization in North America and how Jamestown was the first successful English settlement and model for future colonization. Jamestown was successful because of ownership of land, a society that included women, and a marketable product in tobacco that helped the economy, but what was interesting was how quickly Jamestown was able to learn from past mistakes in a short time, given how late England was in comparison to other European powers (Kupperman, 2). An important piece to Jamestown’s success was the ability to point out and solve failures, such as Roanoke, with a trial and error method. Also, this idea of European competition comes to play in talking about Jamestown’s location. Passed over by the Spanish who rejected the land, Jamestown’s location was picked to defend against any Spanish threat (Kupperman, 6). Also, it was imperative that the Jamestown colonists had good relations with the nearby Chesapeake Algonquians who had the power to attack and destroy the Jamestown settlement but just like the Spanish, they never did (Kupperman, 9). Hunter Loya posted on his blog a few days ago that there was a need for young able-bodied men in the growing colonies at the time. It goes along with the beginning stages of English settlement in North America with Sir Walter Ralegh in Roanoke, where he used a classic model of young men only to later realize that Roanoke needed a different model where families were needed for a settlement to grow and sustain (Kupperman, 4).

George E. Brooks writes about the movement of the Mande population as he argues that climate and ecological factors influenced the migration of the Mande and their successes in leaving their mark wherever they traveled. Major rainfall around the B.C./A.D. mark persuaded the Mande to migrate north and south, where they were forced to adapt to the different climate when it came to growing food and separation of the Mande added to their difficulties socially, culturally, and linguistically (Brooks, 30). Looking at both Kupperman and Brooks writings, both the Jamestown colonists and the Mande population migrated and adapted to their new destinations.

Brooks, George. “Ecological Perspectives on Mande Population Movements, Commercial Networks, and Settlements Patterns from the Atlantic Wet Phase (Ca. 5500-2500 B.C.) to the Present” History of Africa. 16, (1989), pp. 23-40.

Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. Jamestown Project. Harvard University Press: Feb. 2009

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