Nearly half of the people who traveled on the Mayflower died during the first winter Children helped their families survive by gathering wood and berries fetching water and tending to the sick They also helped cook and clean The Pilgrims were not alone in the New World They encountered American Indians whose tribes had lived on the land for more than 10,000 years As the settlers took over more land conflict arose between the two groups often ending in violence For the next 150 years more Europeans settled in the American colonies Many white colonists brought enslaved black people from Africa The children of enslaved people were also forced into slavery By 1770 more than two million people lived in Great Britain’s American colonies These included the New England Colonies the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies 6
Throughout the years children played a key role in the growth of the colonies Their children and their children’s children would become the future generations of America BRITISH COLONIES IN THE EARLY 1770s RUPERT’S LAND Hudson’s Bay Company of PROVINCE QUEBEC Claimed by New York and New Hampshire NEW YORK NOVA SCOTIA NEW HAMPSHIRE MASSACHUSETTS RHODE ISLAND CONNECTICUT ATLANTIC OCEAN PENNSYLVANIA NEW JERSEY MARYLAND DELAWARE VIRGINIA NORTH CAROLINA W N S E INDIAN RESERVE SOUTH CAROLINA GEORGIA New England Middle Colonies Southern Colonies 7
POCAHONTAS In 1607 English explorer John Smith arrived at Jamestown a British colony in Virginia A few months later American Indians from the Powhatan nation kidnapped Smith While imprisoned Smith met Pocahontas Chief Powhatan’s daughter When Pocahontas met Smith she was only 11 years old However by the time Powhatan girls were 13 they were considered adults Women were responsible for farming cooking caring for children and building houses Children helped the women by collecting water firewood and plants Smith and Pocahontas learned each other’s languages In his journal Smith wrote sentences such as Bid Pocahontas bring hither two little baskets and I will give her white beads in English and Algonquian the language of the Powhatan nation Smith’s writings later helped historians learn more about American Indian life 8 IN THEIR OWN WORDS
In 1616 Pocahontas met King James I on her visit to England After Smith was freed colonists in Jamestown suffered a harsh winter Chief Powhatan sent food to help them survive Pocahontas often came along to deliver the food According to some historians Pocahontas served as a sign of peace between the Powhatans and the colonists John Smith The Complete Works of Captain John Smith 1580 1631 Ed Philip L Barbour Chapel Hill NC The University of North Carolina Press 1986 Print 139 9
