Virginia --> The Virginia Company

               The Virginia Company was founded by English stock companies and it was a combination of the Plymouth and London companies. The Virginia company was chartered by King James I on April 10, 1606. Even though, the royal crown of England owned the Virginia Company, the settlers in New World were able to govern themselves. In order to finance the voyages to settle in the New World, the English encouraged individuals to purchase shares of stocks in the New World. This would help in the expenses of overseas settlement. Money would also contribute to the purchase of ships and supplies as well as to recruit laborers.
              
               Merchants hoped that new industries would be developed and King James I wanted Protestant Catholicism to be the established religion in the colonies. There were also hopes that the New World would become a trade market for English goods and the finding of the Northwest Passage. However, the Virginia Company encountered an early problem: not every person wanted to buy stock in the Americas. The only way for the English to make money was from running lotteries.

               The London Company settled Jamestown by John Smith and Sir Thomas Gates was the governor of the Virginia Colony. It was established on May 14,1607. John Smith made alliances with the Powhattan tribe until both waged in war. On the other hand, the Plymouth Company established their settlements in Chesapeake Bay. Before the Pilgrim settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Plymouth Company established the Potham Colony in what is now present day Maine. The Pilgrims arrived one year later and formed Plymouth Colony in which they engaged with the Patuxet, Wampanoag, Mohagan and Nipmuck tribes.

Magnet APUSH Post #1

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

              Francisco Vasquez de Coronado is lauded with the discovery of the Grand Canyon as well as credited with the exploration of the American Southwest. His story begins in 1510 in Salamanca, Spain born to a prosperous and wealthy family. However, seeing that he was the youngest and would not inherit the family estate Coronado decided to go to New Spain. There, Francisco Vasquez earned a position in the colonial government and soon enough met his wife, Dona Beatriz who was the daughter of the colonial treasurer.

              Through the explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Vasquez found out about the Seven Gold Cities of Cibola. European explorers believed that due to the immense wealth discovered in the Aztec and Inca empires, the same amount of treasures would be found in the Americas. In 1539, he decided to go out and find Cibola. Coronado set out with 300 soldiers and 1,000 Indians. He ended up encountering Indians in New Mexico. He destructed the tribe of the Zunis that offered no type of wealth or luxuries and also encountered other tribes such as the Hopi. Continuing on his exploration, one of Coronado’s men, Garcia Lopez de Cardenas spotted the Grand Canyon located in Arizona. Coronado continued on his search to Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

                                    

               He returned to Spain in 1542 and became the governor of Nueva Galicia. The inability to find wealth in the explored lands broke off the friendship between Coronado and Antonio de Mendoza. Coronado was removed from his position as governor due to his cruel treatment towards the natives. He later lived in Mexico City where he ended up passing away on September 22^nd in 1554. After Coronado's attempt to find the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, many Spanish explorers branded him a failure. He is one of the first Europeans to explore the American west.