Jamestown colony fails; England gives up on the New World

The early years of the British Jamestown colony were incredibly rough, and really only the discovery of how well tobacco grew there saved it. What if, for whatever reason, Jamestown collapsed before the tobacco industry ever took root? After a second failed colony (first was Roanoke), England may have just given up on the new world. What effect would this have on the world overall? Might we see a Spanish North America, or maybe the Native Americans still in power in some areas?
 
It's unlikely the English would give up on North America. There were other places to colonize on the Eastern Coast, some of them more familiar to any prospective settlers coming from Europe. A failure at Jamestown would simply delay English colonization, and at worst it would result in a smaller presence in the south of the east coast.
 

Thande

Donor
Roanoke failed in OTL and that didn't make us give up. Not to mention the New England plantings which were made by independent dissenters regardless of English government policy.
 
If England did drop out of the picture completely, it isn't like there's plenty of other nations eyeing North America. The French, Dutch, and Swedes are all countries in OTL that colonized North America. Without English/British settlement, I don't see a reason why they wouldn't still go for it.
 
Roanoke failed in OTL and that didn't make us give up. Not to mention the New England plantings which were made by independent dissenters regardless of English government policy.

The puritans, quakers and catholics still might have gone, but remember one of the reasons they (at least the puritans, anyway) decided to go to America was because Jamestown was already there. But still, the religious colonies would have probably been founded anyway.

But perhaps they would have never become British possessions. perhaps there would have been a USA (albeit a smaller one) without the revolution. And, on top of that, NYC would still be Dutch!
 
"Virginia", at the time, referred to a big chunk of the East Coast. You may both be right.
Ah, yes, the Pilgrims got their justification from inheriting the charter of the Virginia Company of Plymouth (as opposed to the Virginia Company of London in OTL Virginia), didn't they?
 

Thande

Donor
All this area (map from the Armenian Genocide) was considered Virginia at the time.

Wpdms_king_james_grants.png
 
Hmm, could the English try colonizing Newfoundland? After all, compared with the rest of North America, Newfoundland is actually the closest.
 
I'd wager that the failure of the Jamestown colony would only stunt the growth of the tobacco industry and force the English to look to other sources of revenue for their colonies...
 
Mason Dixon limit

As others have pointed out there would still have been the Pilgrim Fathers. Jamestown also marked the introduction of slavery into North America but the likely effect of Jamestown failing would have been Spanish colonies in the Southern states. Florida was a Spanish colony at the time and Spain was in the Transatlantic slave trade before Britain and came out of it later so slavery would have come in and probably have been worse. The conquistadores were not exactly known for friendly relations with the Indians so no stronger Indian influence.

Probably a division of America between British and Spanish influence along something not all that far removed from the Mason Dixon line and a revolt by Btritish colonials headed by farmers and fishermen rather than the Virginian landed gentry so maybe no slavery in the British colonies and war with Spain leading to an expansion southwards
 
As others have pointed out there would still have been the Pilgrim Fathers. Jamestown also marked the introduction of slavery into North America but the likely effect of Jamestown failing would have been Spanish colonies in the Southern states. Florida was a Spanish colony at the time and Spain was in the Transatlantic slave trade before Britain and came out of it later so slavery would have come in and probably have been worse. The conquistadores were not exactly known for friendly relations with the Indians so no stronger Indian influence.

Spain was in the slave trade just because they wanted to protect the Indians. If you go back to the Valladolid Controversial in 1550 between Las Casas and Sepúlveda, one of the recommendations by Las Casas was the introduction of african slaves as they would be better adapted to hard working. The Laws of Indias protected the amerindians more than the europeans, the problem was making the law obeyed when the officers of the king took several months arriving to the americas.

As for the treatment of african slaves and of population of african origin was better in the Spanish possesions, it was much better than in british held territories. Just a couple of hints just look for the first person to grow wheat in the Americas and look for "Fort Mose" in Florida and the black militias.


Probably a division of America between British and Spanish influence along something not all that far removed from the Mason Dixon line and a revolt by Btritish colonials headed by farmers and fishermen rather than the Virginian landed gentry so maybe no slavery in the British colonies and war with Spain leading to an expansion southwards

One of the strategic aims of Britain whenever she fought a war against Spain in this days was having a share in the trade of the Spanish possesions, specially in the slave trade. There would have been slavery, although probably a bit less and the indians would have survived appearing a mestizo society as in most of Iberoamerica.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Even if England had given up I think many British would have sought their fortunes. Instead they'd struck deal with foreign governments to protect their colonies.
 
I think that England would not have given up. And if they did a bunch of adventurers would have either set up their own country or gone to other colonies. There is no way that there would be no English presence in America, just a smaller one without government backing.
 
Having Jamestown fail and OTL's Plymouth Pilgrams make it to Virginia would result in a very cool America. The Pilgrams would be an interesting group for the English settlers who would follow them to deal with. They were Seperatists from the Church of England, and maintained their independence once in North America even from their Puritan neighbors for decades. With the rich lands of the James River under the control of the Pilgram the settlement patterns of other English settlers will be changed. Perhaps the earlier settlement of the Delaware River? Or other English settlers are pushed further south.

I think the Winthrop fleet would probably still head for Massachusetts Bay, since they were looking to carve out New Zion in the Wilderness.
 
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