Virginia Colony abandoned

By 1610 the general consensus amongst the English colonists at Jamestown was that the colony of Virginia ought to be abandoned; they were low on supplies, suffering harrasment from natives and had failed to find a profitable staple crop.

The decision to abandon the colony was reversed thanks to the fortuitous arrival of a supply ship (which could clearly have been delayed by any number of factors), if it had called in even a few weeks later the colony would have already been abandoned.

WI it had been?

In the short term the Spanish would move into the Chesapeake to block other rivals from establishing a presence there, the Dutch and French still establish their settlements as in OTL but the Puritan colonisation of New England (which was basically an offshoot of Virginia) won't occur as mainland colonies in North America come to seem deeply unattractivce in England for at least a generation.

Effects on Europe are probably fairly limited down to 1700 at least, but thereafter significant divergences would appear.

How might the settlement of North America proceed in TTL?

So anyone here has any ideas of what may happen?
 
Exactly what happened with all the other failed attempts. About one year later, another merchant with more ambition than money would come to the King seeking to buy a new charter to settle parts of America, and would pay people to move there, entirely negating any "America is unattractive" factor. The colony would experience teething problems as it struggled to find a decent place to settle, and would probably face a short resupply crisis, but with the growing experience and knowledge of the coastline, each failed attempt would bring England one step closer to getting it right. Eventually they settle a colony which works (if badly).

And for the record, I can't see the Spanish moving into the Chesapeake. They liked to send ships up to patrol the coast but never found (or checked) half the inlets, making them perfect bases for the English. They never really showed any interest in actually setting up any kind of actual base further north than (IIRC) the southern extremes of OTL South Carolina, though, and with the English colony failed then if anything they'd pat themselves on the back for a job well done and actually decrease interest in monitoring the north for a while.
 
Exactly what happened with all the other failed attempts. About one year later, another merchant with more ambition than money would come to the King seeking to buy a new charter to settle parts of America, and would pay people to move there, entirely negating any "America is unattractive" factor. The colony would experience teething problems as it struggled to find a decent place to settle, and would probably face a short resupply crisis, but with the growing experience and knowledge of the coastline, each failed attempt would bring England one step closer to getting it right. Eventually they settle a colony which works (if badly).

I can partially agree with this. If the Virginia Colony is abandoned, I won't see the English deciding to have another go at colonization so soon especially once the survivors of Jamestown explain that the area that they colonized is swampy and disease-ridden with mosquitos that carry diseases like malaria, isolated from major game animals and bad for traditional farming crops, not to mention hostile Indians and the lack of gold being found in the area.

Colonization was pushed by the London Company of Virginia, a joint stock company whose responsibility was it to deliver profits to the shareholders who have a stake in it. Not finding gold and finding the Chesapeake Bay to be a rather bad place to settle, the London Company would probably try for a second go at somewhere much more hospitable to European settlement. They could always try for somewhere in North Carolina or in Delaware or around New York. Out of a personal bias, I would find to be a far more attractive spot for a colony than Jamestown.

You're right. Virginia Colony failing won't stop the English from exploring in the long term but it'll provide a big setback for England and the London Company whose shareholders (and the King) might be skeptical of putting money towards another attempt that may have the chance of failing.

It would be nerve-wracking to have the Roanoke colonists disappearing from sight,the Popham Colony and now the Virginia Colony being abandoned. It's not exactly say much good about colonizing the Americas but what do I know?



The Plymouth Colony might still come around or not with the Pilgrims intending on leaving the Old World. One of their original ideas for a destination was the Virginia Colony, with it abandoned and having the bad reputation of being an agriculturally poor and disease-ridden area populated by hostile Indians, they might consider that option of settling around the New York area, if there's a colony close by to provide military and economic assistance but distant enough to maintain their religious society.

Jamestown becomes a mere footnote in history. Whatever colony sprouts up after is going to take the spotlight that Jamestown had.

And for the record, I can't see the Spanish moving into the Chesapeake. They liked to send ships up to patrol the coast but never found (or checked) half the inlets, making them perfect bases for the English. They never really showed any interest in actually setting up any kind of actual base further north than (IIRC) the southern extremes of OTL South Carolina, though, and with the English colony failed then if anything they'd pat themselves on the back for a job well done and actually decrease interest in monitoring the north for a while.

Actually the Spanish did attempt to create a colony in Virginia years before the English considered doing so. I guess you haven't heard of the Ajacan_Mission in Virginia? It failed in OTL for reasons that the Wikipedia article I linked you to explains itself. The Spanish are going to continue patrolling the waters and somewhere down the road, someone high up in the colonial government of Florida is going to have the bright idea of establishing a colony around that area (not in the Chesapeake Bay area but somewhere nicer.

And the Spanish spent ten years sending ships from Florida to check the whereabouts of the Roanoke Colony in OTL. They'll continue doing so.
 
No Virginia colony? That means the Dutch will inherit the Earth! Either that or the Puritans try for warmer climes. Just because those lazy bums at Jamestown wouldn't dirty their hands and grow their own food, doesn't mean some other English (or Dutch, or Swedish, or so on) effort would not succeed.
 
No Virginia colony? That means the Dutch will inherit the Earth! Either that or the Puritans try for warmer climes. Just because those lazy bums at Jamestown wouldn't dirty their hands and grow their own food, doesn't mean some other English (or Dutch, or Swedish, or so on) effort would not succeed.

The English established a colony in Bermuda two years after the POD, incidentally discovered by the crew of the Sea Venture, the flagship of the fleet that was headed to Jamestown. The Pilgrims can always consider the idea of settling there. It is a warmer climate, isolated from the rest of society and it lacks a native Amerindian population that might be a cause of problems though at the same time, they would be on their own.

;)
 
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