What if Jamestown failed?

I once made a map on this subject.

What do you think would happen if the Jamestown colony failed? I mean, it came very close a couple of times, like almost starving to death.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
Jamestown failing on top of Roanoke gives the Mid-Atlantic something of an evil reputation and colonies are diverted away to New England and the Georgias. The Indians, squeezed North and South make the Chesapeake their stronghold. In the late 17th and 18thc the area is used for transported prisoners, like Georgia and the Carolinas in ours, who mix with the Indians. When the Acadian Creoles are sent here instead of Louisiana the transformation is complete. The Chesapeake is now viewed as mainly a giant swamp, populated by it's own unique people and culture and it will become a main source of resistance in the ARW, esp with the guerilla band led by George Washington
 
Jamestown failing on top of Roanoke gives the Mid-Atlantic something of an evil reputation and colonies are diverted away to New England and the Georgias. The Indians, squeezed North and South make the Chesapeake their stronghold. In the late 17th and 18thc the area is used for transported prisoners, like Georgia and the Carolinas in ours, who mix with the Indians. When the Acadian Creoles are sent here instead of Louisiana the transformation is complete. The Chesapeake is now viewed as mainly a giant swamp, populated by it's own unique people and culture and it will become a main source of resistance in the ARW, esp with the guerilla band led by George Washington

I think Washington would be butterflied away.
 
Without the formulation of a powerfull (and semi-feudal) planter block in virginia , then men such as George Washington may never have emerged as national leaders. indeed , without the wealth and aristocracy of the Virginians , the American Revoloution could well have been still-born....
 
I am pretty sure that even if Jamestown failed. That at some point the area would of been settled. If the areas around it were settled first, then the Middle Colonies would be a great place of land to go to first besides moving into the interior. Also if England stopped colonization, and didn't allow company's to make colonies, then Spain or France would of colonized the area. The only major change maybe for the oldest family in Virginia the Lees.
 
We get some alternative colonies. Probably in the northern areas like Delaware, New York, and Massachusetts.
 

HueyLong

Banned
If Jamestown colony failed, maybe English would colonize only from Maine to Maryland and Virginia would colonized either French or Spanish.

The Spanish didn't do a lot of colonization though, and the same with the French. Their restrictions on who could go slowed their development. Usually, the Spanish stepped in to replace a developed native power (The Powhatan aren't enough for them) and the French just peppered missionaries and traders about.

And if we're postulating an English Georgia, it will be even more unlikely. As I see it, the English may adopt a trading post for the Powhatan, and mostly leave it alone until later.

The Powhatan might become like the Iroquois.
 
The Spanish didn't do a lot of colonization though, and the same with the French. Their restrictions on who could go slowed their development. Usually, the Spanish stepped in to replace a developed native power (The Powhatan aren't enough for them) and the French just peppered missionaries and traders about.

And if we're postulating an English Georgia, it will be even more unlikely. As I see it, the English may adopt a trading post for the Powhatan, and mostly leave it alone until later.

The Powhatan might become like the Iroquois.

I think that the Spanish settlements across the Southwest would differ with that idea. Also the Spanish already had ship sailing up the coast at the time. It was one of the reason the English felt a bit rushed about starting a settlement. There is no way the Spanish do not leave the empty are alone, they at least put forts and missions into the area. If the English or French are not in the area. Also setting up trading post went against normal English colonization policy. The only way you have a trading post is if the French take the area. Also, if no one is there and the French and Spanish don't make a move for the area. Then the English would of moved from their New England Colonies to the area, so that new people arriving would of hand land to take over.
 
One possibility is a Dutch America. After all, OTL Manhattan ended up as a trading hub for the fur trade, but tobacco was grown there as well. Without the Virginia colony raising the crop, the Dutch begin selling it. This requires more labor, in the form of German indentured servants...
 
One possibility is a Dutch America. After all, OTL Manhattan ended up as a trading hub for the fur trade, but tobacco was grown there as well. Without the Virginia colony raising the crop, the Dutch begin selling it. This requires more labor, in the form of German indentured servants...

And the Northern Netherlands taking the southern ones...
 
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