The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660

The Virginia Venture explores how a wider public of women, children, and men contributed to the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia, providing a fresh perspective on capital and labor mobilization. It examines the impact of colonization on English society, including changes in attitudes and behaviors, and highlights contestations over English and American interests. It is essential reading for scholars of English social and imperial history and early American history.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 01 August 2022
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

The Virginia Venture is a groundbreaking exploration of the diverse contributions of women, children, and men from across English society to the establishment of the first permanent English colony in America, Jamestown, Virginia. By drawing on sources from numerous archives in the United States and England, the book offers a fresh perspective on the mobilization of capital and labor in the colony's foundation, shifting the focus from elite investors to ordinary individuals across the country. While women and the laboring poor have often been overlooked in these historical narratives, The Virginia Venture brings them to the forefront. In addition to examining the support for colonization at home, the book delves into the impact of colonization on English society, including changes in attitudes and behaviors, such as the provision of poor relief and domestic tobacco cultivation. The book highlights how English society's increasing investment in colonization in America led to conflicts over prioritizing English and American interests. This imperial perspective is essential for understanding English social history in the seventeenth century. The Virginia Venture is a must-read for scholars of English social and imperial history and early American history. It employs transatlantic history methods to reveal the intimate connections between England and America while deeply rooted in the social history archive of England. It showcases how English archives can be utilized to shed light on this pivotal period of American history.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781512822991