Page 21 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Washington, DC

INTRODUCING W ASHINGT ON , DC  19

THE HISTORY OF

WASHINGTON, DC

Native Americans settled in what is now the District of Columbia as long as
6,000 years ago. Archaeologists have discovered traces of three villages in
the area; the largest was called Nacotchtanke. Its people, the Anacostines,
settled along the Potomac River and a smaller tributary now named the
Anacostia River.

English Settlement The first Africans arrived in the region
In December 1606 Captain John Smith on board a Dutch ship in 1619 and
of the Virginia Company, under the charge worked as indentured servants on
of King James I of England, set sail from plantations. They were given food
England for the New World. Five months and lodging as payment for serving
later he arrived in the Chesapeake Bay for a fixed number of years. However,
and founded the Jamestown colony. A within the next 40 years the practice
skilled cartographer, Smith was soon changed so that black people were
sailing up the Potomac River. In 1608 purchased for life, and their children
he came to the area that would later became the property of their master.
become Washington. As the number of plantations grew,
The English settlers who followed so did the number of slaves.
supported themselves through the fur In the late 1600s another group of
trade, and later cultivated tobacco and settlers, this time Irish­Scottish, led
corn (maize). The marriage in 1614 bet­ by Captain Robert Troop, established
ween John Rolfe, one of the settlers, and themselves here. Along the Potomac
Pocahontas, daughter of the Native American River two ports, George Town (later
chief Powhatan, kept the peace between known as Georgetown) and Alexandria,
the English and the Native Americans for soon became profitable centers of
eight years. However, struggles over land commerce. Here planters had their
ownership between the English and the crops inspected, stored, and shipped.
Powhatan Indians, whose ancestors had In both towns streets were laid out
lived there for centuries, led to massacres in rectangular patterns. With rich soil,
in 1622. The English defeated the Native plentiful land, abundant labor, and
Americans in 1644, and a formal peace good transportation, the region
agreement was made in 1646. rapidly grew in prosperity.

1607 Captain John
Smith founds Jamestown
settlement in Virginia Captain John Smith
(1580–1631)
1751 George Town
1619 The first Africans is established
arrive in American colonies
1600 1650 1700 1750
1646 The Native Americans and the English reach a peace 1748 Tobacco merchants
agreement in the Tidewater and Potomac region granted land for the town
of Alexandria
1634 Lord Baltimore founds
Catholic colony in Maryland
George Washington by Rembrandt Peale, painted 1824 –5

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