The English empire in America, 1602-1658 : beyond Jamestown / by L.H. Roper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roper, L. H. (Louis H.)

Series:

Empires in perspective ; no. 7.

Empires in perspective ; no. 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Virginia Company of London.

Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

Virginia.

Virginia--Politics and government--To 1775.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 213 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Pickering & Chatto, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This study situates the colonization of Virginia, the centrepiece of early English overseas settlement activity, in the social and political landscape of the early seventeenth century. Roper explores how the early development of the colony was viewed from both sides of the Atlantic, using the documentary record of key figures in the Virginia Company, as well as the colonizers themselves. He paints a vivid picture of a political culture characterized by patronage, the pursuit of personal agendas and fierce grappling for factional advantage, as 'Old World' political behaviour was successfully transplanted to the colony. At the same time however, he shows how local concerns and identity competed with the Stuart monarchy's attempts to centralize state affairs on the other side of the Atlantic. Roper rejects the prevailing view of the early colonisers, the Virginia Company and Crown ministers as bumbling incompetents whose mismanagement nearly caused the failure of the Jamestown project. Rather, he argues, they had a clear sense of purpose for the colony, and successfully adapted and crafted inherited political systems to a very new situation.

Contents:

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Deep Background; 2. Genesis; 3. Birth Pangs; 4. Fatal and Near-fatal Attractions; 5. An Empire of 'Smoak'; 6. Some Measure of Success; Notes; Works Cited; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Include bibliographical references (p. 141-201).

ISBN:

1-315-65270-6

1-317-31386-0

1-317-31387-9

1-282-12563-X

9786612125638

1-85196-594-7

9781315652702

OCLC:

404153729