Part three of an eight part series on the history of America from its earliest times through to the age of George Washington, told by master storyteller Jacob Abbott.
This volume starts with the very first sixteenth century colonization attempts in what is today the southern United States. It provides fascinating details of the early French settlers, who predated even the Spanish—and of how the religious strife in Europe between Catholic and Protestant, from which they had fled, followed them to the New World.
The book then moves on to describe the Spanish settlement of Florida, and then the intervention of the English settlers. Drawing upon original sources, manuscripts and diaries, Abbott weaves a gripping tale of the failure of the first English colonial attempts, including the famous “lost colony” of Roanoke, the second colony, the birth of the first European child on American shores, and the incredible deprivations suffered by these early pioneers.
Next, Abbot describes the amazing adventures of John Smith and the settlement of Virginia, revealing the truth about the Indian Pocahontas on the way. The settlement of the Carolinas is then reviewed, including the internal tribulations which nearly wrecked the entire colonial effort, and the struggle to establish a European settlement in the face of staggering natural obstacles and hostile Indian natives.
Finally, the book discusses the creation of the colony of Georgia—first established as an anti-slavery settlement area in which Negroes were not allowed to be present. Abbott caps off this astonishing story with the sad tale of the origin of Negro slavery in the New World.
If you thought you knew the story of pre-Pilgrim American colonization, think again—this book will reveal the true history of a time period now hidden.