Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum.

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The Early Immigrants in the Americas and Early European Settlements

Introduction

The early settlers in the Americas were hunters and gatherers from Northeastern Asia. Probably they travelled from Siberia to Alaska across the land bridge. These early settlers are called the American Indians. In fact this name was given by the European settlers as they thought they landed in India. The American Indians prefer to call themselves the Native Americans.

Later on, the Europeans also migrated to the Americas. They were from France, Portuguese, Spain, England, and the Netherlands. These people settled and remained in the Americas and they were called the early settlers.

To encourage more people to come and settle in the Americas, works of literature were often used. They were in the forms of letters, travel reports, or stories.

You can also see the sample of the work of literature popular during the early settlements.

The arrivals of the Europeans in the Americas gave both good and bad effects. One of the bad effects of the European settlements was the destruction of Native Americans cultures. The native American’s lands were also taken by the new settlers for their new settlements. For example, due to programs for the westward expansion, the native Americans were forced to leave their native land in a journey called The Trail of Tears.

You can watch the movie on the Westward Expansion entitled Far and Away, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The movie is available at the SAC (Self Access center).

First Immigrants

The first Europeans travelled to North America in about A.D. 1000, when Leif Eriksson and his Viking crews discovered a land they called Vinland, after the grapes that grew there. The Vikings eventually abandoned their settlement in eastern Canada and returned to their homes in Greenland. No more Europeans arrived for nearly 500 years. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west from Spain, searching for a new trade route to China and the Spice Islands, where he could buy the spices and silks Europeans desired. Instead of Asia, he landed on the outer edges of the vast landmass of North and South America. Soon, after Europeans explorers headed east in search of glory and riches. Native peoples had lived on these continents for centuries, and the Europeans’ arrival completely changed their way of life. Within a century, European countries were planning permanent colonies in North America’s Atlantic coast.

In the 1400s, Europeans in search of new trade routes began a great age of sea exploration. Portugal led the way, its ships sailing east to reach Asia. Christopher Columbus, daring to sail west for Asia, instead found the Americas, where Spain would eventually conquered two empires.

In the mid 1400s, Portugal led the rest of Europe in its search for sea routes to Asia and other, unknown land. Italian sea captain, Christopher Columbus believed he could find a shorter, safer passage to the trading centres of Asia by sailing west, instead of using da Gama’s eastern route. Columbus persuaded Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to pay for an expedition; in 1492, he set out with 90 crew and three ships on his first voyage across the Atlantic.

After more than two months, a lookout spotted land – what would later be name the Caribbean Islands. Columbus was so sure he had reached the Indies that he called the islanders he met there “Indians”. Many Spanish adventurers followed Columbus’s route west, hungry for gold, silver, and land.

Spain’s greatest rival in 1500s was England. Under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I, England was rapidly becoming richer – and bolder. Some of Elizabeth’s sea captains began running down Spanish treasure ships and seizing their cargo for England.

Colonial America (1607 – 1763)

By the early 1600, Europeans had established colonies along the waterways of North America. These settlements struggled to survive their first winter, but soon prospered. Settlers came to the New World for religious freedom and economic opportunity, or to acquire great fortune for the “mother country”. Many felt a moral duty to spread Christianity; some Europeans used this cause to justify enslaving American Indians and seizing their land.

In 1607, three ships landed 105 men and boys – mostly wealthy “gentlemen” who came to dins adventure and riches – on the coast of Virginia. They called their settlement Jamestown, to honour King James. But they built in a swampy area where malaria and starvation combined to kill 73 in one year.

Nevertheless, Jamestown survived – largely because a soldier and explorer named Captain John Smith took charge. He persuaded the powerful Powhatan Indian tribe to give them food and teach them how to grow corn and to fish. Smith told the colonists, “He that will not work shall not eat.”

The Story of Pocahontas

Captain John Smith claimed that in 1672, he was captured by the Powhatans and was about to be executed by having his head bashed in with stones, when the chief’s 15-year-old daughter Pocahontas rushed forward, placed her head on Smith’s, and convinced his captors to spare his life.

While Smith’s rescue story may be more legend than fact, we do know that Pocahontas spent a good deal of time with the Jamestown settlers. In 1616, she married one, John Rolfe, who took her to visit England. She died in 1617 on the return voyage to Virginia.

You can watch the story of Pocahontas in a movie, The New World starring Collin Farrel.

England’s Colonies

The first English colonies in New England were started by Puritans, a religious sect seeking the freedom to worship as they chose. Their large number and hard work led to prosperity, and the English rulers recognized the colonies’ economic potential; by 1650, England had established a dominant position in the New World.

The Pilgrims at Plymouth

In 1620, a ship called Mayflower, bearing 101 passengers – half of whom were Pilgrims, a religious sect of Puritans seeking to break ties with the Church of England – was blown off course. Since the ship didn’t land in Virginia where it was supposed to, and its landing site at Plymouth in New England wasn’t governed by Virginia law, the settlers decided to make their own laws. The resulting agreement, the Mayflower Compact, established the important idea that there is a contract – or compact – between government and people.

After establishing their settlement of Plymouth, the Pilgrims suffered – and starved – through their first winter. In the spring, friendly Wampanoag Indians showed the surviving Pilgrims how to grow corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins – foods that didn’t exist in Europe. Imagine their surprise when the Pilgrims met an Indian who spoke English. Squanto had been captured by slave traders, but he escaped and returned to New England. He was among those who helped the Pilgrims survive. In 1621, the Pilgrims invited more than 90 Indian guests to a feast to give thanks called the Thanksgiving Feast.

In 1630, Plymouth drew more than 1,000 new settlers, who arrived with supplies and farm animals. The settlers formed Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1640, 20,000 more colonists had followed their lead.

Works of Literature

The early literature of exploration, made up diaries, letters, travel journals, ships’ logs, and report to the explorers’ financial backers – European rulers or, in mercantile England and Holland, joint stock companies – gradually was supplanted by records of the settled colonies.

The following are some of the works of literature and the authors.

Introduction

Review Questions

1. Name three purposes of the European settlements in the Americas.

2. Why did the people boarded on Mayflower sail to the Americas?

3. Why was the beginning of the settlements a difficult moment?

4. Retell the story of the first Thanksgiving Feast.

5. What was the purpose of the creation of the Legend of Davy Crocket?

Don’t miss our Performance ‘Grease Musical’. This musical will be presented by students of the Department of English Letters in cooperation with Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta.

Brief Summary

The Middle Ages began with the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Normans were the French descendants from Normandy, Northern France. Therefore, they adopted the French language and culture.

The Norman king of England was William the Conqueror. He was also known with various different names. Before the Norman Conquest, he was the Duke of William Normandy. After the Norman Conquest, William of Normandy was crowned as William I as he became the first English king named William.

The Norman Rule also gave a lot of contribution. In terms of language, the Norman Rule expanded the vocabulary as around 1,000 words were adopted from French into English.

During the Middle Ages, the term Great Britain was firstly used after the conquest of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
Who Should be the King?

Edward (his mother was a daughter of the duke of Normandy), known as “the Confessor”, was more interested in the Church than in kingship. Edward only lived until 1066, when he died without an obvious heir. The question of who should follow him as king was one of the most important in English history. Edward had brought many Normans to his English court in France. These Normans were not liked by the more powerful Saxon nobles, particularly by the most powerful family of Wessex, the Godwinsons. The Witan chose Harold to be the next king. However, his throne was challenged by Duke William of Normandy. William claimed that King Edward had promised it to him. William also claimed that Harold, who had visited him in 1064 or 1065, had promised William that Harold would not try to take the throne. Harold did not deny the claim but said that he had been forced to make the promise.

William marched to London to claim for his throne. He won the war against Harold and he was crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.
Feudalism

William organized his English kingdom according to the feudal system which had already begun to develop in England before his arrival. The word “feudalism” comes from the French word feu, which the Normans used to refer to a land held in return for duty or service to a lord. The basis of feudal society was the holding of land, and its main purpose was economic. The central idea was that all land was owned by the king but it was held by others, called “vassals”, in return for services and goods. The king gave large estates to his main nobles in return for a promise to serve him in war for up to forty days. The nobles also had to give him part of the produce of the land. The greater nobles gave part of their lands to lesser nobles, knights, and other “freemen”. Some freemen paid for the land by doing military service, while others paid rent.

There were two basic principles to feudalism: every man had a lord, and every lord had land. When a noble died, his son usually took over his estate. But first, he had to receive permission from the king and make a special payment. If he was still a child, the king would often take the produce of the estate until the boy was old enough to look after the estate himself. In this way, the king could benefit from the death of a noble. If the entire noble’s family died, the land went back to the king, who would be expected to give it to another deserving noble.

The Domesday Book

By 1086, William wanted to know exactly who owned which piece of land, and how much it was worth. He needed this information so that he could plan his economy, find out how much was produced and how much he could ask in tax. He therefore sent a team of people through England to make a complete economic survey. This survey was the only one of its kind in Europe. Not surprisingly, it was most unpopular with the people, because they felt they could not escape from its findings. It so reminded them of the paintings of the Day of Judgment, or “doom”, on the walls of their churches that they called it the “Domesday Book”. The Domesday Book still exists, and gives us an extraordinary amount of information about England at this time.

Kingship

William controlled two large areas: Normandy, which he had been given by his father, and England, which he had won in war. However, these personal possessions created difficulties. As the Duke of Normandy, he had to recognize the king of France as his lord, whereas in England he was king with no lord above him.

When William died, in 1087, he left the Duchy of Normandy to his elder son, Robert. He gave England to his second son, William, known as “Rufus” (Latin for red) because of his red hair and red face.

William Rufus died in a hunting accident in 1100 shot dead by an arrow. He had not married, and therefore had no son to take the crown.

Language and Literature

The growth of literacy was closely connected with the twelfth-century Renaissance. Its influence moved northwards along the trade routes, reaching England. The revolution in ideas and learning brought a new desire to test religious faith against reason. Schools of learning were established in many towns and cities. All these schools taught Latin, because most of the books were written in this language.

In England two schools of higher learning were established, the first at Oxford and the second at Cambridge. By the 1220s, these two universities were the intellectual leaders of the country.

The language itself was changing. French had been used less and less by the Norman rulers during the thirteenth century. In the fourteenth century, Edward III had actually forbidden the speaking of French in his army. It was a way of making the whole army aware of its Engliness.

After the Norman Conquest, English (the old Anglo-Saxon language) continued to be spoken by ordinary people but was no longer written. By the end of the fourteenth century, however, English was once again a written language, because it was being used instead of French by the ruling, literate class. But “Middle English”, the language of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was very different from Anglo-Saxon. This was partly because it had not been written for three hundred years, and partly because it had borrowed so much from Norman French.

Two writers, above all others, helped in the rebirth of English literature. One was William Langland, a mid-fourteenth century priest, whose poem Piers Plowman gives a powerful description of the times in which he lived. The other, Geoffrey Chaucer, has become much more famous. He lived at about the same time as Langland. His most famous work was The Canterbury Tales, written at the end of the fourteenth century.

The Canterbury Tales describe a group of pilgrims traveling from London to the tomb of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, a common religious act in England in the Middle Ages. During the journey each character tells a story. Collections of stories were popular at this time because almost all literature, unlike today, was written to be read out aloud. The stories themselves are not Chaucer’s own. He used old stories, but rewrote them in interesting and amusing way. The first chapter, in which he describes his characters, is the result of Chaucer’s own deep understanding of human nature. It remains astonishingly fresh even after six hundred years. It is a unique description of a nation: young and old, knight and peasant, priest and merchant, good and bad, townsman and countryman.

The Middle Ages ended with a major technical development: William Caxton’s first English printing press, set up in 1476. Caxton had learnt the skill of printing in Germany. At first, he printed popular books, such as Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur.

(Text copied from An Illustrated History of Britain by David McDowall, 1993.)

The Influences on English from Latin, Anglo-Saxons, Old Norse, and the Normans

Early Britian 2 (The Period of the Anglo Saxons – The Vikings)

The second part of the discussion on Early Britain covers the period of the Anglo Saxons and the Vikings. After the Romans abandon her province in Britain, Britain is invaded by the Germanic Tribes. These tribes are also known as the Anglo Saxons. Therefore, this period is also called the period of the Germanic Invasion or the period of the Anglo Saxons.

When the Anglo Saxons come to Britain, the Celts who live under the Roman Empire do not want them to lose their land. They fight against the Anglo Saxons. One of the well-known kings who fights against the Anglo Saxons is King Arthur. Although he is said to fight the Anglo Saxons bravely with his famous sword, Excalibur, some people say that he might only be a legend to keep the spirit of the Celts.

The Anglo Saxons had a great contribution in introducing the language. The present English language was from the old English, the language used by the Anglo Saxons. The names of the Anglos Saxons deities still remained until the present day. The days of week were taken from the Germanic deities: Tiw (Tuesday), Woden (Wednesday), Thor (Thursday), and Fig, Woden’s wife (Friday). The other days of the week were named after Saturn the Star (Saturday), the Sun (Sunday) and the Moon (Monday).

The Anglo Saxons are farmers. They come to Britain mainly to search richer lands for farming. When they come to Britain, they are illiterate and believe in gods and goddesses of Germania. However, as they mingle with the locals, the Celts, they start to believe in Christianity.

After the period of the Germanic Invasion, another group of people from Europe are also interested in Britain. They are known as the Vikings which means warriors. The Vikings are from the Scandinavia. Their origins are from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Being different from the Anglo Saxons, the Vikings are not farmers. Most of them are fishermen, deep-sea divers, and whale hunters. Therefore, their skill of navigation is superior to the rest of Europe.  Probably, from the Vikings, the British learned to navigate the sea. Britain now is famous for its navy and as a strong maritime country in the world.

Similar to the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings do not believe in Christianity before they come into contact with the Anglo Saxons. They are also illiterate. As they mingle with the Anglo Saxons in Britain, they start to believe in Christianity and learn to read and write.

When the Vikings come to Britain, the Anglo Saxons also dislike them. They fight in wars and divide the territory. They also make an agreement with the King of Wessex, Alfred the Great to divide the territory into two from the line drawn from London to Chester. One area in the west will be for the Saxons, Wessex and one area in the east is for the Vikings called the Danelaw. Through this agreement, the Vikings also accept Christianity.

Other than developing Britain into a maritime country, from the Vikings, the English language also borrowed some vocabulary. So, the Vikings do not only influence the way of life but also contribute to the development of the language.

The Early Britain (Pre-Historic – Period of the Romans)

The Early Britain covers the period of the pre-historic Britain until the end of the Vikings rule in Britain. The Early Britain began around 2 million BC until the end of the Viking rule marked with the beginning of the Norman Rule in 1066.

The Early Britain witnesses the arrivals of the Celts from Central Europe, the Romans from Europe, the Anglo Saxons from Germany and the Vikings from Scandinavia.

The discussion of the first part of Early Britain will only cover the pre-historic period until the Roman Invasion. The Anglo Saxon and Viking Invasions will be discussed in the next meeting.

The pre-historic Britain began when first people crossed the land bridge to Britain from Europe in pursuit of herds of deer, oxen, and horses. These people used bones and stones for making tools. They were hunters and gatherers. These people could not return to Europe when the ice melt and swept away the land bridge between Britain and Europe. Therefore, these people remained in Britain.

The Celts arrived in Britain bringing the iron working. They introduced the use of iron for making tools. Iron was preferable as it was stronger and sharper. People living during the pre-historic Britain until the Celtic Period were illiterate. Due to this fact, laws, traditions, and cultures were handed down through the oral tradition. As a result, a lot of traditions, for instance were lost as there was no written records. People in the modern era can still study about the Celtic people by observing the pictures on the caves or carved on bones.

The Romans arrived several times in Britain. However, the year of 43AD was known as the Roman Conquest. It was the period when Britain officially became one of the Roman Provinces.

The Romans gave a lot of contribution to Britain. The Romans introduced the use of coins for buying and selling. The Romans also introduced the Latin and writing system. Christianity was also introduced by the Romans. As the result of the establishments of fortresses, Britain had stone covered roads. In addition, the Romans also introduced the new town system.

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