This is not homework.
Can anyone explain the societal structure of early colonial Virginia to me? It would seem that in order to immigrate to Virginia, you had to have either enough funds to obtain a position with the Virginia company, or have your passage paid by an established planter. In exchange for paying the passage for a new settler, and providing them housing, food and shelter for a duration of (4 years?) the planter was compensated with more land. Additionally, they could hire out the people they provided passage for, and keep part of the funds, and rebate part to the Virginia Company.

The Company had agents who were responsible for sending furs, glass and tobacco back to England. The company provided a magazine of gunpowder, which they charged the planters for, and often filed claims against estates of settlers who were killed in massacres.

What are Ancient Planters? What gave an individual that designation? A number of settlers appeared to be people with titles; they moved their whole families into the wilderness. Was ther more back and forth by boats in the 1600’s than one would think?

There were tracks of land that were called Hundreds, such as West and Shirley Hundred, Flowerdew Hundred, etc. What does that mean?

Virginia has counties named “City” such as Charles City, James City. Did these start as actual towns? How did the Burgess system work?

Topics: US history, Virginia, colonial, settlement, social structure