Muse

The first 50 years of English settlement in the New World is a story not often told despite being one of the most important events in history. In grade school, you learned about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. As you'll see from this video, it's a lot more complicated than that. Based on the primary sources from the settlers themselves, this is a true story of hardship, war, death, suffering, and persistent willpower. The following events led to the birth of the most powerful empire in human history, the United States of America, and this video is the beginning of a long series that's going to cover those first few centuries. Viewer discretion is advised. After Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492, Spain moved fast. Settlements on the island of Cuba and Hispaniola developed rapidly, and within 30 years, Hernán Cortés had marched upon the mighty Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and conquered the entire empire. The wealth extracted during this conquest was immense and positioned Spain favorably for the next two centuries. Treasure fleets crossed the Atlantic loaded with unimaginable riches, and England saw all of this, and they wanted in. In 1497, John Cabot sailed under Henry VII and reached the north american coast he found no cities no gold only cold shorelines there were signs of native life and an abandoned campsite along with some fishing nets but he didn't actually have any first encounters during this voyage 1498 john cabot sailed again from england with five ships to expand on his earlier discovery one vessel reportedly returned earlier in a damaged state after which the rest of the expedition disappears from the historical record No clear account of their fate survives, but the North Atlantic was notoriously dangerous and most likely all died at sea. England lost momentum and made no serious attempts to follow up for decades. Time goes on and Spain now has a firm grasp on this new world. Pizarro conquered the Inca empire and had their king executed before sacking Cusco. The flow of gold, silver, goods from the Americas to Spain rapidly increases. The English ships returned only seasonally. Fishermen working the rich cod waters off of Newfoundland occasionally encountered native groups in quiet limited exchanges. By this point they were at a severe disadvantage to their rival Spain. In 1570 Martin Frobisher sailed into the Arctic looking for a northwest passage to Asia. On his first voyage several of his men disappeared after going ashore and frobisher responded by seizing an inuit man and taking him back to england on later voyages more inuit were taken and all died soon

after arrival he also brought back black stone claiming that it was full of gold this triggered more expeditions but only later did they discover that this ore was worthless no gold no colonies no lasting english foothold so they decided to change tactics instead of building an empire they could attack one privateers like francis drake struck spanish ships stealing treasure but more importantly maps routes and knowledge by the 1580s england finally understood how to cross where to land and what it would take to stay now for the first time we try to build something impermanent. And in 1585, the English planted their first colony on Roanoke Island, but it was barely prepared to survive. The settlers were mostly soldiers and adventurers, not farmers, and they arrived expecting quick success rather than long-term hardship. Supplies ran low almost immediately, and they became dependent on nearby native communities for food. Early encounters started with cautious trade and curiosity, but that trust broke down fast. There were many misunderstandings accusations of theft and rising paranoia within months starvation conflict and poor planning pushed the settlement to collapse two years later in 1587 a second colony arrived under John White this time families not just soldiers and it was during this period that the first English child was born in the Americas John White returned to England for supplies and he didn't come back for three years. The war had broken out with Spain and this delayed everything. By the time he returned in 1590, the colony had disappeared. No bodies, no signs of battle, just a single word carved into the wood. Croatoan. There were a lot of oddities. Homes had been carefully dismantled and they weren't exactly destroyed, suggesting that the colonists didn't die where they stood. that they had moved. Some believe that they sought survival with nearby native groups, either blending into those communities over time or being killed. When the Jamestown colony was established in 1607, John Smith and others searched for answers. Some reports suggest that colonists had joined friendly groups, but a chief of the Pohotten Confederacy claimed his people had attacked and killed many of them. He even presented English objects such as musket barrels and a brass mortar and a pestle as proof additional accounts surfaced a few years later in 1612 a man named william stracci wrote that certain native settlements reportedly had two story structures with stone features which he believed may have been influenced by the missing colonists there were also claims that small groups of europeans were seen living among the native

communities one report described several english captives men boys and women enslaved by a local chiefs spending the rest of their lives beating copper. By 1607, England pushed for this permanent colony through the Virginia Company, landing at Jamestown. First contact was intense. At times native groups approached peacefully, trading food and observing strange newcomers. Other encounters turned hostile, with many settlers killed while foraging. Many people were executed during this desperate time period. The first to be executed was a young captain named George Kindle for allegedly trying to start a mutiny as well as being a Spanish spy. His execution was carried out by firing squad. On June 2nd 1609 the Sea Venture left England as part of a large supply fleet bound for Jamestown carrying over 200 settlers. Weeks later the fleet was hit by a violent storm and scattered. The Sea Venture endured three days at sea before Admiral George Somers deliberately ran aground on Bermuda to save everyone aboard. Stranded for months, the survivors built two small ships, Deliverance and Patience, to continue the journey. And while they struggled to survive on this island, Jamestown would collapse into chaos. The food ran out. Disease spread and desperation took over. only 60 colonists were left. They survived by eating snakes, boiling leather, and eventually they resorted to cannibalism, eating their fallen Englishmen. When the Bermuda survivors finally reached Jamestown in May 1610, they found the colony near death and decided to abandon it. But as they sailed away, a new relief fleet arrived under Thomas West and forced them to return. Jamestown was saved at the last possible moment and with their arrival came the ultimate cash crop, tobacco. One of the colonists who arrived from Bermuda was a man named John Rolf. While John was cast away in Bermuda, he noticed tobacco plants growing in the wild, likely planted there by previous Spanish expeditions over the last century. When he returned to Jamestown, he brought with him the seeds and was very surprised to find that the plant thrived in virginia during the grow season at this point tobacco had been introduced to europe but was viewed more so as a curiosity or a medicine as more and more people smoked it the demand grew by 1614 he had several large harvests he had sold making him wealthy and saving the colony of jamestown at least momentarily that same year john rolfe married the captured daughter of the Powhatan chief. Her name was Pocahontas. She was captured and used to demand

the release of colonists that were being held by the Powhatans, as well as their weapons that they had seized. This marriage between Rolf and Pocahontas would secure a temporary peace, but soon after this, that fragile peace started to unravel. Pocahontas was taken to England. There, she was presented as proof that the colony was working and that the natives could be civilized. In 1617, as she prepared to return to Virginia, she became ill and died in her husband's arms before leaving England to go back home. And with that moment, the last real bridge between the two sides was gone. Tobacco plantations started to spread further along the James River with over 31 settlements existing by the year 1618. This encroachment on native land caused more conflict. And then in 1618, the Pohotan chief died. The power now belonged to his brothers. The youngest brother, Opankankano, was closely allied with the war chief Nimatano, whose nickname was Jack the Feather. Unlike their predecessors, they did not believe peace with the English could last, but they kept their opinions quiet for the time. Around this time, a school was constructed and a select number of indigenous children. were taken to be educated on Christianity and what the English believed to be civilized life. Funds were raised, but getting the natives to agree was difficult at first. Native families were understandably reluctant to send their children, which slowed plans for the school and delayed the construction. Governor George Yardley tried a different approach. Instead of separating children, he worked with the new young chief to bring entire families into the English settlement. They would be given land, livestock, clothing, and food. Adults would gradually adopt English customs while their children were educated in religion and daily life. In reality, only a small number took part, likely just a few dozen people. Even so, the English saw it as progress. Funding from England continued, and building work on the school finally began. By 1621, relations appeared calm on the surface. Native visitors moved freely through the English settlements, often welcomed into homes, sharing meals, and sometimes even staying the night as guests. Despite improvements in the colony, life was still not exactly easy. Between 1619 and 1622, 3,570 colonists had arrived, but only 1,240 survived by the end of that three-year period. Most were scattered among the different plantations, making what remained less unified. And then the boiling point happened. Captain John Smith describes the following events. Nimitanu, otherwise known as Jack the Feather, because he commonly adorned himself with them, and for his courage and his skill was regarded among the natives as their chief captain, and believed to be unharmed by anything the English could do to him. This captain came to the house of a man named Morgan, knowing he had many goods he desired,

and persuaded Morgan to go with him to Pamunki to trade. But along the way, Nimitanu murdered him. two or three days later he returned again to morgan's house where he found two young servants who asked for their master jack replied directly that he was dead the boys became suspicious and as they saw him wearing morgan's hat attempted to take him to master thorpe but jack resisted and they shot him. When Chief Openkankano threatened retaliation, the English responded with such forceful warnings that he backed off and promised peace. But over the course of the next two weeks, he secretly planned his revenge. On the morning of March 2nd, 1622, groups of native men entered English settlements as they had many times before, trading, talking, even sitting down to eat in some places they joined the colonists for breakfast and then without warning they attacked weapons were taken knives were drawn from concealment they attacked every man woman and child within reach a man named george thorpe was brutally murdered along with others the colonist describes an absolutely grisly account stating that the indians with such spite and scorn abused his dead corpse as it's unfitting to be heard with civil ears across the outlying plantations entire communities were wiped out at the college lands 17 were killed at captain berkeley's plantation 27 were dead at martin's hundreds a plantation miles from jamestown more than 70 died the victims ranged from council members to laborers some were recorded only by brief descriptions maidservants a welshman a french boy a few places including jamestown survived due to a last minute warning from a converted native and by the end of the day 347 colonists were slaughtered over a quarter of the population in the weeks that followed smaller attacks continued settlers were killed in their homes and the fields and along the roads news of this attack had reached england by june the immediate response was military king james agreed to send weapons and supplies from the tower of london though much of it was outdated and of little practical use the virginia company gathered weapons and supplies and john smith even offered to return proposing to force the natives into submission the company declined his return but not his mindset their position was clear the native population had to be destroyed before this time the english had distinguished between allied and hostile groups but after the massacre that distinction disappeared entirely all natives were now treated as an enemy settler forces moved

through the region targeting villages food supplies and anyone they encountered by early 1623 colonial leaders claimed they had killed more natives in a single year than in all previous years combined. In May of 1623, the English arranged a meeting with Chief Openkankano to discuss peace and the return of captured women. As a sign of good faith, the Indians released one of them, and so they decided to meet again. On May 22nd, Captain William Tucker and a group of musketeers met with Chief Openkankano and several other Powhatan leaders near the Potomac River, and during that gathering, the English offered a series of ceremonial toasts to a new friendship with you all cheers after drinking they soon began to fall ill and indians started to drop dead all over the place beforehand dr john pott had prepared wine mixed with poison and as confusion spread the english open fire, killing dozens more. 200 died from poison. Chief Ompinkan Canal escaped, but several key leaders were killed. There were reports that the colonists returned home with parts of the dead Indians' heads as proof of their retaliation. In the aftermath, even some in England were uneasy with these methods. The Virginia Company advised that the war should be fought with restraint, but the colonists rejected that idea. They argued that no actions taken against the natives should be considered unjust after the Indian massacre of 1622. Fine, I agree. This opinion soon became so popular that the company called for permanent war, no peace, no negotiation, only children were to be spared. Settlements were to be burned, food supplies destroyed, canoes seized and crops taken. anything that could sustain life would be removed. While the colony carried out its war campaign the Virginia Company faced a different problem because after the massacre support in England began to weaken. The King of England also started to lose his patience and the company quickly moved to a PR campaign to reverse that. In the following years it released a series of pamphlets. These publications aimed to explain what had happened and justify the colony's actions. The attack Jack was blamed on native betrayal and on divine punishment for the colony's own moral failures, shaming and blaming what was left of the population. One of these pamphlets read, Our hands which before were tied with gentleness and fair usage are now set at liberty by the treacherous violence of the savages, so that we who hitherto have had possession of no more ground than their waste and are purchased, may now by

In May of 1624, Virginia's charter was revoked. Control passed from Virginia Company to the Crown, placing the colony under direct royal authority. With that shift, the decisions were no longer driven by investors, but by the interest of the king and his officials. Settlements continued to expand onto Pohatan land. Agreements that had once been made were often revised, ignored, or abandoned entirely, and they no longer served colonial interest. The next major conflict came in 1644. Chief Ompin Kankano, now elderly, launched another large-scale attack on English settlements, and 400 colonists were slaughtered. When the news reached England, it appeared in print through a weekly publication that normally focused on events from the English Civil War. The fact that it covered Virginia et al. shows that the attack was considered significant. It was written in a way that was almost as if they felt there was a significant PR problem coming their way. One line aggressively asserts, They are so cowardly that ten of ours will make a hundred of them run away. We are at peace among ourselves and have been ever since the massacre. But at the same time, the report reveals something very interesting. Off with the tyrant! We will not bow!

We will not bow!

130 years before the Revolutionary War, there was already division within the colony over loyalty to the English crown. One of the letters from a Virginia settler that was printed in this editorial reads, It is my opinion that the massacre did divert to great mischief that was growing among us by Sir William Barclay's course, for some of the most religious and honest inhabitants were marked out to be plundered and imprisoned for the refusal of an oath that was imposed upon the people in reference to the King of England. An interesting foresight into the early days of brewing tension among the colonists against the crown. Despite the 1644 massacre killing more people than the 1622 massacre, was less of a big deal in the press compared to the latter. English populations had grown significantly, and the losses, while serious, did not have the same impact as 1622. Chief Opecuncanal was eventually captured. He was carried to Jamestown in a litter, weakened and unable to move on his own, and it was there, while in captivity, he was shot in the back while in a cell, killed by one of his guards. after his death the powhatan confederacy began to break apart and capitulate what had once been a unified and powerful force steadily declined over time many of the tribes left the region altogether others were pushed into small tracts of land set aside by the english are gradually absorbed in colonial society as the english settlements expanded the native land continued to shrink today several tribes from that original confederacy are still recognized in Virginia. Jamestown survived, but just barely. Famine, disease, internal conflict, and repeated war had nearly erased the colony more than once. Even when it stabilized, it did so under constant pressure. Nothing about the English position in America was secure, and while they fought to hold Virginia together, they were not alone. To the south, Spain controlled vast wealthy territories, fueled by silver and backed by over 100 years of experience. To the north, the French were building their own systems, leaner, built on trade and alliances with native groups. What the English developed instead was a different kind of system, permanent settlements, expanding farmland, a population that kept growing, families, laborers, landowners, spreading outward along the rivers and into new territory. They were the opening phase of something much bigger, because the next fights wouldn't just be between colonists and tribes. They would pull in much larger and powerful empires. The fight for the new world had only just begun. Hello, everybody. It's Will from Incredible History, a YouTube channel where I tell cinematic stories of history that I use AI to generate the visuals for and how that has given me tens of millions of views across Facebook and also performing well on YouTube with long-form videos

and how you can do the exact same thing i got 30 million views in one month on facebook telling stories i care about anyone can make money storytelling ai cinematic storytelling is now my career this is what i do for a living and it's all evolving very quickly this course and community is for all levels beginners intermediate advanced as ai continues to evolve the possibilities are endless cinematic storytelling that would have cost tens of millions of dollars with a Hollywood budget 10, 5, even 3 years ago, is now possible for anyone to create using AI. So here's the big picture about what you're going to learn in this course and this community. How to write an amazing story. Using ChatGPT as a director assistant to turn that vision into precise image prompts and cinematic animations. Turning your storytelling skills into cinematic videos. And how to make money storytelling. In this community, AI does not replace your vision, it executes it. So my challenge to you all is to learn these skills and start a project of your own to share with the community. I'm going to be posting my daily triumphs and struggles in the community while we all learn together, and I want you to do the same. Whether that's a short story, a short film, or a full-blown cinematic movie, please post your progress and your workflow of whatever you are working on in the community. Any and all levels are welcome. So I hope you'll join the AI Cinematic Directors community where we will all continue to learn together as this all evolves. Please check out the full list of modules where I teach you my exact workflow. And start thinking about what kind of project you want to create and share with the community.