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Chapter
1
Wandering, Foraging, and Farming
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Chapter
2
Exploration of the New World
Pocahontas Drawing
Chapter
3
Contact and Conflict
Time Period

16,000 BCE to 1622 CE

Contact and Conflict

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The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles by John Smith. Smith recorded the early history of Jamestown. (VMHC Rare Books o.s. F229.S7 G3 1624)
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F229.S7.G3.1624.Rare_.OS_JohnSmithdetail.jpg
An engraving of John Smith from his book, "The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles," in which he recorded the early history of Jamestown. (VMHC Rare Books o.s. F229.S7 G3 1624)
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Pocahontas.1993.192_2.jpg
Simon van de Passe’s engraving of Pocahontas, 1616. Her only portrait taken from life and thereby the most credible image of her, 21-year-old Pocahontas is depicted in rigid Jacobean attire. This costume probably hid tattooing and certainly provided the chaste image wanted by the Virginia Company, the organization that sponsored the Virginia settlement and Pocahontas's trip to England and likely commissioned this print for publicity. (VMHC 1993.192)
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DHR_Breastplate.jpg
Iron breastplate from the armory of the Tower of London, excavated at Jordan’s Journey, Prince George County. Following the massive 1622 attack on the English settlers by Native Americans, King James I provided weaponry from the Tower of London to help the settlers retake lost ground. The Virginia Company chose not to withdraw but urged “revenge” and “extermination” of the native people.
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Indian badge, about 1662 (Front)
Indian badge (Front), about 1662. After decades of conflict with Native Americans, the English settlers issued passport badges to control Indian entry into English territory. This medal is engraved “Ye King of Patomeck” (Potomac). (VMHC 1834.1)
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Indian badge, about 1662 (Back)
Indian badge (Back), about 1662. After decades of conflict with Native Americans, the English settlers issued passport badges to control Indian entry into English territory. This medal is engraved “Ye King of Patomeck” (Potomac). (VMHC 1834.1)
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Portrait of George Percy
Portrait of George Percy. In 1610, with 70 men, George Percy massacred the Paspahegh and Chickahominy. His men also “put [a captured] Queen to the sworde” and “put her children to death by throwing them overboard and shooting out their braines in the water.” (VMHC 1854.2)

Explore Time Periods

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16,000 BCE to 1622 CE
A Land of Opportunity: Creating Virginia
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1623 to 1763
A Distant Dominion
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1764 to 1824
From British Colony to American State
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1825 to 1860
Challenge of a New Century
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1861 to 1876
Civil War and Reconstruction
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1877 to 1924
Virginia in the New South
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1925 to Today
Dynamic Dominion

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