St George's Church, Gravesend
St George's Church, Gravesend is a Grade II*-listed Anglican church dedicated to Saint George, situated near the foot of Gravesend High Street in the Borough of Gravesham. It serves as Gravesend's parish church and is located in the diocese of Rochester, England. Gravesend was recorded in the Domesday Book as part of the parish of St Mary the Virgin at Heacham. In 1478, a chapel of ease to St Mary's was licensed by King Edward IV, after three years' public petitioning for a place which "in time to come shall become the parish church" and dedicated to St George, after St George's Chapel, Windsor. In 1497 King Henry VII granted the citizens of Gravesend a parish church, consecrated by John Fisher, bishop of Rochester in 1510. John Rolfe's Native American wife, Rebecca was buried under the chancel of this church after her death on 21 March 1617. William Ordway Partridge's bronze statue commemorates her; the 15th-century edifice burned down on 24 August, 1727 when a great fire consumed much of Gravesend destroying about 110 houses as well as the parish church.
Services were transferred to the Town Hall until a new church building was completed in 1731. Parish homepage Media related to St George's Church, Gravesend at Wikimedia Commons
Varina Farms
Varina Farms known as Varina Plantation or Varina Farms Plantation or "Varina on the James", is a plantation established by John Rolfe on the James River about 40 miles upstream from the first settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, across the river from Sir Thomas Dale's 1611 settlement at Henricus. In 1612, English colonist John Rolfe introduced the cultivation of a special strain of tobacco for export to England, much better-liked by the Europeans than a harsher form which grew in Virginia; as his tobacco became a cash crop for the struggling colony's economy, he established a plantation estate at Varina Farms about 45 miles upstream from the first settlement at Jamestown and across the river from Sir Thomas Dale's 1611 settlement at the progressive community in Henricus. Henricus was developed as a potential replacement for the shortcomings of the Jamestown location. Varina Farms Plantation was named for a mild variety of the tobacco from Spain, similar to the non-native strain Rolfe used in developing his successful product.
The plantation became the home of Rolfe and his second wife, Rebecca whose father was the Powhatan tribe's leader for two years following their marriage in 1614. It was the birthplace of their son, Thomas Rolfe in 1615; as "Varina Plantation", an 820-acre property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. At that time it included one other contributing sites. In modern times, Varina Farm is still cultivated as a working farm, is owned. However, the site of the former town of Varina can be seen from Interstate 295 to the east just north of the Varina-Enon Bridge
Balance of trade
The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports, is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance of trade for goods versus one for services; the balance of trade measures a flow of imports over a given period of time. The notion of the balance of trade does not mean that exports and imports are "in balance" with each other. If a country exports a greater value than it imports, it has a trade surplus or positive trade balance, conversely, if a country imports a greater value than it exports, it has a trade deficit or negative trade balance; as of 2016, about 60 out of 200 countries have a trade surplus. The notion that bilateral trade deficits are bad in and of themselves is overwhelmingly rejected by trade experts and economists; the balance of trade forms part of the current account, which includes other transactions such as income from the net international investment position as well as international aid.
If the current account is in surplus, the country's net international asset position increases correspondingly. A deficit decreases the net international asset position; the trade balance is identical to the difference between its domestic demand. Measuring the balance of trade can be problematic because of problems with recording and collecting data; as an illustration of this problem, when official data for all the world's countries are added up, exports exceed imports by 1%. This cannot be true, because all transactions involve an equal credit or debit in the account of each nation; the discrepancy is believed to be explained by transactions intended to launder money or evade taxes and other visibility problems. For developing countries, the transaction statistics are to be inaccurate. Factors that can affect the balance of trade include: The cost of production in the exporting economy vis-à-vis those in the importing economy. In export-led growth, the balance of trade will shift towards exports during an economic expansion.
However, with domestic demand-led growth the trade balance will shift towards imports at the same stage in the business cycle. The monetary balance of trade is different from the physical balance of trade. Developed countries import a substantial amount of raw materials from developing countries; these imported materials are transformed into finished products, might be exported after adding value. Financial trade balance statistics conceal material flow. Most developed countries have a large physical trade deficit, because they consume more raw materials than they produce. Many civil society organisations claim this imbalance is predatory and campaign for ecological debt repayment. Many countries in early modern Europe adopted a policy of mercantilism, which theorized that a trade surplus was beneficial to a country, among other elements such as colonialism and trade barriers with other countries and their colonies; the practices and abuses of mercantilism led the natural resources and cash crops of British North America to be exported in exchange for finished goods from Great Britain, a factor leading to the American Revolution.
An early statement appeared in Discourse of the Common Wealth of this Realm of England, 1549: "We must always take heed that we buy no more from strangers than we sell them, for so should we impoverish ourselves and enrich them." A systematic and coherent explanation of balance of trade was made public through Thomas Mun's 1630 "England's treasure by foreign trade, or, The balance of our foreign trade is the rule of our treasure"Since the mid-1980s, the United States has had a growing deficit in tradeable goods with Asian nations which now hold large sums of U. S debt that has in part funded the consumption; the U. S. has a trade surplus with nations such as Australia. The issue of trade deficits can be complex. Trade deficits generated in tradeable goods such as manufactured goods or software may impact domestic employment to different degrees than do trade deficits in raw materials. Economies which have savings surpluses, such as Japan and Germany run trade surpluses. China, a high-growth economy, has tended to run trade surpluses.
A higher savings rate corresponds to a trade surplus. Correspondingly, the U. S. with its lower savings rate has tended to run high trade deficits with Asian nations. Some have said. Russia pursues a policy based on protectionism, according to which international trade is not a "win-win" game but a zero-sum game: surplus countries get richer at the expense of deficit
Jamestown supply missions
The Jamestown supply missions were a series of fleets from 1607 to around 1611 that were dispatched from England by the London Company with the specific goal of establishing the Company's presence and specifically maintaining the English settlement of "James Fort" on present-day Jamestown Island. The supply missions resulted in the colonization of Bermuda as a supply and way-point between the colony and England; the Jamestown colonists chose the fort's location because it was favorable for defensive purposes. Although some of them did some farming, few of the original settlers were experienced farmers, as hunters they exhausted the area's supply of small game. To make matters worse, the most severe drought in 700 years occurred between 1606 and 1612; the colonists became dependent upon trade with the Native Americans and periodic supply from England for their survival. Captain Christopher Newport was tasked with the duty of leading the "first", "second", "third" re-supply missions back to Jamestown.
However, it was not until a "fourth" mission under Lord Thomas West that the settlement was able to establish both defensive and food security. The London Company organized a for-profit expedition to establish a settlement in the Virginia territory in late 1606; the expedition consisted of three ships, which set sail on December 20, 1606 from Blackwall, with 105 men and boys and 39 crew-members. There were no women on the first ships; the ships in this fleet were: Discovery with Captain John Ratcliffe and 21 people Godspeed, with Captain Bartholomew Gosnold and 52 people Susan Constant - sometimes known as Sarah Constant- with Captain Christopher Newport and 71 people The fleet headed south-west towards the Azores. Early in the voyage, on February 13, 1607, near the Canary Islands, Captain John Smith was charged with mutiny, Newport had him arrested and planned to execute him upon arrival in the Caribbean. Passing Martinique on March 23, they visited Dominica, on March 28, St. Croix, where they replenished their water and food.
By April 6, 1607, the fleet arrived at the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico, where they stopped for provisions before continuing their journey. They landed on Mona and Monito Islands on April 7, left on April 9, the last stop before the new world. After an unusually long voyage of 144 days, the death of only one passenger, they made landfall on April 26, 1607 at the southern edge of the mouth of what they named the James River on the Chesapeake Bay. A party of men explored the area and had a minor conflict with some local "Indians", so the colonists moved north. On May 14, 1607, they chose Jamestown Island, further upriver and on the northern shore, for their settlement, as it was a location that could be defended from attacks by other European states, notably the Dutch Republic and Spain. However, after the long voyage, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day. Further, the worst drought in 700 years occurred in the area between 1606 and 1612, affecting the Jamestown colonist and local Powhatan tribe’s ability to produce food and obtain a safe supply of water.
In addition to settling, the early colonists were expected to make a profit for the owners of the Company. The early settlers were excited by the apparent availability of gold, from the outset settlers attempted to produce timber for export, given the inexhaustible supply within Virginia's virgin forests. However, they could not devote much time to developing commodity products, as they were too busy trying to survive. On June 22, 1607, Newport sailed back for London with Susan Constant and Godspeed carrying a load of precious minerals, leaving behind the 104 colonists and Discovery. Using the ship left to the colony, Captain John Smith undertook three exploratory voyages of the Chesapeake Bay and along the various rivers seeking a supply of food for the colonists in June and August 1607. However, while leading one food-gathering expedition in December 1607, this time up the Chickahominy River west of Jamestown, his men were set upon by Pamunkey natives, Smith was captured. After being "saved" by Pocahontas, Smith returned alone to Jamestown just in time for the "First Supply", in January 1608.
Smith ventured into the Chesapeake Bay twice more in 1608, in the months between the first and second supply missions, charged by the Company to search for gold and a passage to the Pacific Ocean. The first trip lasted from June 2 to July 21. Searching for badly needed food, he covered an estimated 3,000 miles, producing a map, of great value to local explorers for more than a century; this time he traded for food with the Nansemonds along the Nansemond River, several other groups. He had mixed results dealing with the various other tribes, most of whom were affiliated with the Powhatan Confederacy; these explorations were commemorated in the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, established in 2006. Arriving back in London on August 12, 1607, Christopher Newport delivered a letter from the council alongside his cargo of "gold", he was put in charge of the urgently needed re-supply mission, containing a few provisions and more than 70 new colonists. The ships were: John and Francis with Captain Christopher Newport Phoenix with Francis Nelson The first re-supply fleet, tracing the same r
Plantations in the American South
Plantations are an important aspect of the history of the American South the antebellum era. The mild subtropical climate, plentiful rainfall, fertile soils of the southeastern United States allowed the flourishing of large plantations, where large numbers of workers Africans held captive for slave labor, were required for agricultural production. An individual who owned a plantation was known as a planter. Historians of the antebellum South have defined "planter" most as a person owning property and 20 or more slaves; the wealthiest planters, such as the Virginia elite with plantations near the James River, owned more land and slaves than other farmers. Tobacco was the major cash crop in the Upper South; the development of cotton and sugar cultivation in the Deep South in the early 18th century led to the establishment of large plantations which had hundreds of slaves. The great majority of Southern farmers owned fewer than five slaves. Slaves were much more expensive than land. In the "Black Belt" counties of Alabama and Mississippi, the terms "planter" and "farmer" were synonymous.
While most Southerners were not slave-owners, while the majority of slaveholders held ten or fewer slaves, planters were those who held a significant number of slaves as agricultural labor. Planters are spoken of as belonging to the planter elite or to the planter aristocracy in the antebellum South; the historians Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman define large planters as those owning over 50 slaves, medium planters as those owning between 16 and 50 slaves. Historian David Williams, in A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom, suggests that the minimum requirement for planter status was twenty negroes since a southern planter could exempt Confederate duty for one white male per twenty slaves owned. In his study of Black Belt counties in Alabama, Jonathan Weiner defines planters by ownership of real property, rather than of slaves. A planter, for Weiner, owned at least $10,000 worth of real estate in 1850 and $32,000 worth in 1860, equivalent to about the top 8 percent of landowners.
In his study of southwest Georgia, Lee Formwalt defines planters in terms of size of land holdings rather than in terms of numbers of slaves. Formwalt's planters are in the top 4.5 percent of landowners, translating into real estate worth six thousand dollars or more in 1850, 24,000 dollars or more in 1860, eleven thousand dollars or more in 1870. In his study of Harrison County, Randolph B. Campbell classifies large planters as owners of 20 slaves, small planters as owners of between 10 and 19 slaves. In Chicot and Phillips Counties, Carl H. Moneyhon defines large planters as owners of twenty or more slaves, of six hundred or more acres. Many nostalgic memoirs about plantation life were published in the post-bellum South. For example, James Battle Avirett, who grew up on the Avirett-Stephens Plantation in Onslow County, North Carolina and served as an Episcopal chaplain in the Confederate States Army, published The Old Plantation: How We Lived in Great House and Cabin before the War in 1901.
Such memoirs included descriptions of Christmas as the epitome of anti-modern order exemplified by the "great house" and extended family. On larger plantations an overseer represented the planter in matters of daily management. Portrayed as uncouth, ill-educated and low-class, he had the difficult and despised task of middleman and the contradictory goals of fostering both productivity and the enslaved work-force. Crops cultivated on antebellum plantations included cotton, sugar, rice, to a lesser extent okra, sweet potato and watermelon. By the late 18th century, most planters in the Upper South had switched from exclusive tobacco cultivation to mixed-crop production. In the Lowcountry of South Carolina before the American Revolution, planters in South Carolina owned hundreds of slaves; the 19th-century development of the Deep South for cotton cultivation depended on large tracts of land with much more acreage than was typical of the Chesapeake Bay area, for labor, planters held dozens, or sometimes hundreds, of slaves.
Antebellum architecture can be seen in many extant "plantation houses", the large residences of planters and their families. Over time in each region of the plantation south a regional architecture emerged inspired by those who settled the area. Most early plantation architecture was constructed to mitigate the hot subtropical climate and provide natural cooling; some of earliest plantation architecture occurred in southern Louisiana by the French. Using styles and building concepts they had learned in the Caribbean, the French created many of the grand plantation homes around New Orleans. French Creole architecture began around 1699, lasted well into the 1800s. In the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia, the Dogtrot style house was built with a large center breezeway running through the house to mitigate the subtropical heat; the wealthiest planters in colonial Virginia constructed their manor houses in the Georgian style, e.g. the mansion of Shirley Plantation. In the 19th century, Greek Revival architecture became popular on some of the plantation homes of the deep south.
Common plants and trees incorporated in the landscape of Southern plantation manors included Southern live oak and Southern magnolia. Both of these large trees are native to the Southern United States and were classic sym
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to two joint-stock companies chartered under James I on 10 April 1606 with the goal of establishing settlements on the coast of America. The two companies are referred to as the "Virginia Company of London" and the "Virginia Company of Plymouth", they operated with identical charters but with differing territories; the charters established an area of overlapping territory in America as a buffer zone, the two companies were not permitted to establish colonies within 100 miles of each other. The Plymouth Company never fulfilled its charter, but its territory was claimed by England and became New England; as corporations, the companies were empowered by the Crown to govern themselves, they conferred that right to their colonies. The Virginia Company failed in 1624, but the right to self-government was not taken away and the principle was established that a royal colony should be self-governing; this formed the genesis of democracy in America. The original charter by King James in 1606 did not mention a Plymouth Company.
The Charter of 1609 stipulates two distinct companies, stating: …that they shoulde devide themselves into twoe collonies, the one consistinge of divers Knights, gentlemen and others of our cittie of London, called the First Collonie. The eastern seaboard of America was named Virginia from Maine to the Carolinas; as corporations, the companies were empowered by the Crown to govern themselves. The Virginia Company failed in 1624, but the right to self-government was not taken from the colony, the principle was thus established that a royal colony should be self-governing, forming the genesis of democracy in America. By the terms of the charter, the London Company was permitted to establish a colony of 100 miles square between the 34th and 45th parallels between Cape Fear and Long Island Sound, it owned a large portion of Atlantic Ocean and inland Canada. On 14 May 1607, the London Company established the Jamestown Settlement about 40 miles inland along the James River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in present-day Virginia.
In 1620, George Calvert asked King James I for a charter for English Catholics to add the territory of the Plymouth Company. In 1609, a much larger Third Supply mission was organized. A new purpose-built ship named the Sea Venture was rushed into service without the customary sea trials, she became flagship of a fleet of nine ships, with most of the leaders and supplies aboard. Notable persons aboard the Sea Venture included fleet Admiral George Somers, Vice-Admiral Christopher Newport, the new governor for the Virginia Colony Sir Thomas Gates, future author William Strachey, businessman John Rolfe with his pregnant wife; the Third Supply convoy encountered a hurricane which lasted three days and separated the ships from one another. The Sea Venture was leaking through its new caulking, Admiral Somers had it driven aground on a reef to avoid sinking, saving 150 men and women and several dogs, but destroying their ship; the uninhabited archipelago was named "The Somers Isles" after Admiral Somers, though it was known as Bermuda.
The survivors built two smaller vessels from salvaged parts of the Sea Venture which they named Deliverance and Patience. Ten months they continued on to Jamestown, arriving at Jamestown on 23 May 1610 but leaving several men behind on the archipelago to establish possession of it. At Jamestown, they found that over 85% of the 500 colonists had perished during what became known as the "Starving Time"; the Sea Venture passengers had anticipated finding a thriving colony at Jamestown and had brought little food or supplies with them. The colonists at Jamestown were saved only by the timely arrival three weeks of a supply mission headed by Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, better known as "Lord Delaware". In 1612, The London Company's Royal Charter was extended to include the Somers Isles as part of the Virginia Colony. However, the isles passed to the London Company of the Somers Isles in 1615, formed by the same shareholders as the London Company. To the disappointment of its investors, the Virginia Company of London failed to discover gold or silver in Virginia.
However, the company did establish trade of various types. The biggest trade breakthrough came when colonist John Rolfe introduced several sweeter strains of tobacco from the Caribbean, rather than the harsh-tasting kind native to Virginia. Rolfe's new tobacco strains led to a strong export for the London Company and other early English colonies, helped balance a trade deficit with Spain; the Jamestown Massacre which devastated that colony in 1622 brought on unfavorable attention from King James I who had chartered the Company. There was a period of debate in Britain between Company officers who wished to guard the original charter, those who wanted the Company to be disbanded. In 1624, the King made Virginia a royal colony; the Plymouth Company was permitted to establish settlements between the 38th and 45th parallels between the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay and the current U. S.-Canada border. On 13 August 1607, the Plymouth Company established the Popham Colony along the Kennebec River in present-day Maine.
However, it was abandoned after about a year and the Plymouth Company became inactive
Thomas Rolfe
Thomas Rolfe was the only child of Pocahontas and her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was the chief of the Powhatan tribe in Virginia. Thomas Rolfe was born in Virginia some believe on January 30, 1615. Governor Sir Thomas Dale was accompanied by Thomas Rolfe and his parents on their trip to England aboard the Treasurer in 1616, he was under 2 years old during this voyage and was not immune to the diseases and hardships of the voyage. In March 1617, the Rolfe family were preparing to re-embark on the George ship commanded by Samuel Argall when Rebecca was taken ill and died, at Gravesend in Kent. Thomas was not well enough to survive the long voyage back to Jamestown and Thomas was left in Plymouth, with Sir Lewis Stukley and transferred into the care of his uncle, Henry Rolfe, his father, sailed to Virginia without him after being persuaded by Admiral Argall and other members of the journey that he was too sick to continue the voyage. Thomas remained in his uncle's care until he reached 21 years of age, by which time his father had died.
As Henry raised Thomas, he felt he deserved compensation from his brother's estate and, petitioned the Virginia Council in October 1622, claiming entitlement to a portion of John Rolfe's land. It is assumed that Thomas returned to Virginia in 1635, there is no further mention of his whereabouts or doings until 1641. Once established in Virginia again, Thomas fostered both his reputation as a plantation owner and member of his mother's lineage; as Rolfe was a child of an Englishman and a Native American woman, some aspects of his life were controversial. He expressed interest in rekindling relations with his Native American relatives, despite societal ridicule and laws that forbade such contact. In 1641, Rolfe petitioned the governor for permission to visit his "aunt and his kinsman Opecanaugh". Thomas Rolfe married a woman named Jane Poythress, the daughter of Captain Francis Poythress, a prosperous landowner in Virginia, they had one daughter together, named Jane, after her mother. In 1698 his grandson, John Bolling, released to William Browne his rights in land, in a deed in which Bolling is identified as "...son and heir of Jane, late wife of Robert Bolling of Charles City County, Gent. which Jane was the only daughter of Thomas Rolf, dec'd..."
As confirmed by the 1698 deed quoted above, his daughter Jane married Robert Bolling. Robert Bolling and Jane Rolfe Bolling had one child. According to his father's will, both Thomas and Elizabeth, his half-sister, received named land. There is no extant proof; however Native Americans did not'hold' land in the English way. There is no mention of former Indian land in John Rolfe's will, John Rolfe names Thomas as the rightful heir of all his land and any royalties pertaining to such land. There were rumors in 1618 that when Thomas came of age, he would inherit a sizable portion of Powhatan territory. There is no extant documentation that when Thomas arrived in Virginia in 1640, the land was recorded as "Varina," his patrimonial property sixteen miles below Richmond. Thomas's step-grandfather, named Captain William Peirce, received a grant of 2000 acres of land on June 22, 1635, for the "transportation of 40 persons among whom was Thomas Rolfe", he listed Thomas as heir to his father's land. Prior to March 1640, Thomas took possession of this land, located on the lower side of the James River.
Thomas inherited a tract of some 150 acres on June 10, 1654, in Surry County, across from Jamestown. The year after the 1644 Indian attack on the colony, four forts were established to defend the frontier: Fort Henry, Fort Royal, Fort James, Fort Charles. Fort James was to be under the command of Thomas Rolfe as lieutenant as of October 5, 1646, he was given six men, was instructed to fight against the Native Americans—his own people. Thomas Rolfe shall have and enjoy for himselfe and his heires for fort James alias Chickahominy fort with fowre hundred acres of land adjoyning to the same, with all houses and edifices belonging to the said forte and all boats and ammunition at present belonging to the said fort. Rolfe doe keepe and maintaine sixe men vpon the place duringe the terme and time of three yeares, for which tyme he the said Leift. Rolfe for himselfe and the said sixe men are exempted from publique taxes. On October 6, 1646, Thomas was put in charge of building a fort at Moysonec, for which he received 400 acres of land.
This fort was located on the west side of Diascund Creek. Several years Rolfe patented 525 acres on August 8, 1653, "...lying upon the North side of Chickahominy river called and known by the name of James fort..." including the 400 acres he had re
