Video: Traveling Around the Settlements
Where do you live? Do you live in a big city, small town, or somewhere in between? Before most cities were established, there were settlements. The very first European settlements in the United States were on the east coast. Do you know why?
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In the video below you will get to take a look at five of the earliest European settlements in the U.S. to learn where they were and how they became settlements.
Traveling Around the Settlements
Meet the History Kids! They love history and teaching history to other kids.
Today they want to teach you about five settlements in early America.
Hitch up the horse and jump in the wagon. We will start in Florida in St. Augustine.
St. Augustine is the oldest settlement in the United States that was established by a European nation and people always lived there. Here are some pictures from long ago.
You can travel to St. Augustine in Florida today and see how the oldest settlement has changed over time into the modern city it is today.
Now let’s travel by horse and buggy to the first English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia.
The first settlers were all men. They hoped to find gold but instead had harsh summers with mosquitoes and freezing cold winters.
Let’s head over to Massachusetts where the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620.
The Pilgrims left England for religious freedom and founded the Plymouth settlement.
These colonists signed the Mayflower Compact that stated they were Christians who served God and would make fair laws for their colony. John Carver was the first governor of Plymouth Colony.
Do you enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving? It was the Pilgrims who had the first Thanksgiving with the Native Americans in 1621.
Give the horses some water so we can take the long trip to Maryland.
The next settlement we are visiting is the settlement that started in St. Mary’s City in 1634.
St. Mary’s City was founded to give Catholics from England a safe place to live and have religious freedom.
This is George Calvert who was a Catholic from England. Catholics were not given the same freedoms in England, and George was given permission to start a colony in the New World.
His youngest son Leonard became the first governor of this colony.
Let’s travel to one more settlement in New Netherland. You may not recognize this name, but you have heard of New York. How did the name of this settlement change? (pause) Let’s learn more.
The Dutch created the settlement of New Netherland. People from Europe, Native Americans, and slaves brought from Africa lived in this settlement. Peter Stuyvesant was the most famous governor of New Netherland.
The British wanted this land that the Dutch had, and they took it over in 1664 and renamed it New York after the British Duke of York.
Now that you have traveled around these five settlements, please look at all of the maps. What pattern do you see? What are all of the settlements located by?
That’s right--water! All of the settlements were established by water. Why?
First, water was essential to travel by ship from Europe.
Second, water is a basic survival need.
Third, water was needed for farming, and fish in the sea fed the settlers.
A lot has changed since the first American settlements.
Thanks for traveling around these five settlements with us today.
Question
What was the name of the settlement the Pilgrims found in 1620?
Plymouth