Jamestown

Jamestown is located in Virginia. It was the first colony that survived in the New World and became permanent. This colony was originally founded by the London Company. This was a joint stock company that was established by King James I. Jamestown was the first colony that the London Company founded.

So the London Company sent out fleets to discover a good piece of land to colonize. The company would provide for the colony in the beginning. It took a lot of looking around for good land but sooner or later they founded the land for the colony of Jamestown on May 24^th, 1607.

Since the colony was just starting out there would be some tough years ahead of them to get the colony moving and become successful. Most of the population of this colony was of lazy fortune-seekers. They were lazy because they would just be looking for treasure and not help out with the colony. Because of this, two thirds of the colonists died from survival issues.

Later, more people joined the colony from Poland and Germany. A man named John Smith took over the colony and helped it grow. He encouraged the colonists to work together. He stated, “If anyone would not work, neither would he eat”.

Unfortunately, John Smith had to return to England and leave Jamestown because he was suffering from a wound that he encountered in 1609. Because of this the years 1609-1610 was named “The Starving Time” because Jamestown was suffering from starvation.

Things started to turn around for Jamestown in 1614. This colony was an investment from investors in England. They were tired of putting all their money into this land. But a man named John Rolfe planted tobacco in 1610. He later harvested it in 1614. This was a great turning point for Jamestown. Tobacco became a great money maker for Jamestown. John Rolfe was a very wealthy man as a result of his crop and married an Indian Princess named Pochahontas. This wealthy man was one of the people who helped save Jamestown.

So, John Rolfe and Pochahontas lived in Jamestown for quite a while until his wife became ill. John Rolfe took Pochahontas back to England in hopes for a cure. Unfortunately she died even before she could return back to Jamestown.

John Rolfe and Pochahontas are people that are greatly remembered today but they were not the only ones in this story who helped out with the colony of Jamestown. At this time in history settling new colonies in a new world was very difficult so they needed lots of help from many people.

In 1624 Jamestown finally could become independent. This location is better known today as Virginia. This was just one of the many successful colonies that were established in the New World.

Artsy Picture of The Week: Jelly Bean Challenge!

This isn't really a great artsy picture but I wanted to show you this fun (and rather disgusting) jelly bean challenge that I did with my friend Lauren! I posted the video of us trying the jelly beans so if you want to check that video out then Click Here. These are the "good" flavors that are mixed with the "bad" flavors:

So when you eat these with your friend the two jelly beans can both be good or bad, or one be good and the other a bad flavor. It is all at random and you have no idea which is which. Trust me, we tried smelling them to find a difference and looking for a color difference and there was no smell and no odd color difference. I have to say that they did a very good job in making both good and bad flavors look the same exact color.
So that's it for today! How about you all leave me a comment below this post saying what bad flavor you would NEVER want to eat in this challenge and what bad flavor (if you had to choose) would you want to eat in this challenge. Good luck to all of those who are about to try this challenge because I have to say it was pretty disgusting!!!! My friend and I both had the flavors mixed up in our mouths for a while! I hope you enjoyed this artsy picture post!

Artsy Picture of The Week: The Fault In Our Stars!

This week I didn't really have an idea for an artsy picture post so I decided to show you this book I have been reading. The book is "The Fault In Our Stars" it also just came out in the movie theaters. I am determined to finish this book at the moment because I really really really want to see the movie!!! A lot of my friends have seen it already and they said it was amazing! So far I am enjoying the book!

I definitely recommend reading this book! If you want to see all of the books I recommend then you can visit that area of my blog by Clicking Here. I hope you enjoyed this week's artsy picture post!

Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England was born in September 1553. Elizabeth was crowned queen on January 15^th 1559 and was queen of England and Ireland. She was the very last monarch of the Tudor Dynasty. During her reign she was given nicknames like "Virgin Queen". She was called "Virgin Queen" because she never married anyone and never had any children so she didn’t give any heirs to the throne after her.

Queen Elizabeth was a great queen and ruled the kingdom for a total of 44 years. The time period of her reign was known as the Elizabethan Era. At first, she did not become queen right away. Elizabeth was actually cut out of being queen with her half-sister Mary by King Henry. But besides that she received a good education and was known for her calm and gentle spirit.

So later King Henry appointed a woman named Lady Jane Grey to take his place as ruler. That did not last for long because Elizabeth I’s half-sister Mary took her throne and became queen. This made Elizabeth in danger because Mary was Catholic but she was Protestant. Mary saw Elizabeth as a threat.

Mary put Elizabeth in house arrest. She was imprisoned until Queen Mary’s death in 1558. After that, Elizabeth finally became queen and was crowned in 1559 at Westminster Abbey.

Throughout her reign she revoked all her sisters’ changes to Catholicism and replaced it all with Protestantism.

After Mary’s death her husband King Philip of Spain thought he should get some consideration from Elizabeth and maybe even become married to her. During this time lots of attacks were made towards Spain so that created an excuse for Philip to launch an attack on England. But it was successful for England that the Spanish did not even reach England to attack so Queen Elizabeth got the credit for that victory.

Throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth (the Elizabethan Era) England developed more stability and started to become very successful. While other countries were not so successful, England was rising to the top, flourishing.

Later in Elizabeth’s life she started to get depressed (around 1602 and 1603). She then died in 1603 and was buried next to her half-sister Mary in Westminster Abbey. After her death she then was given the nickname “Good Queen Bess” from the people who mourned her death.

Artsy Picture of The Week: Wonderful Flowers!

This week I decided to show you some flowers I received from my family and friends after my recital! I think they are soooo beautiful!

Again I couldn't just show you one picture!

The next picture I wanted to show you is a beautiful bouquet that was made for me from my Godmother. She is very artsy and I always get inspiration from her! She has a blog too! if you would like to check out her blog to see more amazing posts then Click Here! This is what she made me:

I had to show you the beautiful handle on the bouquet too because I love it!

That's it for now! I really want to thank everyone who gave me these beautiful flowers because I love them so much and it was very nice of you all! I hope you enjoyed this week's artsy picture post!

Lady Jane Grey and Queen Mary I

Lady Jane Grey was born in 1537. When she was older she received a great education. By the influence of her parents, she later became a Protestant Christian. She did have an opportunity to become queen, but it did not last long. She wasn’t the original heir to the throne, but was appointed by Edward VI to be his successor. The only reason he appointed Lady Jane Grey as his successor instead of his sister Mary I was because Lady Jane Grey was Protestant so he greatly believed in that religion. But his sister Mary, she was a Roman Catholic so he did not want her religion to rule. Of course, Mary did not approve of Edward making the choice to not appoint her as queen so disagreement arose.

Mary I was determined to become queen, so she started gathering a following to back her. She even went to the Privy Council and convinced them to side with her instead of Jane. So now Mary had a better chance of taking throne. She decided to imprison Jane and her husband. This made Jane only be queen for 9 days.

During their imprisonment Mary decided to charge them of treason and execute them. Jane and her husband died in 1554. Within a short amount of time after Mary I became queen in September 1553.

So now Mary got her wish to be queen and married Phillip King of Spain. With this tie made she was able to be queen of Spain as well. 

During her ruling she persecuted many of the Protestants because she was a staunch Catholic. She didn’t agree with the ways of the Protestants so she even burned over 300 of them.

If you ever heard of this nursery rhyme before it is actually talking about Queen Mary I:

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

The nursery rhyme explains her persecutions to the Protestants and her loyalty to the Catholic Church.

Mary in the end was remembered as a tyrant and also received the nickname “Bloody Mary” because of all the executions she made in her lifetime. She was able to change everything into Catholicism but later on all of that got undone by her successor Queen Elizabeth who was Protestant. She later died from a sickness called Influenza in 1558.