Right now in History we are learning about Jamestown Virginia, but if I remember correctly in elementary school we were taught that Plymouth was the first English colony in America. What is the difference between Plymouth and Jamestown settlements?
The first difference is that Plymouth was settled in 1620 when Jamestown was settled in 1607. So clearly we can see that Jamestown was the first English settlement in America but that doesn't mean that they were the luckiest people. They suffered from drought, war, and starvation. While we know that the settlers in Plymouth were the first people to have a Thanksgiving.
Maybe that's why we were taught that Plymouth was the first English settlement, they had a some what "happy ending" we weren't told how they died or how they were killed. While even through Jamestown was the first English settlement they had horrible stories of dying, being killed, and even eating each other. There really was nothing pleasant that happened in Jamestown. You can't teach little 3rd graders disturbing things!
Jamestown colonist were the first people to settle in America, settling in 1607 but by 1610 most of the population was wiped out by either disease, or were killed by the Native Americans.
History has been confused and thrown around from elementary school to high school. Now that I'm in high school the events in history are finally being put in order and the truth is coming out about the confusing yet brutal American history.
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I think this is a very interesting blog and it is an interesting observation that what we learned in elementary school is turning out to be false. I agree with you that I think the reason they taught us that Plymouth was the first settlement is because they wanted it to seem happy. They didn't think elementary school students could handle learning about all of the hardships and disturbing deaths that occurred while trying to colonize in America. And since our holiday of Thanksgiving came from the pilgrims in Plymouth and Thanksgiving is a happy memory for young children, they decided to teach them about Plymouth instead of Jamestown. But now that we are in high school, we actually know the truth and we are seeing in our Jamestown unit right now just how hard it really was to start a colony.
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