Analysis: John Smith - The Generall Historie of Virginia

The Generall Historie of Virginia (1624) paragraphs 8-16

A brief history of exploration in the Americas before Smith:

35,000 years ago: würmglaciation (the Ice Age)
-- Low water levels cause underwater lands to become accessible.
-- Where the Aleutian Islands were there was a Bering Land Bridge that nomads used to cross from Asia to the Americas.

6th century AD: Christianization
-- Europeans knew what lay north, east, and south, so they assumed whatever lay to the west must be "paradise."
-- A monk named Brandon was the first to sail west, to find the "paradise." He claimed he found it.

6th-8th century AD: Scandinavian exploration
-- Scandinavian ships were superior technologically (e.g: they had compasses).
-- Scandinavians migrated south during winter to keep away from the worst of the weather. There, they raped and pillaged southern countries to survive.

13th century AD: Marco Polo's adventures
-- Marco Polo goes to China and brings back new ideologies and innovations, such as spices, soap, silk, and spaghetti.
-- He opened up the Silk Road, which brought forth banks as a convenient method of storing money.
-- These banks then caused art patronage, which bloomed into the Renaissance.
-- Then, progress in the Renaissance improved boating technology to make seafaring a new tradition.

1602: Bartholomew Gosnold's journeys
-- Gosnold intended to go to the New World and stay, creating a British trading outpost.
-- He found Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and the Elizabeth Islands.
-- He established a post at Cuttyhook.
-- Then, he sailed to Jamestown with Captain John Smith

Finally... John Smith
-- Smith was born a commoner and became a soldier of fortune (a mercenary). He was a prisoner of war and slave to a master who set him free. As soon as he was set free, he enlisted to be on Gosnold's Virginia voyage.
-- When he returned from Jamestown, he wrote an exciting memoir of his adventures.
-- This writing became popular among middle class office workers in particular, who led dull lives and enjoyed the thought of becoming an adventurer like Smith.
-- Smith was the first to introduce the idea of the American Dream. In his memoir, he writes: "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land... If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industries quickly grow rich."
-- It is important to note that everyone who came to North America came for the American Dream, except for slaves.