John Smith's Chesapeake Voyages , 1607-1609

by Helen C. Rountree, Wayne E. Clark, Kent Mountford

Captain John Smith's voyages throughout the new world did not end--or, for that matter, begin--with the trip on which he was captured and brought to the great chief Powhatan. Partly in an effort to map the region, Smith covered countless leagues of the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributary rivers, and documented his experiences. In this ambitious and extensively illustrated book, scholars from multiple disciplines take the reader on Smith's exploratory voyages and reconstruct the Chesapeake environment and its people as Smith encountered them. Beginning with a description of the land and waterways as they were then, the book also provides a portrait of the native peoples who lived and worked on them--as well as the motives, and the means, the recently arrived English had at their disposal for learning about a world only they thought of as "new." Readers are then taken along on John Smith's two expeditions to map the bay, an account drawn largely from Smith's own journals and told by the coauthor, an avid sailor, with a complete reconstruction of the winds, tides, and local currents Smith would have faced. The authors then examine the region in more the major river valleys, the various parts of the Eastern Shore, and the head of the Bay. Each area is mapped and described, with added sections on how the Native Americans used the specific natural resources available, how English settlements spread, and what has happened to the native people since the English arrived. The book concludes with a discussion on the changes in the region's waters and its plant and animal life since John Smith's time--some of which reflect the natural shifts over time in this dynamic ecosystem, others the result of the increased human population and the demands that come with it. Published by the University of Virginia Press in association with Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, and the U.S. National Park Service, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and Maryland Historical Trust.

Genres: History

402 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2007

Reviews

[Lisa K]

Readable work that brings together the natural world of the Chesapeake, the people who had been living here for thousands of years, and the English who arrived in 1607. Draws on John Smith's early exploratory voyages which sought to map and also to discover exploitable resources. (Published in 2007)

P. 270 for the Wiccoocomico tribe: two towns, about 550 people. Remember: bodies of water are the center of your world, not the boundary. Also, names were regularly shortened by the Elnglish Wiccoocomico was at the head of the Little Wicomico River (Md.), and Cinquack on "the north side of the mouth of the Great Wicomico River. Neither village has yet been located archaeologically."

[Nick Willner]

This book should really be called “The Chesapeake at the Time of John Smith’s Voyages: Then and Now”, or something like that. If your interested in the American Indians of the Chesapeake/what the Chesapeake was like before European settlement this books great. It touches on what John Smith actually experienced during his two voyages a bit but really only gives a brief account of each “major” stop at the most prominent tributaries. It covers plant life, animal life, and the native population and culture/English interactions following the Jamestown settlement. That part was super interesting i would say equal to “Tobacco Coast” in relation to Chesapeake history. The latter half of the book reminds me more of a “Beautiful Swimmers” vibe. The dullest part was the breaking down of each major tributary as far as each ones plant life, animal life, geological features, prominent tribes and what not-unless it was a tributary i was very familiar with and specifically interested in it was pretty repetitive and boring.

This quote pretty well summarizes the point of the whole book, “John Smith’s Chesapeake voyages of 1607-9 give us a window at a point in time when the relationship of human beings to the bay and the impact of human activity on the bay environment were qualitatively and quantitatively different from today’s. The growth in human population for over 400 years has fundamentally changed the landscape, the culture, the environment, and many ecological relationships within that environment. Understanding that earlier period in time reinforces the magnitude of change that has occurred and of our roles in this destructive process. It reminds us of the richness of the bay landscape, then as now, a complex ecological system. It shows us what is different and what abides.”

And it ends on this

“History must supply what memory can no longer give us. Thus may our future depend on the past.”

If i could give this book a 3.5 i would have done that.