Good morning, #Bermuda: today is #Tuesday, November 25. On this date in 1612, Bermuda’s first corporate restructuring occurred: control of the colony was shifted from the Virginia Company to a new entity in London, composed of the same businessmen but in charge of Bermuda alone. The Virginia Company, comprising a Plymouth and a London branch, commissioned many fanciful images of life in the New World in the hope of attracting colonists and investors to back the settling of North America. Pictured here is a 1616 engraving of the Virginia Indian Pocahontas, who was depicted in the manner of European gentry, as well as a romantic scene of settlers enjoying a life of plenty across the Atlantic. The third picture is closer to actual early life in Bermuda. The Island was settled after the Virginia Company sent its Third Supply Convoy, led by the Sea Venture, to the New World in 1609. A hurricane separated the flagship from the convoy, and the ship ended up in Bermuda instead. The Virginia Company decided to settle three years later, and originally planned to name the Island “Virginiola”. The company was dissolved 390 years ago, after the so-called Jamestown Massacre, in which the indigenous Powhatan Indians launched a series of attacks on the now unwelcome Virginia settlers.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 12:04:56 +0000
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