Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America

by Giles Milton

Book Overview

A riveting historical mystery of Colonial America by the author ofNathaniel's Nutmeg In April, 1586, Queen Elizabeth I acquired a new and exotic title. A tribe of Native Americans, "savages," had made her their weroanza-a word that meant "big chief." The news was received with great joy, both by the Queen and by her favorite, Sir Walter Ralegh. His first American expedition had brought back a captive, Manteo, whose tattoed face and otter-skin cloak...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374265011
• ISBN13: 9780374265014
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The story of the early English attempts to establish colonies in America

Big Chief Elizabeth is an interesting tale of the various attempts by English adventurers to establish colonies in America. Most of the attempts failed, mainly due to greed, laziness, arrogance and naivety, and faded away into obscurity. Some colonies, particularly the Ralegh colony established on Roanoke Island, entered into notoriety as the colonists, after their Governor sailed back to England, disappeared without a trace (bar a single carving on a tree). The colonisation attempts in the Chesapeake Bay and Roanoke Island forms the centrepiece of Milton's book, but he sets the stage by introducing the personalities and rogues that led the Elizabethan efforts to establish a wealthy colony in America. The key rogue was Sir Walter Ralegh, sometime privateer and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. Ralegh firmly believed the future lay in the distant shores of North America. But others played key roles in this saga: Sir Humpfrey Gilbert, Sir Richard Grenville, Manteo, the native American who told the English what they wanted hear, and of course the daughter of one of the Indian chiefs, Pocahantas, who married John Rolfe, but not before she entered popular history by saving the life of Captain John Smith. There was a false expectation of fame and riches to be found in America, and many impoverished nobles seized the opportunity to make their fortune. However, their efforts came to naught, not least due to the tendency of the aforementioned nobles to shy away from the backbreaking work of establishing the infrastructure required for a successful colony, such as building houses and tending to food crops. This work was left to the common folk, but many of these lacked the necessary expertise to eke out a life from the soil, having been recruited from the cities. Milton discusses the trials and tribulations of these early settlers, and the mistakes they and their leaders made. One of the biggest blunders, and one that the English took a long time to learn, was the importance of fostering good relations with the natives. This was critical, as due to the settler's failure to successfully exploit the available food resources, there was a great reliance on trading with the natives for food. Nonetheless, from these pioneering efforts in the Chesapeake, the Jamestown colony was born, the first permanent settlement in America. This is the story of the settlers, pioneers and adventurers that formed the core of the Elizabethan colonisation efforts. Milton writes in an easy and generally non-academic manner, making the material much more accessible. There are also numerous illustrations, mainly of the key characters in this saga. I find it annoying that some authors of exploratory type works such as this book do not include maps for the reader's reference. Doing so makes it much easier to get a sense of the location and travels of the protagonists. However, Milton has avoided this mistake by including a couple of maps of the key areas discussed. Over

Swashbuckling Adventure and an Absorbing Story

"Big Chief Elizabeth" grabbed me from the first page and didn't loosen its grip until the very end. Its detailed accounts of English piracy and maritime voyages were entertaining in themselves, even without the larger, historical story. And as someone who has read a lot about Queen Elizabeth I, it was interesting to see her court from the American Colony point of view.What I found most interesting, though, was the history itself and how it differed from what many of us were taught in school. For example, many of those noble, long-suffering colonists we learned about were actually lazy, greedy, high-born "gentlemen" who literally starved to death because they had no practical skills. And the heroic Sir Walter Raleigh, while smart and visionary and adventurous, was also a flamboyantly dressed fop who flirted his way to the inner royal circle. And the story of Pocahontas is certainly different from the Disney version!In the end I was inspired to read more about this period of history, and certainly more by this author. A great read ... highly recommended!

America's Clumsy Birth

When you hear the word "Roanoke," you generally think, "Oh, yeah, the lost colony," and don't give it another thought. It was just another of the dozens of colonies which were already in progress in America at the time, and the one which unfortunately didn't work out. This is what I always thought anyway, but no, it turns out to have been quite a bit more than that. You see, Roanoke was the first English colony in America. The first. After several remarkably incompetent attempts to settle North America in the 16th century, (one of which was notable for the explorer's failure to even agree upon a route to it until they were at sea), a colony was finally established there in the spring of 1587. (Interestingly, this was almost a full 100 years after Colombus' discovery.) The colonists were left to fend for themselves in the summer of 1587, with a promise that a boat would be back within a year. But it wasn't until 1591 that a return ship finally made it, and by then all of the English colonists had vanished. The only trace of themselves left behind was the word "Croatoan," carved into a tree. This mystery endures today, although the author does a pretty good job of clearing it up. The Roanoke story is the centerpiece of this book, which is a concise and detailed history of the failed attempts and then ultimate success of the English to colonize North America. It is a strange and utterly fascinating story. We learn of Sir Walter Ralegh (author's spelling), who was the dreamer of the project, but who was only able to finance it with the help of his benefactor, Queen Elizabeth. Indeed, his success and the success of his venture depended entirely on her, and when he fell out of favor with her in 1592, he not only lost his backing, he was thrown in jail! (She eventually let him go.)Her successor, King James, for whom Jamestown was named, initially had no interest in the so-called Virginia project at all, (named for the "Virgin Queen"), and even less in Ralegh, who he imprisoned again, and this time for 16 years. (These actions kind of give you the idea why the concept of a "rule of law" was so important to our forefathers!)But in fits and starts the expeditions continued until finally the first successful colony was founded in Jamestown. The voyages are covered in great detail: the leaky, waterlogged boats, Atlantic storms, horrible food, etc. And when they ended, the colonists found themselves in a wilderness, populated only by wild animals, and unpredictable, dangerous Indians. The hardships endured by these people--most of whom did not survive--are almost unimaginable, with starvation, disease, and bloodthirsty, savage attacks almost guaranteed. (The English could be very cruel too; the author's account is very balanced.)We get to know the personalities involved: John Smith, the flamboyant captain; John White, the incompetent painter/governor; Lord De La Warr, the ruthless protector; Manteo, the first Anglicized Indian;

history at its exciting and informative best

This is a book for all of us for whom names like Roanoke, Jamestown, Francis Drake, Sir Walter Ralegh, Powhatan, Pocohontas, and John Smith are merely dim memories from grade school Colonial History studies. Giles Milton has taken a marvelously colorful cast of characters and a set of intrinsically dramatic events and made of them a wonderfully readable, genuinely exciting history of the earliest English efforts to colonize North America.An accretion of myth has grown up around colonization, which at least implies that Europeans stumbled upon bountiful lands and picked them clean at the expense of helpless native populations. Milton's book masterfully recaptures a sense of how enormous were the risks, human and financial, which accompanied the process. The human risk was taken by the colonists and administrators who set sail for a New World which Milton amply demonstrates they knew practically nothing about. The book charts the stuttering attempts to establish a secure foothold on the Atlantic Coast, through episodes of shipwreck, starvation, murder, and war; ending with the uneasy truce reached between colonists and natives when John Rolfe fell in love with and married Pocohontas, legendary daughter of the warrior chieftain Powhatan. Lest anyone believe that the English had an easy time of all this, consider the moment when just fifteen men were left behind to hold the fort at Roanoke, alone amidst an unexplored and untamed wilderness. These men and a subsequent group of colonists famously disappeared--the lost colony of Roanoke--though Milton offers an intriguing theory of their fate in an Epilogue.The expense of settling Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay was largely borne by Ralegh, a pampered favorite of Queen Elizabeth. He comes across as the one player who had a vision of what the American colonies might become and a stubborn determination to establish them. In Milton's portrayal, he is the quintessential Renaissance man--courtier, poet, scientist, diplomat, soldier, etc.--and the hero of the tale. Ralegh made every effort in these early years to treat the natives fairly, even making one of them, Manteo, who had been brought back to England and educated, the Lord of Roanoke. Ultimately his peaceful policy was abandoned, but thanks to the rising demand for the tobacco which his minions had brought back with them his vision of a permanent colony became a reality, though he tragically ended up on the chopping block, beheaded by James I on a dubious accusation of treason.Milton relies heavily on first hand accounts, many presented with their original chaotic spelling, and these take some getting used to, but they do lend the tale a greater immediacy than it might otherwise have had. With stories of piracy, war at sea and on land, cowardice and bravery, blind luck and vicious backstabbing, there's always plenty of action and the whole thing ends with an improbable love story. Never mind what you think you r

Excellent Adventure

Milton has followed up Nathaniel's Nutmeg with another tale of English exploration with all its hardships and heroics, vanity and violence, successes and stupidity. Big Chief Elizabeth charts England's efforts to plant a colony. It starts with the poorly planned ventures of English gentlemen (who on one voyage waited until they were several days out to sea before deciding that they might want to plan their course), but the bulk of the book is devoted to Sir Walter Ralegh's numerous expeditions. Despite it's title, the book really isn't about Elizabeth, who shows up to graciously lend her name to things or to bestow Ralegh with a new title and money to finance his adventures. Strange deatails abound, such as the fact that tobacco was recommended as a cure for numerous diseases--especially for pregnant women and children!Milton describes numerous colorful characters, such as Ralegh, who spent a small fortune on his clothes, James Harriot, who deciphered the Indians' language by creating an entirely new alphabet, and Ralph Lane, a colonial governor who loved nothing more than harsh conditions and privation. A fine read.