What is a Historic Source

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Episode Summary

In this episode, we investigate historic sources and the history of Jamestown with James Horn, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.

Headshot of James Horn

During our exploration, Jim reveals why the Virginia Company established Jamestown and the interactions its early settlers had with Native Americans; The world Pocahontas lived in; And, what historical sources are and how historians determine the credibility, or authenticity, of the information they contain.

Map of Virginia ca 1606
Map of Virginia, ca. 1606

What You’ll Discover

  • Spanish control of the Atlantic World during the sixteenth century
  • Why England wanted a colony in North America
  • Why the English settled in the Chesapeake region
  • The first English settlers
  • James Fort and its appearance
  • Native American peoples who lived around Jamestown
  • Native American-English interactions
  • Whether the settlement almost failed
  • Historic sources and what they tell us about Jamestown and the past
  • How historians determine the credibility of historical sources
  • How the work of archaeologists informs the work of historians
  • How the work of historians informs the work of archaeologists
  • Pocahontas
  • What archaeological sources tell us about the world Pocahontas lived in
  • How archaeological sources compliment and challenge written historical sources
  • Oral traditions as historical sources
  • Historic Jamestown Archaearium
  • Religion in Jamestown

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