plantations

plantations was the name employed for colonial settlements and the supervising body of the first British empire was known as the Board of Trade and Plantations. One of the earliest attempts was Sir Humphrey Gilbert's expedition to Newfoundland which failed and cost him his life (1583). His half-brother Sir Walter Ralegh sponsored the equally ill-fated attempt on Roanoke Island (Virginia), which began in 1585 and was deserted by 1589. American settlement resumed in James I's reign with Virginia (1607), Plymouth (1620), followed by Massachusetts Bay (1628), Maryland (1634), Connecticut (1635), Rhode Island (1636), and New Haven (1638). Gilbert and Ralegh were also much involved in the Tudor plantations of Ireland. After the initial expedition by Pembroke (Strongbow) in the 12th cent., the English Pale had led a precarious existence. A new series of plantations began in the reign of Mary and Philip (Queen's County and King's County), was continued by Elizabeth, and urged on by James I and Charles I, who encouraged English and Scottish settlement in Ulster. During the Commonwealth, many of Cromwell's soldiers were given vast estates in Ireland. Native Irish resistance to expropriation was a factor in the risings of 1598 and 1641 and in the support given to James II after 1688. The effect of the Tudor and Stuart plantations was to set the pattern of Irish politics for the next 400 years.

J. A. Cannon