Fort Christanna Established by Spotswood

Lt. Governor Spotswood established Fort Christanna as a frontier buffer, where the Tutelo and Saponi tribes took up residence. Private traders lobbied against the government monopoly, leading to its break-up and privatization by 1718.

People involved

• Alexander Spotswood

When this happened

Fort Christanna Established by Spotswood occurred in term (1710–1722), during the colonial period period of American history. The event spanned from 1710 to 1718.

Where this happened

Fort Christanna Established by Spotswood took place in Virginia. Explore the full history of Virginia and primary source records from this era.

European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.

Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source: Wikipedia: 18th century.