True Founding of America

16 Feb 2021 74 mins

Jamestown - 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here', The Tempest, William Shakespeare

1607, and in the wilderness of Virginia, a tiny, pallisaded fort containing some one hundred English settlers clings on grimly and awaits salvation and resupply. Beset by internal feuds and attacks by the local Indians, the outpost continues to endure. Theirs is a tale of stoicism and woe. A relentless period of endurance and fear.

Conditions become so terrible that some are driven to eat their own compatriots and the worst offenders are burnt at the stake by authorities desperate to maintain control. Outside, the Indians prowl with their turkey spur arrowheads and bone spears. Should the settlers fall into their hands, they face being jointed and flayed alive with sharpened mussels shells. This is the story of the first European colony in North America.

So it Goes

Tom Assheton & James Jackson

Readings by David Hartley:

'Cradle' by James Jackson