Poland 10 Złotych  2008 400th Anniversary of the first polish Settlements in Jamestown, Virginia

Nominal Value	Metal	Weight	Diameter	Mintage    Year
10 Zlotych	Ag with glass	14.14g	32 mm	126 0000   2008

According to the tradition of Polish settlement, the first Polish settlers in

America most probably included tar makers, who could produce charcoal,

coal and wood tar a well as potash (i.e. materials used for the construction

and operation of sailing ships), coopers making barrels to store food,  and glass-makers.

The latter were commissioned to build the first glass smelting furnace (producing bottles and jars), they made windowpanes for the wooden huts constructed in the settlement as well as glass beads exchanged with locals for maize and tobacco. Unlike many other settlers of the early history of Virginia, they could work physically and were willing to. As it appears, they endured the first and difficult period of settlement and also contributed to some stabilization in the English colony.

Throughout the 17th century, Polish artisans were still being hired

by the governing bodies of the Virginian company, as mentioned in the

existing historical sources. With their work they generated wealth both

for the colony and themselves, while at the same time they accustomed

English settlers to ethnic diversity in the new habitat.

Those first anonymous Polish settlers to Virginia pioneered the

emigration from the territory of Poland to North America, particularly 

large in the second half of the 19th century. Professor Izabella Rusinowa, doctorus Habilitatus

institute of History Warsaw university,

In October 1608 soon after the establishment of the first English colony at he eastern coast of North America, Polish settlers reached the new continent

as well. Thereby, they paved the way towards the multiethnic Virginia and

in a longer perspective towards the multiethnic United States of America,

a country established and populated by descendants of immigrants, including

Poles, who have searched for their „promised land” in America ever since.

In 1606 king James I Stuart chartered the Virginia Company of London

with the right to colonize and exploit the resources of the southern part

of North America. On this basis the English started the establishment of

their own colonies in the New World, discovered by Christopher Columbus

in 1492, thus engaging in competition with both Spain and Portugal. In

December 1606 a hundred British settlers on three ships ventured across

the Atlantic. Jamestown, the first permanent outpost named after the

King was established about 40 miles from the mouth of the James river

entering the Chesapeake Bay, on the land inhabited then by the Powhatan

confederation of the Algonquian tribes. The colony was named Virginia in

honour of Elisabeth I Tudor- called the Virgin Queen. Settlers from England

hoped to find gold, trade with Indians and grow rich fast as shareholders.

It soon became apparent that really few of them could work physically to

build houses, cut trees, hunt or work the farm. Since it turned out that there

was neither gold nor silver to be found, land proved to be the only natural

resource of the area. Diseases, hostilities and rivalry for leader’s position

among settlers further aggravated the situation in the colony.

The credit for Virginia’s survival goes first of all to captain

John Smith, the leader of the colonists, a man of energy and decisive action, who

disciplined the settlers and made them work hard. In his letters to the

Virginia Company of London he demanded to fetch him „thirty carpenters,

farmers, gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, bricklayers and lumberjacks

rather than thousands of such that we have at present”. He actively

engaged in exploring the area, drawing sketches, collaborating with the

local native Americans and providing the settlers with food supplies.

At that time Jamestown received fortification.

The next party, which landed in Jamestown in 1608, included about

70 new persons: i.a. eight people from Prussia and Poland (literally „eight

Dutch men and Poland” since in the 17th century English the word ‘Dutchman’

stood both for Dutchmen and Prussians) – as respectfully reported by John

Smith, the leader of settlers, in his journey „The True Travels, Adventures

and Observations ...”, published in 1629. Unnamed settlers coming from

the territory under the Polish rule were recorded as artisans. The governing

board of the company hired them in order to ensure the continuity of the

outpost surrounded by forests and arable land. Although no details of the

employment contract between artisans and the London-based company are

known, sumptuous financial benefits were presumably guaranteed.

Had it been otherwise, even though curious to see the New World, the workmen

would not have set across the ocean, especially given that artisans of this

sort were in high demand in England at that time.

source: nbp.pl / own