Christopher Newport Biography

Former Pirate Who Chose the Location of Jamestown

Christopher Newport was a former pirate who sailed with Sir Francis Drake on Drake's famous raid on Cadiz, Spain. He is best known as the Captain of the Susan Constant, one of three boats that first sailed to Jamestown in 1607. It is thought that he chose the site of the Jamestown colony.

The Lifeline of Jamestown

During the initial settlement period at Jamestown, Newport became the colony's "lifeline," making several trips back and forth between Jamestown and England delivering vital supplies and additional settlers to the beleaguered colony. It was Christopher Newport who brought an injured John Smith back to Europe in 1609. Later that year, a new ship under his command, the "Sea Voyage," ran aground on Bermuda during a hurricane. Newport and 150 settlers remained stuck on the island for more than a year before making it once again to Jamestown. On his last voyage to Jamestown in 1610, Newport brought John Rolfe. Rolfe would engineer a new kind of tobacco that would become the key to the colony's eventual prosperity.

Christopher Newport Articles and Activities

• Tobacco in the Southern Colonies
• Tobacco in the Southern Colonies Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions (Printable)
• Tobacco in the Southern Colonies Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)
• Jamestown Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions PART 1 (Printable)
• Jamestown Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions PART 2 (Printable)
• Jamestown Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions PART 3 (Printable)
• Jamestown Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions PART 1 (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)
• Jamestown Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions PART 2 (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)
• Jamestown Colony - Correct me Passage (Interactive). Fix the incorrect facts in the Jamestown paragraph. The program gives immediate feedback.
• Jamestown Colony - Sentence Surgeons (Interactive). Fix the incorrect grammar and spelling in the Jamestown sentences. The program gives immediate feedback.
• Virginia State Quarter Coloring Sheet - Featuring the 400th Anniversary of the Jamestown Colony

13 Colonies People and Founders

• John Smith
• John Rolfe
• Pocahontas
• Christopher Newport
• House of Burgesses
• Cotton Mather
• Roger Williams
• Thomas Hooker
• William Penn
• Lord Baltimore
• Lords Proprietors
• James Oglethorpe