(WUSA) -- 400 years ago the Virginia colony laid the groundwork for what would become one of the important settlements of the new world. American Evolution, Virginia's 2019 Commemoration will recognize four pivotal events in the establishment of the Virginia colony at Jamestown.
- The first representative legislative assembly in the New World
- The arrival of the first recorded Africans to English North America
- The recruitment of English women in significant numbers
- The first official English Thanksgiving in North America
As part of the Virginia's 2019 Commemorative events, Colonial National Historical Park and Jamestown Rediscovery engaging in archeologic expeditions around the iconic settlement. One of the locations include the "Angela" site, which is the only known accessible site that is linked to some of the first Africans to arrive in English North America. "Angela" is the name of the African who is documented.
David Givens is a Senior Staff Archeologist with Jamestown Rediscovery who is working on the excavation of the "Angela" site, "We've got first quarter of the 17th century Ottoman Empire pipe."
"It may have belong to John Martin who arrived in 1618, he's our nation's first Iranian American," adds Givens.
It is speculated that Martin was on the pirate ship that traveled through Africa and the Caribbean, capturing Angela and bringing her to the Virginia colony.
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Kym Hall, Superintendent of the Colonial National Historical Park says the archeological finds tell us a lot more about the New World civilization, "So you've got both the women's history, as well as the first African history."
Angela is one of the first Africans to arrive in the Virginia colony after being enslaved and brought over from Angola. Hall says, "So we're trying to find out more about her through the exploration that Dave and his crew are doing. We don't know alot about her other than she arrived in 1619, and she was documented in the first census in 1625."
This is considered unique as most enslaved Africans in America did not have a recorded history.
"And so it gave us a place to be able to focus. We know that she is attached to the William Pierce household, we know what his life is like and Dave is working on excavating that site now," adds Hall.
You can check out more information about Jamestown and the news surrounding Virginia's 2019 Commemoration at www.americanevolution2019.com.
