Editing History of Bermuda (section)

=== Somers Isles Company (1615–1684) ===
{{main article|Somers Isles Company}}
[[File:John_Smith_1624_map_of_Bermuda_with_Forts_01.jpg|right|thumb|Captain John Smith's 1624 map of the Somers Isles (Bermuda), showing [[St. George's, Bermuda|St. George's Town]] and related fortifications, including the [[Castle Islands Fortifications, Bermuda|Castle Islands Fortifications]].]]
[[File:The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles by Captain John Smith.jpg|right|thumb|[[John Smith of Jamestown|John Smith]] wrote one of the first [[The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles|Histories of Bermuda]] (in concert with [[Virginia]] and [[New England]]).]]

In 1615, the colony was passed to a new company, the [[Somers Isles Company]], named after the admiral who saved his passengers from the ''Sea Venture''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bearboat.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/tvlbt-bda-bd-11feb09_sailingtravel1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bearboat.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/tvlbt-bda-bd-11feb09_sailingtravel1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Bermuda's 400th Birthday|publisher=Bearboa.files.wordpress.com|date=11 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_0002ae.htm|title=Somers Garden|publisher=Bermuda, Bermuda-attractions.com}}</ref> Many Virginian place names refer to the archipelago, such as Bermuda City, and [[Bermuda Hundred, Virginia|Bermuda Hundred]]. The first British colonial currency was struck in Bermuda.<ref name=Wilkinson/>{{rp|79}}<ref name=Jarvis>{{cite book|last1=Jarvis|first1=Michael|title=In the Eye of All Trade|date=2010|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|isbn=9780807872840|page=16}}</ref>

Bermuda was divided by [[Richard Norwood]] into eight equally sized administrative areas west of St. George's called "tribes" (today known as "parishes"). These "tribes" were areas of land partitioned off to the principal "Adventurers" (investors) of the company, from east to west – Bedford, Smiths, Cavendish, Paget, Mansell, Warwick, and Sandys.<ref name=Wilkinson/>{{rp|69}}

The company sent 600 settlers in nine ships between 1612 and 1615. Governor Moore dug a well in St. George, then built fortifications including Paget and Smith's batteries at the entrance of the harbour, King's and Charles' at the entrance to Castle Harbour, Pembroke Fort on Cooper's Island, and Gates' Fort, St. Katherine's Fort and Warwick Castle to defend St. George. In 1614, the first English-grown tobacco was exported, the same tobacco variety John Rolfe started to grow in Virginia. The exporting of [[ambergris]] was especially lucrative. 
====Slavery in Bermuda====
In August 1616, plantain, sugarcane, fig, and pineapple plants were imported along with the first Indian and Negro, the first English colony to use enslaved Africans. By 1619, Bermuda had between fifty and a hundred black enslaved persons.  These were a mixture of native [[indigenous people of Africa|Africans]] who were trafficked to the [[Americas]] via the [[Atlantic slave trade|African slave trade]] and [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] who were enslaved from the [[Thirteen Colonies]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica - Bermuda">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bermuda |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Bermuda |access-date=23 August 2019 |edition=online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528082525/https://www.britannica.com/place/Bermuda |archive-date=28 May 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The first African slaves arrived in Bermuda in 1617, not from Africa but from the West Indies. Bermuda Governor Tucker sent a ship to the West Indies to find black slaves to dive for pearls in Bermuda. More black slaves were later trafficked to the island in large numbers, originating from America and the Caribbean.<ref name="slavery">{{cite web |title=History and Culture |url=https://bdalondonoffice.co.uk/discover-bermuda/history-and-culture/#:~:text=The%20first%20slaves%20were%20brought,Colony%20to%20import%20Black%20people. |website=bdalondonoffice.co.uk |publisher=Government of Bermuda |access-date=4 October 2024}}</ref>

As the black population grew, so did the fear of insurrection among the white settlers. In 1623, a law to restrain the insolence of the Negroes was passed in Bermuda. It forbade blacks to buy or sell, barter or exchange tobacco or any other produce for goods without the consent of their master. Unrest amongst the slaves predictably erupted several times over the next decades.  Major rebellions occurred in 1656, 1661, 1673, 1682, 1730 and 1761. In 1761 a conspiracy was discovered that involved the majority of the blacks on the island. Six slaves were executed and all black celebrations were prohibited.<ref>{{cite web |title=Slavery in Bermuda |url=https://www.sankofabermuda.com/time-line |website=sankabermuda |publisher=Sankofa Bermuda |access-date=4 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Slavery in Bermuda |url=https://historiclandlosscoi.bm/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/AL39-Bhattacharya-2017.pdf |website=www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda2 |publisher=Bermuda Attractions |access-date=4 October 2024}}</ref>

====Agricultural diversification====
Though Bermuda exported more tobacco than Virginia until 1625, Bermuda diversified its agriculture to include corn, potatoes, fruit trees, poultry and livestock. This was especially true when prices collapsed in 1630, and tobacco took its toll on soil fertility, though the company continued to use tobacco as a medium of exchange and resist a diversified economy. Tobacco exports peaked in 1684, the last year of company control.<ref name=Wilkinson/>{{rp|60–61}}<ref name=Jarvis/>{{rp|17–18,26–29,38–39,84}}

English immigration essentially ceased by the 1620s when all available land was occupied. Because of its limited land area, Bermuda relied on emigration, especially to the developing English colonies in the Bahamas, the Carolinas, New York and the Caribbean. Between 1620 and 1640, 1200 emigrated, while the population reached 4000 in 1648. Between 1679 and 1690, 2000 emigrated, while the population reached 6248 in 1691.<ref name=Jarvis/>{{rp|29,45–47,86,101,324,372}}

The archipelago's limited land area and resources led to the creation of what may be the earliest conservation laws of the [[New World]]. In 1616 and 1620, acts were passed banning the hunting of certain birds and young tortoises.<ref>Meggs, Martin. "Developing a Small Island GIS: the Bermuda Experience". Bermuda Department of Planning.</ref>