Editing Geography of Bermuda (section)

=== The early colony ===
[[File:Somers Isles Map - John Speed 1676.jpg|thumb|A 1676 map of the Somers Isles (Bermuda) by John Speed, based on the map of surveyor Richard Norwood]]
[[File:Bermuda-divmap.png|thumb|Subdivisions of Bermuda]]
When settled, in the 17th century, first by the [[London Company|Virginia Company]], then by its spin-off, the [[Somers Isles Company]], Bermuda was divided into nine equally sized administrative areas. These comprised one public territory (known as ''St. George's'') and eight "tribes" (soon retitled as "parishes"). These "tribes" were subdivided into lots, separated by narrow ''tribe roads'' (supposedly created by clearing the path of a barrel rolled from the south to north shores). These roads served both to demarcate the boundaries of lots, and also as access routes to the shoreline, as the primary method of transport about Bermuda would remain by boat for the next three centuries. Each of the lots equated to shares in the company. Each of the tribes was named for a major "adventurer" (shareholder) of the company. Most were nobles, who used the [[toponymy|toponyms]] of their titles, hence most of the parishes bear place names from [[England]], [[Scotland]], or [[Wales]]: ''Devonshire'' (for [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire]], 1552–1626), ''[[Duke of Hamilton|Hamilton]]'' (for [[James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton]], 1589–1625), ''Pembroke'' (for [[William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke]], 1580–1630), ''Southampton'' (for [[Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton]], 1573–1624), and ''Warwick'' (for [[Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick]], 1587–1658). The others are ''Paget'' (for [[William Paget, 4th Baron Paget|William Paget, 4th Baron Paget de Beaudesert]], 1572–1629), ''Sandys'' (for [[Edwin Sandys (died 1629)|Sir Edwin Sandys]], 1561–1629), and Smith's (for [[Thomas Smythe|Sir Thomas Smith]], 1588–1625). Hamilton Parish was originally named ''Bedford'', after [[Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford]], who sold her shares to the Scottish nobleman, James Hamilton. Devonshire Parish had originally been named ''Cavendish Tribe''. The short-lived use of the word "tribes" for administrative regions appears to have been unique to the Bermuda example. The ninth parish was ''common'' (or ''King's'', or ''general'') land, not subdivided by tribe roads, and was named for the [[patron saint]] of England, [[Saint George]]. It includes the island and the town both of the same name.