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It was in this year that James ordered a
new flag to show the union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, or maybe Scotland and England as he would have said. The flag was made up of the red cross of
Saint George, patron saint of England, and the diagonal cross, called a saltire, of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. The flag was used on ships and stayed
as the official flag until 1707.
It was quite important for ships to fly this flag as, at this time,
England began to build settlements in the new world of America. One of the first settlements was called Jamestown, no guessing who these people were trying to
please, and at first the settlers got on with the native Americans who had been living there for centuries. But as with so many of these settlements during this
century things got worse and the natives, who didn’t have guns, were often completely destroyed. If they weren't killed by the guns then they probably caught
one of the diseases that the settlers brought and to which the natives had no immunity.
One of these first settlers, who was actually captured by the Native Americans was a man called John Smith, of whom you may have heard. He later
wrote that his life was saved by the daughter of the tribal leader. The daughter was called Pocahontas. Later Pocahontas would marry a settler, John Rolfe,
and sail to England. You may know the Disney version of the story and we may be able to visit the place where she died, never making it back to her home land.
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