File:Houghton_STC_22790_-_Generall_Historie_of_Virginia,_New_England,_and_the_Summer_Isles,_John_Smith.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
John Smith
Sign in to saveAlso known as Captain John Smith
English soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
OverviewAI-generated
John Smith was a male explorer, military personnel, writer, and autobiographer from the Kingdom of England. Born in Willoughby and baptized on 1580-01-06, he served as a soldier. He wrote in the English language, which was also his native tongue. Smith died in London on 1631-06-21.
His notable works include The true travels, adventures and observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, in Europe, Asia, Africke, and America, A description of New England, Ancient map and views of Bermuda, Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience, and Harper's statistical gazetteer of the world. He is described by sources such as The Nuttall Encyclopædia and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.
Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1580
- Died
- 1631
- Works
- 77
Top works
- Advertisements for the unexperienced planters of New-England, or any where, or, the Pathway to experience to erect a plantation ...
- Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience
- The true travels, adventures and observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, in Europe, Asia, Africke, and America
- Ancient map and views of Bermuda
- Harper's statistical gazetteer of the world
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- c. 1579 , Willoughby , Lincolnshire , Kingdom of England
- Died
- 21 June 1631 (aged 51), London , Kingdom of England
- Resting place
- St Sepulchre-without-Newgate , London
- Known for
- Helping to establish and govern the Jamestown colony , Exploration of Chesapeake Bay , Exploration and naming of New England , English literature
- Notable work
- A Description of New England , Generall Historie of Virginia
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- John
- Family name
- Smith
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of England
- Place of birth
- Willoughby
- Place of death
- London
- Occupation
- autobiographer
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- English language
- Military rank
- soldier
- Image
- Captain John Smith gravure new.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Captain John Smith
- date of death
- 1631-06-21
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- date of baptism
- 1580-01-06
- date of birth
- 1580-01-06
- writing language
- English language
- different from
- John Smith
- Commons Creator page
- John Smith (1580-1631)
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
5 objects attributed to John Smith, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
John Smith (c. 1579 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, admiral of New England, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely. Following his return to England from a life as a soldier of fortune and as a slave, he played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, in the early 17th century. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony between September 1608 and August 1609, and he led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, during which he became the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area. Later, he explored and mapped the coast of New England.
Jamestown was established on May 14, 1607. Smith trained the first settlers to work at farming and fishing, thus saving the colony from early devastation. He publicly stated, "He that will not work, shall not eat", alluding to 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Harsh weather, a lack of food and water, the surrounding swampy wilderness, and attacks from Native Americans almost destroyed the colony. With Smith's leadership, however, Jamestown survived and eventually flourished. Smith was forced to return to England after being injured by an accidental explosion of gunpowder in a canoe.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “John Smith” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.