1607
Initial Start

 1606-The Virginia Company (joint-stock company) of
London (est. by James I) chartered the voyage
 Charter guaranteed colonists their rights as English
men (extended the English Bill of Rights) and became a
foundation of American liberties
 1607-the Va. Co., led by Captain John Smith, est. the
colony: 140 men + 4 boys set out in Dec. 1606, landed in
April 1607
 Named after James I
 After 7 months, only 32 people were left, Indians saved
the remaining
The Voyage

 Wealthy could pay their own way
 Poor-via indentured servitude-passage paid for with
agreement to work for 4-7 yrs, at the end of work,
free to own/work his/her own land
Settlement Area

 Approx. 60 miles from the mouth of the James River,
in the Chesapeake Bay Region (marshland)
 Advantages?
 Disadvantages?
Modern view
Major issues

 Diseases-site was malaria ridden (mosquitoes)chosen for military concerns
 Water was bad
 Looked for gold rather than planting-ignored
daily tasks to survive (Starving Time-Winter
1609-1610)
 Many were poor and squabbled over little things
 No skilled artisans/craftsman-”pretty boys”settlers were not used to the manual labor
required to est. a colony
 Native Americans-growing issue as time
progressed-almost destroyed the colony
Indian massacre of 1622-by
the Powhatan Confederacy

John Smith

 Dec. 1607-captured by the
Werowocomoco tribe while
exploring, released w/o harm
(Pocahontas)
 John Smith emerged as a leader1608-”no work, no eat”
 Relation with Pocahontas not
true (she was 11 when he met
her), daughter of Chief
Powhatan-never married
 Had to return to England due to
an injury

What helps to save Jamestown?

John Rolfe

Also had a relationship
with Pocahontas, she
later married him and
moved back to England
with him, where they had
one son
1612-introduced tobacco
(cash crop, staple crop)
Helped save Jamestown
(a struggling settlement
for approx. 10 yrs)tobacco
Tobacco

 European demand greatly grew
 Need for laborers to grow it increased as well
 Landowners preferred not to lose land to indentured
servants once they had paid off their debt
 Move toward slavery and the African slave trade
Government

 1619-House of Burgesses est.-the first elected
legislative body in the colonies
 Made laws for the colony and helped to plan its
growth and development
 First representative govt.

1619

 House of Burgesses est.
 Women arrive
 Transfer of Africans to the settlement for work as
indentured servants
In the EndForeshadowing

 1624-charter is revoked, VA. becomes a royal colony
 Va. Co. goes bankrupt
 By 1625, 1200 survived out of 8000 who came
 Indian problems-growing need for military attention
 James I distrusted legislative assembly and hated the
importance of tobacco

Significance

 First successful colony
 Est. Native American/British relationship that
would be seen for years to come
 Economy-tobacco
 First representative govt.
By the late 1800’s, only this 1639 ruin remained…in the 1990’s, the ruins of the original fort were
found underwater in the James River