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Almost four hundred years ago a group of families from England built the first permanent settlement on the shores of the New World. This town Jamestown, Virginia, named after James I, the King of England. Jamestown was not the first English colony in Virginia, but it had been the first one to be successful. Twenty years earlier, a colony had been started about one hundred miles south of Jamestown, on Roanoke Island that proved to be unsuccessful.

On March 25, 1584, Walter Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a patent to “discover, search, find out, and view” any lands “not actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people.” The patent was approved to “go or travel thither to inhabited or remained, there to build and fortified” for a period of six years.

Within a month Walter Raleigh had dispatched a fleet of two ships commanded by Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They sailed from London on April 27th through the West Indies and sighted land off our coast on the 4th of July 1584. Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe entered Pamlico Sound at Ocracoke Inlet and a few days later Barlowe and eight of his men reached Roanoke Island. From early July until mid September a small band of men explored the region as best they could, traded with the Indians, and observed such things as the plants, the soil, the animals, and recorded everything that they could possibly learn about Indians and their way of life.

The following spring, on April 9, 1585, the first English colony for the New World set sail from Plymouth, in the southwest of England not far from the homes of Raleigh, Grenville, and Drake. This time a well-supplied fleet of seven ships sailed under the command of Richard Grenville. Ralph Lane was lieutenant governor and Philip Amadas was the Admiral of the country.

On June 23 the colony arrived off Cape Fear and a few days later entered Pamlico Sound. For a whole year the colony went on exploratory voyages on the mainland, but the base was located on Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island. One of Lane’s parties passed through the wilderness for about 130 miles, following the Roanoke River to as far as the present Northampton County.

In late July and early August 1585, Grenville returned to Plymouth. Ralph Lane and his men were expecting to receive supplies and possibly reinforcements in early spring. Their expectations of early relief were not met and on June 1, 1586, Sir Francis Drake stopped by Roanoke after an expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies. His intentions were to pay a visit, but, seeing Lane’s situation, he agreed to leave supplies and a ship for use in further explorations. Lane was persuaded to accept this offer and continue to wait for more substantial relief from home. A severe storm, however, drove some of Drake’s ships to sea and the colony decided not to risk their lives further. They accepted the opportunity to return home with Drake.

Within a month after the colony’s departure the expected relief arrived in the form of a fleet of three ships commanded by Grenville. Failing to find the colony, Grenville left fifteen or eighteen men “furnished plentifully with all manner of provisions for two years” and returned home. The fate of Roanoke Island is unknown.

In 1606, James I of England wanted to start a colony in North America. With the help of other men, he created a joint-stock company. This company was the Virginia Company of London. Acting as the president of the company, James I gave the men three orders. He wanted them to find gold, find a route to the South Seas, and find the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

To encourage people to travel with the Virginia Company of London, they began to advertise. The Virginia Company of London tried to tell people about the wealth that they could find in North America.

Initially, the Virginia Company intended emigrants to the colony to sign contracts binding them to serve seven years in return for transportation, food, and clothing. This proved unworkable, and the service contracts were soon transferred to private individuals who were willing to reimburse the Company the costs of transportation. This was the forerunner to the institution of indentured servitude that quickly became the earliest solution to the labor problem. Poor immigrants to the colony agreed to bind themselves for a set term, usually four years, in return for their passage across the Atlantic, food, clothing, and usually some form of “freedom dues” at the end of their term of servitude.

In December of 1606, three ships left England to sail to North America. Over 150 men and boys started the journey in England. Admiral Christopher Newport was in charge of the three ships the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and the Discovery. In May of 1607, 101 men and 4 boys landed on an island in North America. They built their colony on the edge of a river. They named this river, the James River, after the King of England. The Native Americans called this river the Powhatan’s River.

The location of Jamestown was picked because the colonists felt that it was easy to defend. The island was far up the James River; they felt that it would be out of sight from the Spanish. I was difficult for outsides to reach Jamestown because the Island was protected on three sides by the river and marshes. The location was a swamp and swamps are not healthy locations. Getting fresh water is a major problem in a swamp. Swamps also attract mosquitoes that often carry many types of diseases. This location that John Smith said was “heaven” actually was a terrible place for a colony.

At first, the climate was great and the Native Americans were friendly. Then, summer came. Blistering heat, swarms of insects, unhealthy water, starvation, and Native American attacks caused the colonists of the Virginia Company to begin to fail.

Most of the colonists on the island were “gentlemen”. Gentlemen were men who did not work or labor in England. They were rich men who always had others do their work. These men were not used to having to work hard and did not know how to farm or hunt.

John Smith, a leader of the colony of Jamestown, was injured in a gunpowder explosion in 1609. He was shipped back to England for medical attention. While he was gone, a cold winter hit. This winter was so bad that they called it the “Starving Time”, the colonists of Jamestown had to eat whatever was available mice, rats, cats, and dogs.

When John Smith returned on May 24, 1610, he came upon 60 colonists. The rest of the colonists had died during the winter. The “Starving Time” had killed nearly 90% of the colony.

The colonists decided that this was the end of Jamestown. They packed what they could on the ships, and headed down the river. Jamestown was abandoned.

The ships had traveled 10 miles down the James River when they met a boat. This boat was filled with supplies for Jamestown. The colonists headed back to Jamestown.

The colony of Jamestown was not making any money. They had not found any gold to make money for the Virginia Company of London. The colonists needed to find something that would make them money.

In 1612, John Rolfe began growing tobacco. Two years later, tobacco from North America was introduced to the people of England. The first shipment of Virginia tobacco was sold in London during the year of 1612. Although King James I did not like tobacco, this product began to make the Virginia Company of London lots of money.

During this time, Pocahontas was captured and held captive by the colonists. Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan. While the colonists kept Pocahontas, she was taught their religion. Pocahontas changed her name to “Rebecca” in an attempt to become more like the white colonists. She married John Rolfe in April of 1614. This marriage brought peace between the colonists and the Native Americans.

By 1619, Jamestown had exported 750 tons of tobacco. Tobacco was the American colonies’ chief export. Jamestown was becoming a wealthy town. During this time, Jamestown imported two different products that allowed them to continue to be successful. They brought women and slaves into their colonies. The women allowed the colonists to begin families in the new world. African slaves represented a long-term investment that gave the largest landowners with the most capital and the best credit the advantage in the labor market. The increased importation of Africans into Virginia was thus a crucial factor in the emergence by the early eighteenth century of a relatively stable political and economic structure in which the largest landowners, increasingly relying on slave labor, came to monopolize economic, political, and social leadership of the colony. The formerly white servant population faced fewer restrictions on their freedom or access to land once their terms were up and agreed in the society. The slaves from Africa allowed the colony of Jamestown to produce more tobacco and make more money.

Tobacco was one of the main factors that allowed Jamestown to succeed and become the first permanent English colony in North America.

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