Essay about Jamestown - The First English Colony

Jamestown, Virginia was the primary permanent English settlement in the New World and was founded by Captain John Smith. Tobacco was the main cash crop, and John Smith had to be strict to make sure people worked hard enough to get their food. It was a joint stock company where colonists had rights like Englishmen did.

The settlement of Jamestown was controlled by the London Company. The London Company, for the most part, had full control of the

They made jamestown one of the first early English settlement in North America in 1607.

Jamestown was founded in 1607, but the charter was signed by King James in 1606. The Virginia Company, a joint stock company, funded the new venture to start the settlement of Jamestown. The Virginia Company wanted to find gold on the northern part of Florida, but there was none. In the years between 1608 and 1610, Jamestown was trading with Indians. John Smith explored and restored order in Jamestown, but in 1609 when he left to return to England more than 100 settlers died that winter. In the spring of 1610, just as the surviving settlers were going to abandon Jamestown, De La Warr comes with 150 more settlers and supplies. He takes the sick back to England, but leaves his second in

In 1607, English settlers came to America to create a colony and make money. English investors helped pay for settling the James River colony. Although, 70 colonists died in the first six months. The colony known as Jamestown was settled along the Chesapeake Bay. The land inhabited by Native Americans called the Powhatans.

Before the settlers landed in Jamestown, The Indians occupied the land and lived there for centuries. They were the first people to arrive in Jamestown. Some say there were 25,000 Indians; others say around 50,000 of the American natives, who lived on the land. There were about thirty different tribes whom the powhatan chiefdom took charge. However, each tribe had their own chief. In time there would be a change; King James 1 of England granted for another colony to be established under the Virginia Company of London which consisted of many wealthy Englishmen who wanted to invest their money into the company. They expected to

Jamestown faced many challenges along the way and even from the start. Spain had taken control of the seas and the new world. England knew they needed a chunk of this new world. To accomplish this objective, King James I sent Bartholomew Gosnold to establish the Virginia company and to colonize new land in North America. When the 3 ships arrived off the coast of Virginia, a terrible storm made the sailors lost in the Chesapeake bay. This lead them to find the a peninsula on the James river where they decided to build their settlement - Jamestown.

Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony had many similarities and differences. Many of these differences were due to their physical location and climatic conditions. The success of both colonies can be contributed to strong leadership and the characteristics of the personalities of the settlers that inhabited each settlement. Many of the early problems in both settlements can be contributed to a lack of knowledge on the parts of the settlers along with attacks from neighboring Native American tribes.

Settlement of Virginia started with James I becoming king and making peace with Spain who at that time had control over North America; as well as the Native Americas. Charter London Company was mainly started to fund the vogue to Jamestown. The idea behind the company was to give investors land, gold, and goods, for investing in help of settlement in Virginia. The settlement of Jamestown was to find more trade and resources. In 1607 Jamestown was colonized but early on there was crises. Lack of food, and new diseases caused many settlers to die. As well as Spanish and Native American attacked the new settlers seeing them as threats and intruders. With low farmers food was scarce and Atlantic crossing was a 3 months sail in order to send messages to England. In order to survive Jamestown

It all started in 1607, when a group of English men and boys came to settle in America searching for a land. They finally came to decide they will be settling in Jamestown, Virginia on May 13th of that year. The name Jamestown was given to the region in honor of king James I. Jamestown was chosen for several reasons which all met the criteria of the Virginia Company. One of the reasons was the water that surrounded the region on three sides, resulting in being defensible against the Spanish attack. Also, because the water was deep it enabled the settlers to tie their ships at the shoreline. The economic growth of Virginia began with tobacco plantations along the James river. This lead tobacco becoming a cash crop for the settlers. For example, since Europe was extremely interested in smoking tobacco there were tobacco exports from

Reluctant to give up, he turned to private investors to finance another expedition. In 1585 his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, was picked up to be the leader of a group to establish a colony on Roanoke. With him were 100 soldiers, craftsmen, and scholars to try and settle the colony. Under direction of Ralph Lane, the colony was doomed from the beginning.

The English had two main colonies in the new world, Jamestown and Plymouth. The first colony was Jamestown, established in Virginia in 1607. Jamestown was settled by Captain John Smith, and was named after King James I. Tobacco was the main export of Jamestown, and became the basis of the Jamestown economy, sending more than 50,000 lbs of the plan back to Europe by 1618 (textbook 46). Jamestown had a very rocky start, many colonists dying in the first few years of the settlement, and the settlers had many problems with natives. Shortly after the arrival of English colonists the Natives attacked them, and were finally forced back by a canon from the English. A very uneasy truce was finally settled between the natives, called the Powhatans,

Jamestown, the birthplace of America was the first permanent english settlement in North America. In April 1606, King James I established Jamestown and on May 13, 1607, colonists began to arrive at Jamestown. When establishing Jamestown as a colony, the Virginia Company was in search of economic opportunities. The citizens wanted to escape poverty and prosecution. They wanted to be able to believe in what they wanted. The first month in Jamestown was a struggle for all passengers. The moment the passengers came ashore, they immediately began on settlement. Serious problems soon emerged when about 15,000-25,000 Indians were already living in the Chesapeake Bay when the colony was founded. The Indians were part of the Powhatan Confederacy which was ruled by Powhatan, a powerful leader. At this time, the English settlers were looking for gold that no one was farming. In this situation, Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader and established a “no work, no food” policy. Smith had been instrumental in trading with the Powhatan Indians for food but their relationship was tense in all aspects. After he was injured by a burning gunpowder in 1608 and left for England, the “starving time” began. This was a period of warfare between the colonists and Indians and the depth of many English men

The Jamestown landing was on May 14th, 1607 and was the beginning of the first English settlement in America. The Virginia Company of London financed this journey to Virginia to extract profits from gold, silver and many other riches expected to be found. Additionally, they hoped to create a trade route to the Pacific. Of the many men that were selected to make this journey, there was a John Smith, who was a former soldier and an arrogant impatient natured man. Smith would eventually meet a young Indian princess named Pocahontas. He and Pocahontas would later become known as the two people who saved Jamestown.

What is the significance of Jamestown? “Jamestown introduced slavery into English speaking North America; it became the first of England’s colonies to adopt a representative government; and it was the site of the first clashes between whites and Indians over territorial expansion. Jamestown began the tenuous, often violent, mingling of different peoples that came to embody the American experience.” Dr. James Horn A Land As God Made It.