Post by Joe on May 4, 2007 22:04:34 GMT -5
Under the command of Captain Christopher Newport, the Virginia Company of London dispatched three ships, the Godspeed, the Discovery and the Susan Constant to land between 34º and 40º north latitude, basically the southern part of Virginia. Departing in December 1606 and arriving in Chesapeake Bay in May of the following year, the ships brought 144 ill-prepared settlers to the New World.
A site was selected on a peninsula that jutted into a river. Prudently, the leadership named both the town and the river for their benefactor, King James I. Less prudently, they selected a low-lying area that was prone to high humidity and hosts of mosquitoes. The isolated location did, however, provide an easily defended position in the event of Indian attack.
The first permanent English settlement in North America was established on May 14, 1607. The initial one-acre, triangular fort was built a full 13 years before the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts.
The 104 men and boys who came to Jamestown -- and the investors in the Virginia Company, the private firm that financed the effort -- were looking for silver, gold and jewels. Indians engaged in tentative trading but also attacked the settlers within weeks of their arrival, killing two.
More than one-third of the colonists died during the first winter in Jamestown, having fallen prey to malaria, typhoid fever, scurvy, and dysentery. The health crisis was compounded by bitter leadership feuds within the shrinking community.
In 1608, Captain John Smith, a soldier, forced his will on the colonists and successfully organized efforts to plant crops and construct proper dwellings. Unfortunately for all concerned, Smith returned to England for medical treatment in 1609. In his absence, the colony reverted to many of its former unfortunate habits.
Meanwhile, changes were occurring in England that would impact the Jamestown settlers. The London Company was reorganized and became known simply as the Virginia Company. A new governor, Lord De La Warr, was dispatched to implement new efforts to populate the tiny settlement. The company introduced the headright system, a series of land grant incentives designed to attract colonists to Virginia.
In the harsh winter of 1609 - 10 -- after about 500 more settlers had arrived -- hundreds died from starvation and disease, leaving a population of about 60.
In 1612, settler John Rolfe introduced a tasty strain of Spanish tobacco to Virginia's fertile fields. It was an instant hit, and within a few years Virginia was exporting tens of thousands of pounds of tobacco a year to England.
There's some disagreement about whether those who were purchased in 1619 became slaves or indentured servants, but they were the first of the race-based, forced labor that became the backbone of Virginia's -- and the South's -- plantation economy.
Happily, commercialism, slavery and Indian subjugation aren't Jamestown's only legacies. Its settlers also developed the first English-style representative democracy on these shores. On July 20, 1619, representatives of several Virginia plantations -- by then, "Jamestown" had spread far beyond the original fort -- met to make laws for the burgeoning colony.
The Virginia Company declared bankruptcy in 1622. Two years later, the Crown assumed full control of the settlement, making Virginia the first of the royal colonies.
The House of Burgesses levied taxes and passed laws governing personal conduct and trade with the Indians. It would meet semi-regularly. When Jamestown ceased to be a private commercial enterprise and became a royal colony in 1624, King James I severely limited the powers of the House of Burgesses, a move that inadvertently helped inspire embittered American colonists to rebel 150 years later.
A site was selected on a peninsula that jutted into a river. Prudently, the leadership named both the town and the river for their benefactor, King James I. Less prudently, they selected a low-lying area that was prone to high humidity and hosts of mosquitoes. The isolated location did, however, provide an easily defended position in the event of Indian attack.
The first permanent English settlement in North America was established on May 14, 1607. The initial one-acre, triangular fort was built a full 13 years before the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts.
The 104 men and boys who came to Jamestown -- and the investors in the Virginia Company, the private firm that financed the effort -- were looking for silver, gold and jewels. Indians engaged in tentative trading but also attacked the settlers within weeks of their arrival, killing two.
More than one-third of the colonists died during the first winter in Jamestown, having fallen prey to malaria, typhoid fever, scurvy, and dysentery. The health crisis was compounded by bitter leadership feuds within the shrinking community.
In 1608, Captain John Smith, a soldier, forced his will on the colonists and successfully organized efforts to plant crops and construct proper dwellings. Unfortunately for all concerned, Smith returned to England for medical treatment in 1609. In his absence, the colony reverted to many of its former unfortunate habits.
Meanwhile, changes were occurring in England that would impact the Jamestown settlers. The London Company was reorganized and became known simply as the Virginia Company. A new governor, Lord De La Warr, was dispatched to implement new efforts to populate the tiny settlement. The company introduced the headright system, a series of land grant incentives designed to attract colonists to Virginia.
In the harsh winter of 1609 - 10 -- after about 500 more settlers had arrived -- hundreds died from starvation and disease, leaving a population of about 60.
In 1612, settler John Rolfe introduced a tasty strain of Spanish tobacco to Virginia's fertile fields. It was an instant hit, and within a few years Virginia was exporting tens of thousands of pounds of tobacco a year to England.
There's some disagreement about whether those who were purchased in 1619 became slaves or indentured servants, but they were the first of the race-based, forced labor that became the backbone of Virginia's -- and the South's -- plantation economy.
Happily, commercialism, slavery and Indian subjugation aren't Jamestown's only legacies. Its settlers also developed the first English-style representative democracy on these shores. On July 20, 1619, representatives of several Virginia plantations -- by then, "Jamestown" had spread far beyond the original fort -- met to make laws for the burgeoning colony.
The Virginia Company declared bankruptcy in 1622. Two years later, the Crown assumed full control of the settlement, making Virginia the first of the royal colonies.
The House of Burgesses levied taxes and passed laws governing personal conduct and trade with the Indians. It would meet semi-regularly. When Jamestown ceased to be a private commercial enterprise and became a royal colony in 1624, King James I severely limited the powers of the House of Burgesses, a move that inadvertently helped inspire embittered American colonists to rebel 150 years later.
In sixteen hundred seven
