INTRODUCTION Unprepared for Hardships Om December 20 1606 a group of 105 English boys and men set sail on three ships on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean In April 1607 they spied land As their fateful journey came to an end world history would be changed forever Their expedition led to the founding of the first permanent English settlement in what was to become the United States of America For several weeks the men explored on foot and by boat They were looking for a suitable location for a settlement On May 13 the group led by Captain Christopher Newport chose a location Captain Newport named the settlement after the British king James I The settlement was called alternately James Forte James Towne or James Cittie Today that settlement is known as Jamestown Once the site was selected the men began construction of a fort a storehouse a church and a few houses Most of the men had no intention of remaining for long They were on a 4 Jamestown and the Settlement of Virginia
Construction began on a fort and other buildings right after the settlers chose a location for Jamestown mission to look for gold and to develop new sources of wealth for the British crown Some of them were devout Anglicans who sought to convert the Native people to Christianity Early on a local tribal chief greeted the English He welcomed the men generously because the newcomers had assured him that their settlement was temporary The chief offered to share the tribe’s food and agreed to trade for goods However a more powerful chief Chief Powhatan lived a distance away and he was not inclined toward welcoming the English There were numerous clashes throughout the years leading to deadly consequences In June 1607 Captain Newport departed for England taking forty men and two ships loaded with timber Those left behind were ill prepared to survive in the wilderness As few had taken to farming the settlers had little food and were forced to rely on the native people’s willingness to share theirs By the time Captain Newport returned there were only thirty-five people still alive But the captain had brought supplies and more settlers including Jamestown’s first female 5 Unprepared for Hardships
The early years of the Jamestown settlement were not self-sustaining but farmers were soon able to grow tobacco for profit settlers Margaret Forrest and Anne Burras and with them hope for success was renewed Hope however was short-lived Another ship arrived in August 1609 carrying three hundred hungry and exhausted new settlers Food shortages became dire The Powhatan people were tired of giving away their food The winter of 1609 1610 was extremely harsh Most of the settlers and many of the Native people froze or starved to death Jamestown was nearly abandoned but more ships carrying supplies and settlers arrived The new leaders were determined to form a permanent colony Their methods were harsh toward the settlers and even more so toward the Native people Their strategies worked for the settlers Land grants were distributed and farms were established In 1614 the first shipment of tobacco was exported to England becoming Jamestown’s first moneymaking enterprise The settlement expanded even as violent conflicts with the Native people intensified Their farms grew into plantations and workers who were indentured or enslaved were brought to the colony to work In less than two decades Jamestown had prospered enough to become England’s first successful and permanent American settlement 6 Jamestown and the Settlement of Virginia
CHAPTER ONE Against the Odds the settlement of Jamestown was the first jewel in the crown of the British colonial empire There was a small seasonal English colony in Newfoundland in the late sixteenth century but until the settling of Jamestown England did not control lands outside of the British Isles England trailed far behind other European countries Beginning in the fifteenth century Portugal and Spain were exploring regions beyond Europe becoming imperial powers As early as 1418 the Portuguese had traveled traded and set up outposts along the coast of Africa After Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in 1492 Spanish explorers claimed many parts of the Americas including South and Central America the Caribbean Mexico and what is now California and part of the southern and the southwestern United States Portugal settled Brazil The oldest European settlement in North America was founded by the Spanish at St Augustine Florida in 1565 Against the Odds 7
