Established in 1607, Jamestown was the first permanent English
settlement in the American colonies.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Analyze and discuss the founding and growth of the Jamestown settlement.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
During the Starving Time, from 1609­1610, 80% of the settlers died, leaving only 61.
John Smith and John Rolfe attempted to make peace with the local Indian tribes.
John Rolfe first brought tobacco seeds to Virginia, establishing it as the area's most important cash
crop andexport.
The Indian Massacre of 1622 killed one­third of the colonists in the area.
In 1619, the House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, convened in
Jamestown.
When the colonists arrived, the native population numbered around 14,000, but by 1700 it had
fallen to 1,400.
TERMS [ edit ]
Opchanacanough
Opechancanough or Opchanacanough (1554?­1646) was a tribal chief of the Powhatan Confederacy
of what is now Virginia in the United States, and its leader from sometime after 1618 until his death
in 1646.
John Smith
Captain John Smith (c. January 1580 – 21 June 1631) Admiral of New England was an English soldier,
explorer, and author. He was considered to have played an important part in the establishment of
the first permanent English settlement in North America. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony
(based at Jamestown) between September 1608 and August 1609, and led an exploration along the
rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay. He was the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake
Bay area and New England.
John Rolfe
John Rolfe (1585–1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited
with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is
known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.
Give us feedback on this content: FULL TEXT [ edit ]
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia established by the Virginia
Company of London in 1607. English entrepreneurs set sail with a charter in 1606 and
arrived on April 10, 1607. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in what
is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts. It would serve as capital of
the colony for 83 years.
Virginia Indians had already established settlements long before the English settlers arrived,
and there were an estimated 14,000 natives in the region. They were
thePowhatan Confederacy, ruled by their paramount chief, known as Wahunsenacawh, or
"Chief Powhatan".
In a few months, 51 of the settlers were dead. During what became known as the "Starving
Time" in 1609–1610, over 80% of the colonists perished, and the island was briefly
abandoned that spring; only 61 of the 500 colonists survived the period. On June 10, 1610,
retreating settlers were intercepted a few miles downriver by a supply mission from London
which brought much­needed supplies and additional settlers. In 1619, the first documented
Africans were brought to Jamestown, though the modern conception of slavery in the future
United States did not begin in Virginia until 1660.
The work of two men helped the colony to survive: John Smith and John Rolfe. John Smith,
who arrived in Virginia in 1608, introduced an ultimatum: those who did not work would not
receive food or pay. His struggle to improve the colony's conditions succeeded—the colonists
learned how to raise crops and trade with the nearby Indians, with whom Smith had made
peace .
John Smith, A Map of Virginia: With a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities, People,
Government and Religion (1612)
Smith's map of Virginia from The Generall Historie of Virginia, New­England, and the Summer
Isles, 1624
In 1614, John Rolfe, prosperous and wealthy, married Pocahontas, daughter of Chief
Powhatan, bringing several years of peace between the English and natives. After Pocahontas
and her father died and the English continued to appropriate more land for tobacco farming,
relations with the natives worsened. Powhatan's brother, a fierce warrior
named Opchanacanough, became head of the Powhatan Confederacy.
After several years of strained coexistence, Chief Opchanacanough and his Powhatan
Confederacy attempted to eliminate the English colony once and for all. On the morning of
March 22, 1622, they attacked outlyingplantations and communities up and down the James
River in what became known as the Indian Massacre of 1622 . Thereafter the settlers waged a
relentless war against the Indians, burning and pillaging their villages and cutting down or
carrying off their crops.
Indian massacre of 1622, from woodcut by Matthaeus Merian, 1628.
Indian massacre of 1622, from a woodcut by Matthaeus Merian, 1628.
In 1646, Opchanacanough was captured and killed while in custody, and the Powhatan
Confederacy began to decline. Opechancanough's successor then signed the first peace
treaties between the Powhatan Indians and the English. The treaties required the Powhatan
to pay yearly tribute payment to the English and confined them to reservations.
In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in a Jamestown church. This
became known as theHouse of Burgesses. Simultaneously, however, Virginia was declared a
"crown colony", meaning that charter was transferred from the Virginia Company to the
Crown of England, making Jamestown a colony now run by the English monarchy. While the
House of Burgesses was still allowed to run the government, the king nevertheless appointed
a royalgovernor to settle disputes and enforce certain British policies.
The House of Burgesses instituted individual land ownership and divided the colony into
four large boroughs. Initially the colony only allowed men of English origin to vote, but
eventually extended suffrage to white men of other nationalities. In 1624, King James
revoked the Virginia Company's charter, and Virginia became a royal colony. Despite the
setbacks, the colony continued to grow.
During Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, Jamestown was burned. Although rebuilt, the statehouse
burned again in 1698, this time accidentally. The legislature temporarily relocated to Middle
Plantation and was able to meet in the new facilities of the College of William and Mary,
which had been established after receiving a royal charter in 1693. Rather than rebuilding at
Jamestown again, the capital of the colony was moved permanently to Middle Plantation in
1699. The town was soon renamed Williamsburg, to honor the reigning monarch, King
William III.
In 1612, John Rolfe, an English businessman, discovered that Virginia had ideal conditions
for growing tobacco. Although the Indians had grown and smoked tobacco for centuries,
their variety was too bitter for the whites and John Rolfe imported a new species from the
West Indies and perfected a method of curing it. This singular discovery led to an explosion
of success as the plant became the colony's majorcash crop. With English demand for
tobacco rising, Virginia had now found a way to support itself economically.
Importation of Wives for the Jamestown Settlers
Importation of Wives for the Jamestown Settlers