Jamestown, cities, United States Encyclopedia > Places > United States, Canada, and Greenland > U.S. Political Geography Jamestown Jamestown. 1 City (1990 pop. 34,681), Chautauqua co., W N.Y., on Chautauqua Lake; founded c.1806, inc. as a city 1886. It is the business and financial center of a dairy, livestock, and vineyard area. The chief industries are food processing and furniture and machine manufacture. Nearby are Allegany State Park and the Chautauqua Institution, a cultural and recreational center on the lake. Lucille Ball was born in the city. 2 City (1990 pop. 15,571), seat of Stutsman co., SE N.Dak., on the James River, in a farm area; founded 1871 when Fort Seward was established to protect railroad workers, inc. 1896. It is the trade and processing center for an agricultural area where grain and flour are produced and sunflowers and livestock are raised. Processed food, ordnance, and construction materials are manufactured. Jamestown College is in the city.

Fort Seward Historic Site and a restored frontier village lie on the outskirts. 3 Former village, SE Va., first permanent English settlement in America; est. May 14, 1607, by the London Company on a marshy peninsula (now an island) in the James River and named for the reigning English monarch, James I. Disease, starvation, and Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more men and supplies, and John Smith briefly provided efficient leadership (he returned to England in 1609 for treatment of an injury). After the severe winter of 1609–10 (the "starving time"), the survivors prepared to return to England but were stopped by the timely arrival of Lord De la Warr with supplies. John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco there in 1612, introducing a successful source of livelihood; in 1614 he assured peace with the local Native Americans by marrying Pocahontas , daughter of chief Powhatan. In 1619 the first representative government in the New World met at Jamestown, which remained the capital of Virginia throughout the 17th cent.

The village was almost entirely destroyed during Bacon's Rebellion ; it was partially rebuilt but fell into decay with the removal of the capital to Williamsburg (1698–1700). Of the 17th-century settlement, only the old church tower (built c.1639) and a few gravestones were visible when National Park Service excavations began in 1934. Today, most of Jamestown Island is owned by the U.S. government and is included in Colonial National Historical Park (see National Parks and Monuments , table); a small portion comprises the Jamestown National Historic Site, which is owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. A tercentenary celebration was held in 1907, and in 1957 the Jamestown Festival Park was built to commemorate the 350th anniversary. The park, which was renamed Jamestown Settlement in 1990, contains exhibit pavilions and replicas of the first fort, the three ships that brought the first settlers, and a Native American village.

Excavations that began in 1994 finally uncovered the original fort at Jamestown, which had long been believed to have been eroded away by the river. See report by the Celebration Commission, The 350th Anniversary of Jamestown, 1607–1957 (1958); C. Bridenbaugh, Jamestown, 1544–1699 (1980); D. A. Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown (2003). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. History of Jamestown See All Posts A History of Jamestown The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States’ heritage today. The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors who hoped to profit from the venture.

Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and converting the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion. The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, carrying 105 passengers, one of whom died during the voyage, departed from England in December 1606 and reached the Virginia coast in late April 1607. The expedition was led by Captain Christopher Newport. On May 13, after two weeks of exploration, the ships arrived at a site on the James River selected for its deep water anchorage and good defensive position. The passengers came ashore the next day, and work began on the settlement. Initially, the colony was governed by a council of seven, with one member serving as president. Serious problems soon emerged in the small English outpost, which was located in the midst of a chiefdom of about 14,000 Algonquian-speaking Indians ruled by the powerful leader Powhatan. Relations with the Powhatan Indians were tenuous, although trading opportunities were established.

An unfamiliar climate, as well as brackish water supply and lack of food, conditions possibly aggravated by a prolonged drought, led to disease and death. Many of the original colonists were upper-class Englishmen, and the colony lacked sufficient laborers and skilled farmers. The first two English women arrived at Jamestown in 1608, and more came in subsequent years. Men outnumbered women, however, for most of the 17th century. Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader in September 1608 – the fourth in a succession of council presidents – and established a “no work, no food” policy. Smith had been instrumental in trading with the Powhatan Indians for food. However, in the fall of 1609 he was injured by burning gunpowder and left for England. Smith never returned to Virginia, but promoted colonization of North America until his death in 1631 and published numerous accounts of the Virginia colony, providing invaluable material for historians. Smith’s departure was followed by the “starving time,” a period of warfare between the colonists and Indians and the deaths of many English men and women from starvation and disease.

Just when the colonists decided to abandon Jamestown in Spring 1610, settlers with supplies arrived from England, eager to find wealth in Virginia. This group of new settlers arrived under the second charter issued by King James I. This charter provided for stronger leadership under a governor who served with a group of advisors, and the introduction of a period of military law that carried harsh punishments for those who did not obey. In order to make a profit for the Virginia Company, settlers tried a number of small industries, including glassmaking, wood production, and pitch and tar and potash manufacture. However, until the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop about 1613 by colonist John Rolfe, who later married Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, none of the colonists’ efforts to establish profitable enterprises were successful. Tobacco cultivation required large amounts of land and labor and stimulated the rapid growth of the Virginia colony. Settlers moved onto the lands occupied by the Powhatan Indians, and increased numbers of indentured servants came to Virginia. The first documented Africans in Virginia arrived in 1619.

They were from the kingdom of Ndongo in Angola, West Central Africa, and had been captured during war with the Portuguese. While these first Africans may have been treated as indentured servants, the customary practice of owning Africans as slaves for life appeared by mid-century. The number of African slaves increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century, replacing indentured servants as the primary source of labor. The first representative government in British America began at Jamestown in 1619 with the convening of a general assembly, at the request of settlers who wanted input in the laws governing them. After a series of events, including a 1622 war with the Powhatan Indians and misconduct among some of the Virginia Company leaders in England, the Virginia Company was dissolved by the king in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony. Jamestown continued as the center of Virginia’s political and social life until 1699 when the seat of government moved to Williamsburg. Although Jamestown ceased to exist as a town by the mid 1700s, its legacies are embodied in today’s United States.

Watch a video about the economics of Jamestown: A Short History of Jamestown - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) A Short History of Jamestown A Short History of Jamestown The English arrive at Jamestown. NPS Image On December 6, 1606, the journey to Virginia began on three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America. The site for Jamestown was picked for several reasons, all of which met criteria the Virginia Company, who funded the settlement, said to follow in picking a spot for the settlement. The site was surrounded by water on three sides (it was not fully an island yet) and was far inland; both meant it was easily defensible against possible Spanish attacks. The water was also deep enough that the English could tie their ships at the shoreline - good parking! The site was also not inhabited by the Native population.

Once the spot was chosen the instructions sent by the Virginia Company, with the list of the council members (chosen by officials in England), was read. The names were kept in a sealed box on the ship (each ship had a sealed copy). The first President of the new Virginia colony was to be Edward Maria Winfield. The other six council members were: Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher Newport, John Martin, John Ratcliffe, George Kendall, and John Smith. By June 15, the fort was completed. It was triangle shaped with a bulwark at each corner, holding four or five pieces of artillery. The settlers were now protected against any attacks that might occur from the local Powhatan Indians, whose hunting land they were living on. Relations had already been mixed between the newcomers and the Powhatan Indians. On June 22, Captain Newport left for England to get more supplies for the new settlement. Not long after Captain Newport left, the settlers began to succumb to a variety of diseases. They were drinking water from the salty or slimy river, which was one of several things that caused the death of many. The death tolls were high.

They were dying from swellings, fluxes, fevers, by famine, and sometimes by wars. Food was running low, though then Chief Powhatan starting to send gifts of food to help the English. If not for the Powhatan Indians help in the early years, the settlement would most likely have failed, as the English would have died from the various diseases or simply starved. By late 1609, the relationship between the Powhatan Indians and the English had soured as the English were demanding too much food during a drought. That winter of 1609-10 is known as the "Starving Time." During that winter the English were afraid to leave the fort, due to a legitimate fear of being killed by the Powhatan Indians. As a result they ate anything they could: various animals, leather from their shoes and belts, and sometimes fellow settlers who had already died. By early 1610 most of the settlers, 80-90% according to William Strachey, had died due to starvation and disease. In May 1610, shipwrecked settlers who had been stranded in Bermuda finally arrived at Jamestown.

Part of a fleet sent the previous fall, the survivors used two boats built on Bermuda to get to Jamestown. Sir Thomas Gates, the newly named governor, found Jamestown in shambles with the palisades of the fort torn down, gates off their hinges, and food stores running low. The decision was made to abandon the settlement. Less than a day after leaving, however, Gates and those with him, including the survivors of the "Starving Time," were met by news of an incoming fleet. The fleet was bringing the new governor for life, Lord Delaware. Gates and his party returned to Jamestown. Harvesting Tobacco. NPS Image In 1612, John Rolfe, one of many shipwrecked on Bermuda, helped turn the settlement into a profitable venture. He introduced a new strain of tobacco from seeds he brought from elsewhere. Tobacco became the long awaited cash crop for the Virginia Company, who wanted to make money off their investment in Jamestown. On July 30, 1619, newly appointed Governor Yeardley called for the first representative legislative assembly. This was the beginning of representative government in what is now the United States of America.

In that same year, the first documented Africans were brought to Virginia. They added needed human resources for the labor-intensive tobacco. Also in 1619, the Virginia Company recruited and shipped over about 90 women to become wives and start families in Virginia, something needed to establish a permanent colony. Over one hundred women, who brought or started families, had arrived in prior years, but 1619 was when establishing families became a primary focus. Peace between the Powhatan Indians and the English, brought about by the conversion and marriage of Pocahontas (kidnapped by the English in 1613) and John Rolfe in 1614, ended in 1622. In March of that year the paramount chief, then Opechancanough, planned a coordinated attack against the English settlements. He was tired of the English encroachment on Powhatan lands. Jamestown escaped being attacked, due to a warning from a Powhatan boy living with the English. During the attack 350-400 of the 1,200 settlers were killed.

After the attack, the Powhatan Indians withdrew, as was their way, and waited for the English to learn their lesson or pack up and leave. Once the English regrouped they retaliated and there was fighting between the two peoples for ten years, until a tenuous peace was reached in 1632. On May 24, 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I due to overwhelming financial problems and politics, and Virginia became a royal colony, which it remained until the Revolutionary War. This shift in control did not change the English policy towards the Powhatan Indians. Despite peace being declared in 1632, English encroachments on Powhatan lands continued undiminished as more settlers arrived in the Colony. In April 1644, Opechancanough planned another coordinated attack, which resulted in the deaths of another 350-400 of the 8,000 settlers. The attack ended when Opechancanough was captured in 1646, taken to Jamestown, and shot in the back by a guard - against orders - and killed.

His death brought an eventual death to the Powhatan Chiefdom; it was reduced to tributary status. His successor signed the first treaties with the English, which made the Powhatan Indians subjects of the English. Bacon's Rebellion. NPS Image Bacon's Rebellion, in 1676, saw more struggles in Jamestown. The settlers were unhappy about their tobacco being sold only to English merchants due to the Navigation Acts, high taxes, and attacks on outlying plantations by American Indians on the frontiers. Nathaniel Bacon got about 1,000 settlers to join him and take care of the "Indian Problem." Bacon forced Governor Berkeley to give him an official commission to attack the American Indians to blame. Bacon and his followers, however, did not differentiate between those tribes responsible for the attacks and those who were loyal to the English. Governor Berkeley declared Bacon a rebel and civil war erupted in the colony. In September, Bacon and his followers set fire to Jamestown, destroying 16 to 18 houses, the church and the statehouse.

Not long after, in October, the Rebellion began its end with the death of Nathaniel Bacon of the "bloody flux." Eventually, many of the rebels were captured and 23 were hanged by Governor Berkeley. As a result of Bacon's Rebellion, another treaty was signed between the English and the Virginia Indians. More tribes were part of this treaty than the one of 1646. The treaty set up more reservation lands and reinforced a yearly tribute payment of fish and game that the tribes had to make to the English. In 1698, fire struck Jamestown again. The fire was evidently started by a prisoner awaiting execution in the nearby prison. The fire destroyed the prison and the statehouse, though many of the public records were saved. In 1699, the government and capital were moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, renamed Williamsburg. People continued to live on Jamestown Island and owned farm lands, but it ceased to be a town. Today, Jamestown Island is a historic site, though there is still a private residence on the island.

It is preserved by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia for visitors to learn about the importance of Jamestown and what was born out of its being the first permanent English settlement in North America. Bibliography Egloff, Keith and Deborah Woodward. First People: The Early Indians of Virginia. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1992. Haile, Edward Wright (editor). Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony: The First Decade: 1607-1617. Chaplain: Roundhouse, 1998. McCartney, Martha W. Jamestown: An American Legacy. Hong Kong: Eastern National, 2001. Price, David A. Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 2003. Kelso, William M. and Beverly Straube. Jamestown Rediscovery 1994-2004. Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 2004.

Jamestown: Facts & History Jamestown: Facts & History By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | December 22, 2016 11:42pm ET MORE Foundations of row houses have been excavated in New Towne, where Jamestown settlers expanded to live in the 1620s. Credit: National Park Service Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the first successful permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. The settlement thrived for nearly 100 years as the capital of the Virginia colony; it was abandoned after the capital moved to Williamsburg in 1699. A preservationist group took over the site in the late 1800s, and today, it is part of a national historic park with tours, museums and ongoing archaeological digs that continue to reveal new findings. Colonization of the Americas Jamestown was not the first successful permanent European settlement in what would become the United States; that distinction belongs to St. Augustine, in Florida, which was founded by the Spanish in 1565. At the beginning of the 17th century, England was lagging behind other nations when it came to colonization in the Americas.

Spain controlled a vast empire in the New World that included much of South and Central America, Mexico, part of the Caribbean and a settlement in Florida. The Spanish were also moving into what is considered the American Southwest. Also by this time, the French were exploring Canada's northeast and, in time, would establish a highly profitable fur trade in the region. In the 16th century, the English did attempt to found Roanoke colony, a venture that ended in disaster; the colonists disappeared and were never heard from again, Karen Ordahl Kupperman, a professor of history at New York University, said in her book "The Jamestown Project" (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007). They were lost in what is now the Outer Banks area of North Carolina, and may have left their colony to live with the native people. In addition to the Roanoke colonists, other European adventurers had sailed along the eastern coast of North America, some of whom ended up living with the native people they encountered, Kupperman wrote.

"It does not seem too fanciful to assume that some colonists in Jamestown, founded twenty years after the last Roanoke colony, might have encountered descendants of earlier transatlantic migrants without knowing it," she wrote. Disastrous early years The founding of Jamestown had the blessing of England's King James I, and the settlement and James River were named in his honor. However, the settlement was financed and run by the Virginia Company. This company, in turn, was financed by private investors, who expected the colonists to discover a valuable commodity, or a route to East Asia, which would make the enterprise profitable and offer a return on their investment. The investors in London hoped that some of the Roanoke colonists (or their descendants) were still alive and, with knowledge they gained about the area, could guide the Jamestown colonists to minerals and a passage to East Asia, Kupperman noted. Unfortunately, the company chose to build its settlement on "a disease-ridden, bug-infested swampy island with no source of fresh water," according to Jerome Bridges, a park ranger and Historic Jamestowne tour guide.

Located about 60 miles (94 kilometers) up the James River from the Atlantic Coast, the site was chosen because the settlers had orders from their investors not to take any land that was occupied by the native people, Bridges said. When the English landed there in May 1607, they were divided into three groups: One group was to build fortifications and a storehouse and then some simple houses; the second group was to plant crops; and the third party was to explore for minerals and a passage to East Asia. It did not take long for the colonists to run into trouble. Within a few weeks, a force of several hundred Powhatan Indians attacked the settlement. The colonists had not even had the opportunity to unpack their muskets, and so relied on naval gunfire from the ships that were still off the coast to repel the attackers. In the next few weeks, the settlers focused their work on building a fort, which was a triangular palisade with three bulwarks, or raised platforms, for cannons. Before long, the colonists started dying.

Of the 104 men and boys who landed, only 38 were still alive by January 1608, according to Historic Jamestowne. Research by geology student Doug Rowland at the College of William and Mary and colleagues revealed that the colonists' drinking water was salty and contained arsenic . Additionally, food ran out, famine set in, and a particularly harsh winter along with drought compounded the misery of the colonists. "Our men were destroyed with cruel diseases as swellings, fluxes [also called dysentery], burning fevers, and by wars, and some departed suddenly, but for the most part they died of meer famine," wrote George Percy, one of the survivors, in a report on the colony . "There were never Englishmen left in a foreign country in such misery as we were in this new discovered Virginia." In that first year, the bodies were buried in unmarked graves to prevent the natives from finding out that so many of the settlers had died, according to Bridges. Recent excavations by a team led by William Kelso, director of archaeology for Jamestown Rediscovery at Historic Jamestowne, have revealed 29 burial shafts close to the west palisade wall inside the fort.

The team thinks these graves likely hold many of the colonists who died in 1607. Of the three grave shafts excavated so far, two of them contain two bodies. According to the Historic Jamestowne website, the colonists likely resorted to double burials because so many men were dying in a short amount of time. Twenty individuals died in August 1607 alone, and multiple burials saved energy and time. In the other excavated shaft lay a boy about 14 years old, according to Historic Jamestowne. A small arrowhead was found next to the boy's right leg, which suggests he had been shot shortly before he was buried. This may be the young boy who was recorded by Percy as being slain during combat with Powhatan Indians during the first month of the settlement. William Kelso, who directs excavations at Jamestown, told Live Science that the archaeology team hopes to excavate the rest of the graves and identify the bodies. "We know their names, and now we know where they were buried," he said.

"We'll try to identify them using forensics." Pocahontas & John Smith The well-known story of how Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, saved Captain John Smith's life very likely did not happen, at least not the way most people have heard it (and most certainly not the way the Disney animated movie told it), said Bridges. Smith, who was elected president of the colony's council after most of the councilors died or became incapacitated, wrote that the colony depended on trade with friendly Powhatan in order to survive. Indeed, according to park ranger Bridges, when they weren't fighting each other, Powhatan's people often visited the settlers. The chief's daughter, about 10 years old at the time, was a frequent visitor to Jamestown, delivering messages from her father and bringing food and furs to trade for hatchets and trinkets, Bridges said. She also liked to play, and would spend time turning cartwheels with the boys of the colony. Her name was actually Matoaka, and Pocahontas was a nickname meaning "Little Wanton," according to Historic Jamestowne.

Smith later wrote that at one point during an expedition in December 1607, he was captured and brought to Powhatan. He was first welcomed and offered a feast. Then he was grabbed and forced to stretch out on two large, flat stones. Indians stood over him with clubs as though ready to beat him to death if ordered. Suddenly, Pocahontas rushed in and took Smith's "head in her arms and laid her owne upon his to save him from death," wrote Smith. The girl then pulled him to his feet. Powhatan said that they were now friends, and he adopted Smith as his son, or a subordinate chief. Smith's tale has become legend, and he romanticized it in later writings, according to Historic Jamestowne. Smith told the story only after Pocahontas converted to Christianity , and he didn't mention it in an earlier account of his adventures in Virginia. And if Smith's story is true, this mock "execution and salvation" ceremony was traditional with the Powhatan, and Pocahontas' actions were probably one part of a ritual.

The "starving time" Although the colony had been resupplied, along with 100 new settlers, in January 1608, the settlers hit another low in the winter of 1609-1610, a period that became known as the "starving time," according to Historic Jamestowne. By this time, Smith had been forced to leave due to gunpowder injuries, and the colony's new governor, Thomas Gates, had been shipwrecked on the island of Bermuda along with essential supplies. By this point, relations with the Powhatan had deteriorated to the point where trade was impossible and the Jamestown fort was under siege. When the colonists ran out of food, they "fed upon horses and other beasts as long as they lasted, we were glad to make shift with vermin, as dogs, cats, rats and mice," wrote Percy in an account of what happened. Boots, shoes and leather were also consumed and, as recent archaeological evidence confirms , some colonists resorted to cannibalism to survive. In May 1610, Gates made his way from Bermuda to the colony on makeshift ships made partly from wood found on Bermuda.

Finding only 60 survivors at Jamestown, he gave the order to abandon the settlement but not to burn it. As the group set out to sea, however, they encountered a fleet led by Lord De La Warr, with fresh supplies and new colonists, and they returned to Jamestown and repaired the fort. Improving fortunes In the decade to come, Jamestown's situation would improve. Martial law was imposed, solving, however harshly, some of the discipline problems experienced in the first three years of the colony, according to Historic Jamestowne. The problem of the colonists finding a marketable commodity was solved in 1612 when John Rolfe, experimenting with tobacco seeds ― possibly from Trinidad ― developed a marketable crop that could be exported to England. King James I would give the Virginia Company a monopoly on tobacco, making the trade even more profitable. He even allowed the company to set up a lottery to provide additional funds for the Jamestown venture, according to Historic Jamestowne. In April 1613, Pocahontas was captured and brought to Jamestown. Although she was supposed to be used as barter for English prisoners, she turned into a catalyst for peace.

She married Rolfe in 1614, in the Jamestown church, converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca Rolfe. Her father, Powhatan, reached a peace agreement with the English that allowed the colony to expand its cultivated territory, setting up new settlements, including Henrico and Bermuda Hundred. Now "after five years' intestine war with the revengeful, implacable Indians, a firm peace (not again easily to be broken) hath been lately concluded," wrote Gov. Thomas Dale in 1614. Pocahontas, Rolfe and their infant son, Thomas, would go to London, where she would become something of a celebrity. Tragically, she died in 1617 while the three of them were preparing to return to Virginia. Rolfe returned to Virginia alone, leaving their son in the care of an English family. With the development of tobacco and the need for labor to grow crops for food, several thousand more colonists were sent to Jamestown in the late 1610s and early 1620s. Many of them died after arriving, being ill prepared for the harsh conditions and lacking proper clothing and food.

Beginning in 1619, the company allowed single women to travel to Jamestown, which in its early years had been a largely male-only settlement. The company hoped that women would encourage the Jamestown men to settle down, rather than return to England after making some money. "Both at the time and since, many have maligned these recruits and charged that the company swept up women off the streets to found families across the ocean," Kupperman wrote. She noted that recently discovered documents have shown that in order to move to Jamestown, the women needed a certificate from their church minister and a note from the company detailing their particular skills. Also in 1619, a Dutch ship arrived at Jamestown and traded food supplies for the ship's cargo of "20 and odd negroes," originally from Angola. "Slavery as it was later defined did not yet exist in the Chesapeake, and some of these Africans lived to achieve their freedom," Kupperman wrote. They worked as indentured servants (as many English newcomers did), but were forced to labor for longer terms. In that same year, an elected assembly met for the first time in Jamestown to discuss issues facing the growing colony.

"This assembly was the first expression of English representative government in North America," Kelso wrote in his book, "Jamestown: The Buried Truth" (University of Virginia Press, 2006). An attack too late After the death of the peacemaker Powhatan in 1618, war seemed inevitable, according to Kupperman. With the colony growing, and the English settlers using more land and making more aggressive attempts to convert the Powhatan to Christianity, the stage was set for a showdown. Opechancanough, Powhatan's successor, felt threatened by the growing English presence, now consisting of more than 1,000 people in several plantations. In 1622, he launched a surprise attack in an attempt to wipe out the colony. The company claimed the attack killed 347 people, Kupperman wrote, although the actual death toll was likely higher. The English were forced to abandon some plantations and cluster closer together. Although the attack succeeded in killing many English, it failed in its aim of dislodging their presence.

More settlers, spurred by poor economic conditions in England, arrived to work on the plantations, hoping, in time, to obtain land of their own. The attack gave the English the excuse they needed to wage war against Opechancanough's people, sparing only the children so that they could be converted to Christianity and forced to work on the English plantations, according to Kupperman. This war was a take-no-prisoners' affair, Kupperman wrote. "In [May] 1623 they invited Indian leaders to a peace parley where they served poisoned wine and then fired on the disabled Indians." This map shows the site of the original Jamestown and the status of archaeological excavations. 1. First Arrivals, Settlement, American Beginnings: 1492-1690, Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature, Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center Plymouth When we talk about the European settling of North America, the word "first" creeps into the discussion very soonthe first ever, the first "permanent," the first "permanent" that still exists today, the first with women and children, the first Spanish/French/English, etc.

While the discussion may force us to define our terms, a valuable exercise, we will begin this topic, SETTLEMENT, with "first arrivals"Europeans who cross the Atlantic, disembark on land unsettled by Europeans, find a suitable site, and begin to build with the intention of staying, not merely exploring. ISABELLA was a small town that Columbus ordered his men to build on the northeastern shore of Hispaniola (in present-day Dominican Republic) during his second voyage to the New World in 1493. Hunger and disease soon led to mutiny, punishment, disillusion, and more hunger and disease. Isabella barely survived until 1496 when Columbus ordered a new town built on the island as the Spanish capital (now Santo Domingo). Isabella was the "first of the Indies," declares Antonio de Herrera, the seventeenth-century historian who compiled this history of early New Spain from state archives.

[Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano (General History of the Deeds of the Castilians on the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea), Madrid, 1601-1615] JAMESTOWN is justifiably called "the first permanent English settlement" in the New Worlda hard-won designation. As historian Alan Taylor recounts, of the first 104 colonists who landed in April 1607, only thirty-eight survived the winter. Of the 10,000 who left England for Jamestown in its first fifteen years, only twenty percent were still alive, and still in Jamestown, in 1622. The first months of the colony were chronicled by John Smith, Edward Wingfield, and in this selection by George Percy, who twice served as the colony's governor. After writing several accounts to justify his actions as governor, Percy left Jamestown for good in 1612.

(John Smith, who also felt compelled to defend his leadership, had left for good in 1609.) [George Percy, Observations Gathered out of a Discourse of the Plantation of the Southern Colony in Virginia by the English, 1606, publ. 1608] PLYMOUTH. To American schoolchildren of many generations, the term "colonist" spurs images of stalwart Pilgrims setting sail on the Mayflower to land at Plymouth Rockan epic tale of adventure and determination. And it's true. Unlike the single menthe courtiers, soldiers, and adventurerswho built Isabella, Jamestown, and many other early European settlements, the Pilgrims were skilled, hardworking, and self-disciplined. In addition, they settled as families for the most part, unique in Atlantic coast settlement at this point. Here we read from the journal of the colony's longtime governor, William Bradford, of the colonists' hard first year after landing in November 1620 to the first harvest in autumn 1621.

[William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, written between 1630 and 1647] To gain a fresh perspective on these well-known "first arrivals," view the European and Indian artifacts unearthed from each settlement before you read the documents. (13 pages, excluding the artifacts.) Discussion questions Which experiences are shared by the "first arrivals"? Which are unique? What obstacles to settlement do these accounts describe? How does each settlement's purpose and leadership affect its outcome? What is the role of the environment? the native inhabitants? the European sponsors? Which decisions made in the first months of a settlement prove critical to its outcome? Do they seem critical at the time they are made? What surprised you in reading primary texts from these settlements? How do they compare with the cultural icons of "Columbus," "Jamestown," and "Plymouth"? In comparing settlement accounts with exploration narratives, what would you define as the major difference? Topic Framing Questions What motivated the Europeans in their initial settlements?  How did the European nations differ in their vision of a successful settlement?  How did they differ in the institutions they created to maintain their settlements?  What factors led to the survival or abandonment of a settlement?

 What relationships evolved among European settlers, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans?  What did "America" signify to Europe in 1630? What did "Europe" signify to Native Americans and enslaved Africans? Printing Jamestown Settlement and the "Starving Time" [ushistory.org] 2c. Jamestown Settlement and the "Starving Time" Jamestown, Virginia, was the site of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The settlers chose a location close to the water, hoping to establish a thriving community. The first joint-stock company to launch a lasting venture to the New World was the Virginia Company of London. The investors had one goal in mind: gold. They hoped to repeat the success of Spaniards who found gold in South America. In 1607, 144 English men and boys established the Jamestown colony, named after King James I. The colonists were told that if they did not generate any wealth, financial support for their efforts would end. Many of the men spent their days vainly searching for gold. As a consequence, the colonists spent little time farming. Food supplies dwindled. Malaria and the harsh winter besieged the colonists, as well.

After the first year, only 38 of the original 144 had survived. First Virginia Charter James, by the grace of God [King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith], etc. Whereas our loving and weldisposed subjects ...

and divers others of our loving subjects, have been humble sutors unto us that wee woulde vouchsafe unto them our licence to make habitacion, plantacion and to deduce a colonie of sondrie of our people into that parte of America commonly called Virginia, and other parts and territories in America either appartaining unto us or which are not nowe actuallie possessed by anie Christian prince or people, scituate, lying and being all along the sea coastes between fower and thirtie degrees of northerly latitude from the equinoctiall line and five and fortie degrees of the same latitude and in the maine lande betweene the same fower and thirtie and five and fourtie degrees, and the ilandes thereunto adjacente or within one hundred miles of the coaste thereof; And to that ende, and for themore speedy accomplishemente of theire saide intended plantacion and habitacion there, are desirous to devide themselves into two severall colonies and companies, the one consisting of certaine Knightes, gentlemen, marchanntes and other adventurers of our cittie of London, and elsewhere, which are and from time to time shalbe joined unto them which doe

 desire to begin theire plantacions and habitacions in some fitt and conveniente place between fower and thirtie and one and fortie degrees of the said latitude all alongest the coaste of Virginia and coastes of America aforesaid and the other consisting of sondrie Knightes, gentlemen, merchanntes, and other adventurers of our citties of Bristoll and Exeter, and of our towne of Plymouthe, and of other places which doe joine themselves unto that colonie which doe desire to beginn theire plantacions and habitacions in some fitt and convenient place betweene eighte and thirtie degrees and five and fortie degrees of the saide latitude all alongst the saide coaste of Virginia and America as that coaste lieth; Wee, greately commending and graciously accepting of theire desires to the furtherance of soe noble a worke which may, by the providence of Almightie God, hereafter tende to the glorie of His Divine Majestie in propagating of Christian religion to suche people as yet live in darkenesse and miserable ignorance of the true knoweledge and worshippe of God and may

 in tyme bring the infidels and salvages living in those parts to humane civilitie and to a setled and quiet govermente, doe by theise our lettres patents graciously accepte of and agree to theire humble and well intended desires; April 10, 1606 "Work or Starve" The colony may well have perished had it not been for the leadership of John Smith.

He imposed strict discipline on the colonists. "Work or starve" was his motto, and each colonist was required to spend four hours per day farming. The twenty of April. Being at work, in hewing down Trees, and setting Corn, an alarum caused us with all speed to take our arms, each expecting a new assault of the Savages: but understanding it a Boat under sail, our doubts were presently satisfied with the happy sight of Master Nelson, his many perils of extreme storms and tempests, his ship well as his company could testify, his care in sparing our provision was well: but the providence thereof, as also of our stones, Hatchets and other tools (only ours excepted) which of all the rest was most necessary: which might inforce us to thinke either a seditious traitor to our action, or a most unconscionable deceiver of our treasures. – John Smith, "A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia" (1608) An early advocate of tough love, John Smith is remembered for his strict leadership and for saving the settlement from starvation. An accidental gunpowder burn forced Smith to return to England in 1609.

After his departure, the colony endured even more hardships. A new boatload of colonists and supplies sank off the coast of Bermuda on its way to help the hungry settlement. The winter of 1609-10, known as the "starving time," may have been the worst of all. Disease and hunger ravaged Jamestown. Two desperate colonists were tied to posts and left to starve as punishment for raiding the colonies' stores. One colonist even took to cannibalism, eating his own wife. The fate of the venture was precarious. Yet still more colonists arrived, and their numbers included women. Pictured are the three ships that brought the original settlers to Jamestown in 1607: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. Despite the introduction of tobacco cultivation, the colony was a failure as a financial venture. The king declared the Virginia Company bankrupt in 1624. About 200,000 pounds were lost among the investors. The charter was thereby revoked, and Virginia became a royal colony, the first in America to be ruled by the Crown. Investments in permanent settlements were risky indeed. The merchants and gentry paid with their pocketbooks.

Many colonists paid with their lives. For every six colonists who ventured across the Atlantic, only one survived. History | Historic Jamestowne History the beginning of british america On May 14, 1607, the Virginia Company settlers landed on Jamestown Island to establish an English colony 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Discovery of the exact location of the first fort indicates its site was in a secure place, where Spanish ships could not fire point blank into the fort. Within days of landing, the colonists were attacked by Powhatan Indians. The newcomers spent the next few weeks working to "beare and plant palisadoes" for a wooden fort. It was inside this fort that England’s first permanent colony in North America took hold and the seeds for the United States of America grew. And here today you can learn from the experts who are adding vibrant details to the Jamestown story with their archaeological research. It is a dramatic story.

Disease, famine, and sporadic attacks from the neighboring Powhatan Indians took a tremendous toll on the early population of James Fort, but there were also times when trade with the Powhatan revived the colony with food in exchange for glass beads, copper, and iron tools. Captain John Smith was particularly good at this trade. But his strict leadership also made enemies, and a mysterious gunpowder explosion badly injured him and sent him back to England in October 1609. What followed was Jamestown’s darkest hour, the "starving time" winter of 1609-10. About 300 settlers crowded into James Fort when the Indians set up a siege, and only 60 settlers survived to the next spring. Some years of peace and prosperity followed the 1614 wedding of Pocahontas, the favored daughter of Chief Powhatan, to tobacco grower John Rolfe. But her uncle led a surprise attack in 1622 that killed a third of the colonists and caused the king to take full control of the colony. In these pages you will find the thrilling story of America’s birthplace.

The Starving Time | Historic Jamestowne The Starving Time “The starving time” was the winter of 1609-1610, when food shortages, fractured leadership, and a siege by Powhatan Indian warriors killed two of every three colonists at James Fort. From its beginning, the colony struggled to maintaining a food supply. Trade relations with the Virginia Indian tribes were strained because a severe seven-year drought stressed food supplies for everyone in the region. Captain John Smith had some success trading European goods for corn in the first two years of the settlement, but his strongarm tactics also angered the tribal communities. Aware of the food shortages, the Virginia Company sent a fleet of nine ships in July 1609 with new colonists and enough supplies to last through the winter. But the fleet was scattered and damaged by a hurricane. The largest ship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on the Island of Bermuda with much of the supplies and leaders such as Captain Christopher Newport, Sir George Somers, and Sir Thomas Gates. In mid-August some of the ships arrived at Jamestown with 300 colonists and few supplies.

Smith was badly injured by a mysterious gunpowder explosion and forced to return to England in October. George Percy became President of the Council and faced the lethal combination of dwindling food supplies and an order by Chief Powhatan that his warriors should attack any colonists or livestock found outside the fort. Percy later wrote that “Indians killed as fast without [the fort] as Famine and Pestilence did within.” Percy calculated that meager rations of half a can of meal a day would get them only halfway through the winter. He wrote that to satisfy their “Crewell hunger,” some went into the woods looking for “Serpents and snakes, and to digge the earthe for wylde and unknowne Rootes,” but those people “weare Cutt off and slayne by the Salvages.” Starvation weakened the colonists and led to sicknesses such as dysentery and typhoid. The colonists ate shoe leather and butchered seven horses brought from England the summer before on the ill-fated fleet.

Percy wrote, “Then, having fed upon horses and other beasts as long as they lasted, we were glad to make shift with vermin, as dogs, cats and mice.” There were charges of cannibalism: Starving settlers dug up “dead corpses outt of graves” to eat them, and others “Licked upp the Bloode which ha[d] fallen from their weake fellowes.”Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists in 2012 uncovered the first forensic evidence of survival cannibalism in a European colony in North America. The Sea Venture survivors arrived from Bermuda in May 1610 to find only 60 colonists still alive in the fort. Thomas Gates realized there would be further starvation within a few weeks; on June 7, 1610, he announced the colonists would abandon Jamestown and sail for England. But their path home was blocked by the arriving ship of the new governor of the colony, Lord De la Warr, who insisted they return and rebuild Jamestown.

“[N]othing was spared to mainteyne Lyfe and to doe those things w[hi]ch seame incredible….” – George Percy The First Residents of Jamestown - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) Explore This Park The First Residents of Jamestown On May 13, 1607 three English ships the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery with approximately 144 settlers and sailors, will land and plant the first permanent English colony in North America. Established by the Virginia Company of London this settlement would be called Jamestown, after king James I. On June 15, 1607 the fleet commander Captain Christopher Newport will return to England leaving 104 settlers. Taken from "The Proceedings - of the English Colony in Virginia since their First beginning form England in the Year of Our Lord 1606 till this Present 1612, with All their Accidents that befell them in their Journeys and Discoveries" the following is a list of the names of those known 104 settlers.

Adling (or Adding), Henry - Gentleman Alicock (or Alikock), Jeremy (or Jerome) - Gentleman - died August 14, 1607 Archer, Gabriel - Captain, Gentleman - died Winter 1609-1610 Asbie, John - died August 6, 1607 Beast (or Best), Benjamin - Gentleman - died September 5, 1607 Behothland (or Behethand, Beheland), Robert - Gentleman - died 1628 Brinto (or Brinton), Edward - Mason, Soldier Brookes, Edward - Gentleman - died April 7, 1607 Brookes, John - Gentleman Browne, Edward - Gentleman - died August 15, 1607 Brunfield, James - Boy Bruster (or Brewster), William - Gentleman - died August 10, 1607 Capper, John Cassen (or Cawsen), George - Laborer - died December 1607 Cassen, Thomas - Laborer Clovill, Ustis (or Eustace) - Gentleman - died June 7

, 1607 Collier, Samuel - Boy - died 1622 Cooke, Roger - Gentleman Cooper (or Cowper), Thomas - Barber Crofts, Richard - Gentleman Emry, Thomas - Carpenter - died December 1607 Fenton, Robert - Gentleman Flower (or Flowre), George - Gentleman - died August 9, 1607 Ford, Robert - Gentleman Galthrope (or Halthrop, Calthrop), Stephen - Gentleman - died August 15, 1607 Garret, William - Bricklayer Golding (or Goulding), George - Laborer Gosnold (or Gosnoll), Anthony, (Cousin) - Gentleman - died January 7, 1609 Gosnold (or Gosnoll), Anthony, (Cousin) - Gentleman Gosnold (or Gosnoll), Bartholomew - Captain, Councilor - died August 16, 1607 Gower (or Gore), Thomas - Gentleman - died August 16, 1607 Harrington, Edward - Gentleman - died August 24, 160

7 Herd, John - Bricklayer Hunt, Robert - Master, Preacher, Gentleman - died before 1609 Jacob, Thomas - Sergeant - died September 4, 1607 Johnson, William - Laborer Kendall, George - Captain, Councilor - died December 1, 1607 Kingston (or Kiniston), Ellis - Gentleman - died September 18, 1607 Laxton (or Laxon), William - Carpenter Laydon, John - Laborer, Carpenter Loue (or Love), William - Tailor, Soldier Martin, John, (Senior), Captain, Councilor - died June 1632 Martin, John, (Junior), Gentleman - died August 18, 1607 Martin, George - Gentleman Midwinter, Francis - Gentleman - died August 14, 1607 Morish (or Morris), Edward - Gentleman, Corporal - died August 14, 1607 Morton, Matthew - Sailor Mounslie, Thomas - Laborer - died August 17, 1607 Mouton, Thomas - Gentleman - died September 19, 16

07 Mutton, Richard - Boy Peacock (or Peacocke, Pecock), Nathaniel - Boy Penington, Robert - Gentleman - died August 18, 1607 Percy (or Percie, Percye), George - Master, Gentleman - died 1632 Pickhouse (or Piggas), Drue - Gentleman - died August 19, 1607 Posing (or Pising), Edward - Carpenter Powell, Nathaniel - Gentleman - died March 22, 1622 Profit, Jonas - Fisherman Ratcliffe (or Sicklemore), John - Captain, Councilor - died November 1609 Read, James - Blacksmith, Soldier - died March 13, 1622 Robinson, John (or Jehu) - Gentleman - died December 1607 Rods (or Rodes, Roods), William - Laborer - died August 27, 1607 Sands, Thomas - Gentleman Short, Edward - Laborer - died August 1607 Simons, Richard - Gentleman - died September 18, 1607 Skot (or Scot

), Nicholas - Drummer Small, Robert - Carpenter Smith (or Smyth), John - Captain, Councilor - died June 1631 Snarsbrough, Francis - Gentleman Studley (or Stoodie), Thomas - Gentleman - died August 28, 1607 Tankard, William - Gentleman Tavin (or Tauin), Henry - Laborer Throgmorton (or Throgmortine), Kellam (or Kenelme) - Gentleman - died August 26, 1607 Todkill, Anas - Soldier Vnger (or Unger), William - Laborer Waller (or Waler), John - Gentleman - died August 24, 1607 Walker, George - Gentleman

Question: In which US State is Jamestown, site of the first settlement in 1609?
Answer: VIRGINIA