Jamestown Colony

Jamestown, a settlement of England's Virginia Colony, was founded in 1607, and was the first successful English settlement in the New World.

1. June 1606: King James I charters the Virginia Company to establish a settlement near the Chesapeake Bay
2. April 26, 1607: Colonists arrive
3. May 14, 1607: Site chosen on the James River, 60 miles from the Chesapeake
4. 1607: Pocahontas allegedly saves Captain John Smith from death at the hands of Chief Powhatan
5. 1608: Most of Jamestown destroyed by fire, Pocohantas provides supplies
6. 1609-1610: John Smith leaves Jamestown, most colonists die that winter of starvation and disease
7. July 30, 1619: First representative assembly in the New World convenes at Jamestown
8. 1622: Over 300 settlers killed in Indian attack
9. 1624: Charter revoked by King James I, due to mismanagement and poor relations with Indians

Jamestown was in many ways a failed experiment: Begun with high expectations from the investors who financed it, by 1611, it had amassed little besides a record of deaths, losses, and disasters, and exported nothing of value. A turn in fortune came with the discovery of tobacco as a suitable export crop, making colonists such as John Rolfe (the husband of Pocahontas) wealthy and regionally powerful, and leading to an economic boom that fueled further investment and expansion.

• Clemson University: Did Pocahontas save Captain John Smith?

• The Daily Collegian Online: Letter to the Editor: Anglicans, not Puritans Founded This Country (2002)

• Vanishing American: Jamestown: The Controversy (2007)

• Ethics Scoreboard: The Newport Statue Revisited: Where Responsibility Lies (2007)

• NPR: Jamestown's Early Days Were Brutish and Short (2007)

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