1. First English Permanent settlement
Jamestown 1607
First English Permanent settlement

2. English Settlers in Virginia (VA)
A. Staking a Claim in the Americas
– English merchants formed a joint-stock company, companies that sell
shares to investors.
a. Virginia Company of Plymouth
b. Virginia Company of London
2. Companies received a charter from King James to settle and trade
certain areas of America.
a. London charter would settle in Virginia.
b. Colonists would have the same rights as English citizens.

3. Jamestown – The First Permanent English Colony in North America Founded in 1607
London Company sent 144 men to begin a colony in North
America.
a. Arrived in April 1607
2. Sailed sixty miles up the James River and established Jamestown.
3. Jamestown’s Location
a. Good lookout for Spanish ships.
b. Good for trade with the Indians.
c. Problems:
1. Swampy land
2. Lacked drinking water
“Starving Time”
3. People knew nothing about living in the wilderness
4. Mosquitoes spread malaria
5. People wanted only to “dig gold, wash gold, refine
gold, load gold.”
d. By January 1608 only 38 men still lived.

4. Governing Jamestown
a. The Virginia Company chose a council of 13 men to rule the settlement.
1. Captain John Smith – took charge in order to save the colony; he
ordered forts and homes built and stated:
“Those that will not work, shall not eat!”
2. Smith bargained for supplies with Native Americans, specifically the
Powhatan Confederacy
a. Peaceful relations did not last between the colonists and
Native Americans.
b. Indians refused to supply food.
c. Colonists used force to seize what they needed.
d. Led to frequent warfare.
e. Peace would not be restored until colonist
John Rolfe married Pocahontas.

5. Growth of Jamestown
a. Jamestown’s economy finally improved after 1612, with a new crop
tobacco.
b. Planters set up tobacco plantations (large farms needing mass labor)
and hired indentured servants - people who agreed to work a certain
number of years (usually 3-4) in exchange for passage to America.
c the first slaves were brought to Jamestown.

6. Representative Government
A representative government is where voters elects representatives to
make the laws for them, and the colonists should have a say in the affairs of
the colonies.
b. To attract more settlers to Virginia, the Virginia Company allowed male
settlers to elect burgesses, or representatives to the government.
c. Together the governor and the council made the laws for the
colonies.
1. Virginia House of Burgesses – the first representative government
the English colonies.
2. Met for the first time in 1619.
d – King James I made Virginia a royal colony, a colony under
the control of the King of England.