Jamestown

Jamestown is located in Virginia. It was the first colony that survived in the New World and became permanent. This colony was originally founded by the London Company. This was a joint stock company that was established by King James I. Jamestown was the first colony that the London Company founded.

So the London Company sent out fleets to discover a good piece of land to colonize. The company would provide for the colony in the beginning. It took a lot of looking around for good land but sooner or later they founded the land for the colony of Jamestown on May 24^th, 1607.

Since the colony was just starting out there would be some tough years ahead of them to get the colony moving and become successful. Most of the population of this colony was of lazy fortune-seekers. They were lazy because they would just be looking for treasure and not help out with the colony. Because of this, two thirds of the colonists died from survival issues.

Later, more people joined the colony from Poland and Germany. A man named John Smith took over the colony and helped it grow. He encouraged the colonists to work together. He stated, “If anyone would not work, neither would he eat”.

Unfortunately, John Smith had to return to England and leave Jamestown because he was suffering from a wound that he encountered in 1609. Because of this the years 1609-1610 was named “The Starving Time” because Jamestown was suffering from starvation.

Things started to turn around for Jamestown in 1614. This colony was an investment from investors in England. They were tired of putting all their money into this land. But a man named John Rolfe planted tobacco in 1610. He later harvested it in 1614. This was a great turning point for Jamestown. Tobacco became a great money maker for Jamestown. John Rolfe was a very wealthy man as a result of his crop and married an Indian Princess named Pochahontas. This wealthy man was one of the people who helped save Jamestown.

So, John Rolfe and Pochahontas lived in Jamestown for quite a while until his wife became ill. John Rolfe took Pochahontas back to England in hopes for a cure. Unfortunately she died even before she could return back to Jamestown.

John Rolfe and Pochahontas are people that are greatly remembered today but they were not the only ones in this story who helped out with the colony of Jamestown. At this time in history settling new colonies in a new world was very difficult so they needed lots of help from many people.

In 1624 Jamestown finally could become independent. This location is better known today as Virginia. This was just one of the many successful colonies that were established in the New World.