Chapter 3-1Early English Settlements

The Virginia Company

• 1606 The Virginia Company receives a Charter from King James I for land in North America

• Charter – right to organize settlements• Joint-Stock Company – investors buy share or

stock in a company in exchange for future profits

3-1 Jamestown

• April 1607 ships enter Chesapeake Bay and establish the settlement of Jamestown

• Settlers faced many hardships– Poor farmland (very swampy)– Swarmed by mosquitoes with disease

• Many colonists not accustomed to labor• Investors in London expected quick profits so

many spent their time looking for gold and silver

3-1 Captain John Smith

• Spring 1608 38 of 144 settlers left• Smith forced the settlers to work• Explored the area and traded with Native

Americans for corn• 1609 400 new settlers arrived• Fall-1609 Smith returns to England and the

colony begins to fail without strong leadership• Spring 1610 only 60 survivors

3-1 Economics

• No gold or silver found• John Rolfe – begins planting tobacco and

selling his crops in England, Virginia now has a crop that will help them prosper and grow

• 1614 – The V. Company allows colonists to rent plots of land– Encourages colonists to work harder– Allows colonists to operate for a profit in a

competitive system

3-1 Economics

• 1618 – private land ownership expanded– Colonists that can pay their way are granted 100

acres plus additional land for family and slaves over 15

– This was known as a headright

3-1 Representative Government

• 1619 – The Virginia Company allows colonists to have some say in how they are governed– 10 towns sent 2 representatives each called

burgesses to meet• The assembly had the right to make local laws

for the colony– Met for the first time in a church and became

known as The House of Burgesses

3-1 New Arrivals in Jamestown

• 1619 – women• African American laborers– William Tucker, first African American born in America,

he was free– 1660’s was when slavery became recognized by the

colony law• 1620’s The Virginia Company faced many financial

troubles• 1624 King James canceled the charter and made

Virginia the first royal English colony in America