EARLY ENGLISH COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA

ENGLISH SETTLERS ESTABLISH COLONIES IN THE NEW WORLD

The English colonies were founded by a system of independent Proprietary Governors which were individuals or companies who were granted commercial charters by the King of England to establish colonies in North America. These proprietors would select their own governors and officials for their colony. The colonies were recognized as commercial enterprises established under authority of the English crown. The most prominent of these companies was the Virginia Company which created the first successful English settlement at Jamestown.

THE ENGLISH FIND SUCCESS AND PROFIT FROM TOBACCO

Jamestown had a very rocky start but that changed when John Rolfe, an Englishman who married the famous Pocahontas, introduced West Indian Tobacco to the colony. There it was harvested and exported earning Jamestown great profits and ensured the settlements success.

With successful colonies set in Jamestown, Bermuda, and Virginia, England took over the Dutch colony of New Netherland as well as the New Amsterdam settlement which in 1664 they renamed the Province of New York.