Arrival at Jamestown

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement

Jamestown was located on land that belonged to the Powhatan Confederacy, specifically the Paspahegh tribe. The Native Americans initially welcomed the colonists and provided them with important resources and help with agriculture. However, the relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans quickly got worse and the colonists destroyed the Paspahegh people in war within 4 years.

Upon arriving, the English colonists chose a piece of land on a peninsula as the location for their settlement. The location was uninhabited because the Native Americans believed the area was unsuitable for agriculture. The island was swampy and plagued by mosquitoes, and had salty river water that was unsafe to drink. The settlers also arrived during a drought and too late in the season to grow crops. Furthermore, many colonists were gentlemen and therefore not accustomed to hard labor. Due to the combination of these factors, more than 80% of the colonists at Jamestown died from 1609-1610 from starvation and disease.

In 1606, English colonists set sail to establish a colony in the New World. The fleet of ships included the Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed. They had a four month long voyage and finally reached the American mainland on April 26th, 1607.

Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was established by the Virginia Company of London on May 4th, 1607 in the Colony of Virginia. Jamestown was the colonial capital from 1616 until 1699.