Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown, Virginia

For whom, was the settlement at Jamestown named for?

What?When?

Jamestown • 1st permanent English settlement in N. America

• 1607

WHO?

King James I • became King of England in 1603

• succeeded Queen Elizabeth I

• Authorized and financed the translation of the Bible into English

• Granted a charter to the Virginia Company to organize a settlement in Virginia

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charter- official document that gives certain rights to an individual or a group

The Virginia Company • A joint-stock company (investors bought stock in return for a share in profits)

• Hoped to find gold• Hoped to establish a

trade in fish and fur

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The Colonists • 105 Englishmen and boys

• Mostly “gentlemen”

Why?

Motives Reasons

Purpose

• Mostly to get rich– Gold, iron– Timber– Northwest passage to

Asia• Prevent the Spanish

from settling there– Limit spread of

Catholicism• Convert the natives to

Christianity• Look for Roanoke

Colonists

How?

The Voyage • 3 ships– Susan Constant– Discovery– Godspeed

• 144 Days

Where?

Location• Island provided a deep water port (easier

for ships)• Easily defendable because it was

surrounded on three sides by water and swamp on the fourth.

Major Difficulties ensued…

• Food shortages• Disease and illness• Relationship with the

Powatan• Lack of skilled labor

• Only 4 carpenters, two bricklayers, 1 mason and 1 blacksmith arrived with the first settlers

• 1 tailor, 1 barber, 2 surgeons

After 8 months, only 38 of the original 104 had survived

Women? – a year later Mistress Forrest and her maid arrived

– Most women who followed were wives of men already there

– 1620, 90 women came to serve as wives with 50 more following in 1621

Government • first representative assembly in North America

• capitol of Virginia until 1699 when it was moved to Williamsburg.

Check this out!

• Virtual Jamestown -http://www.virtualjamestown.org/page2.html

• JR - http://apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=67