Jamestown: England’s First Successful Colony By Difan Li

 Jamestown: England’s First Successful Colony

By Difan Li

Even though England joined late in the colonization party, with failure of the Roanoke Colony hanging over their heads, their next attempt at conquering the New World brought with it tremendous and long-lasting results. In 1606, King James I of England gave the Virginia Company of London a charter for a New World settlement. This was intended as a short-term expenditure to later sell for profit, and the people who joined were seized by the promise of gold in the New World. They faced great pressure to gain wealth or be abandoned in the wilderness. 

On May 24, 1607, a hundred English settlers disembarked at Jamestown. Forty had died enroute, and from the outset they were plagued with setbacks and disasters. A 1609 expedition cost them leaders and supplies, and death became more and more prominent through disease, malnutrition, and starvation. The men wasted time searching for gold rather than searching for a means of food for which they would soon so desperately be in need. The colony was on the brink of collapse until it was saved by Captain John Smith, who set the men to work under strict rules. The Indian chieftain, Powhatan, helped provide supplies for the settlers, easing their terrible conditions. However, starvation and a “starving winter” led to desperation, and the new governor Lord De La Warr imposed a military regime, taking action against the Indians and breaking off their peaceful relations. By 1625, only a few survivors remained. 

In 1607, Powhatan was the native chief in charge in the area, having formed a Powhatan’s Confederacy. They attempted to have peace with the settlers but the colonists, stricken by hunger, often raided natives for food and supplies. Lord De La Warr declared war against the Indians, leading to the first Anglo-Powhatan War in 1614. It was only settled through a peace agreement with the marriage of Pocahontas to the English settler, John Rolfe. By the Second Anglo-Powhatan War in 1644, the Indians had been defeated, banished, and separated, and were considered virtually extinct. They fell to disease, disorganization, and disposability. Diseases such as smallpox and measles wiped out large numbers of the population, they had lack of unity and military discipline as a loose collection of tribes, and served no economic advantages for the Europeans, rendering them useless in their eyes. 

The Virginia Colony eventually evolved into its prosperous, successful form from these humble origins with the help of the tobacco plant. John Rolfe became known as the economic savior of the colony after he established the cultivation of tobacco. The products of tobacco-planting in the New World were eagerly accepted back in Europe, and there was demand for more land and even more plantations. While tobacco was successful, it came with several disadvantages. The plant destroyed the soil and led to dependence on a single crop. Tending to it also required a large labor force, from which sprouted the slave system of the 17-18th century. The House of Burgesses was established in the colony as the first assembly and miniature parliament in America. In 1624, James I revoked the charter of the Virginia Company and made Virginia a royal colony under the crown’s direct control. 

Works Cited

Kennedy, David M, et al. The American Pageant : A History of the Republic. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co, 2006.