The Virginia Company, established in 1606, founded Jamestown in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in North America. Initial settlers faced severe hardships, including starvation and disease, which led to hostilities with the Powhatan Confederacy. Captain John Smith emerged as a leader during this crisis, forging a vital relationship with local tribes and emphasizing the importance of work for survival.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 3: The Virginia Colony

2. THE VIRGINIA COMPANY
ESTABLISHED IN 1606
APRIL-MAY 1607
English settlers arrived in Chesapeake Bay
and founded the settlement of Jamestown.

3. THE FIRST CHARTER
OF VIRGINIA (1606)
• Established the Virginia
Company of London and
granted it land in North America.
Company members wanted to
mine for gold on the land.
• Issued by King James I, thus
installing the English monarchy
as the sovereign of the land
granted to the company.
• Required settlers to spread
Christianity in North America.
• Extended the customary rights
of Englishmen to anyone born in
a North American colony.

4. THE FIRST CHARTER
OF VIRGINIA (1606)
• Also granted land to the
Plymouth Company of London
and identified a zone of overlap
between Plymouth land and the
Virginia Company land grant.
• Members of the Plymouth
Company settled at Popham in
present-day Maine in 1607.
• In 1608, the Popham settlement
failed and the Plymouth
Company faded away.

5. THE JAMESTOWN
SETTLEMENT (1607)
• The first permanent English
settlement in North America.
• Settlers arrived on three small
ships: the Discovery, the Susan
Constant, and the Godspeed.
• Settlers departed England in
December 1606 and arrived in
Chesapeake Bay in April 1607.
• The settlement was governed
largely according to Biblical law.
• The settlement was founded on
territory belonging to the tribes
of the Powhatan Confederacy.

6. THE JAMESTOWN
SETTLEMENT (1607)
• The settlement came close to
failure, with more than sixty of
the original 104 settlers having
died by 1608. Starvation and
disease were the two most
common causes of death.
• A long period of starvation
continued until 1609. This
problem led settlers to attack
and raid the villages of nearby
Native American clans, resulting
in war with the Powhatan tribes.

7. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH: SETTLER AND AUTHOR
John Smith sailed to
Chesapeake Bay with
the Virginia Company,
but Christopher
Newport, the captain of
the voyage, charged
him with mutiny and
ordered him to be
executed upon arrival in
North America.
Luckily for Smith, new
orders were received
when the members of
the company reached
their destination and
those orders appointed
Smith as one of the
settlement’s leaders. As
a result, Smith was
spared from death.

8. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH: SETTLER AND AUTHOR
“He that will
not work
shall not eat.”
When Newport left the
settlement to seek out
new supplies, Smith
took command. He led
the settlers through the
so-called ‘Starving
Time’ with occasional
help from the Powhatan
people, with whom he
had a good relationship.

9. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 3: The Virginia Colony