2. ENGLAND PLANTS the JAMESTOWN SEEDLING
In 1606, a joint stock company, known as the Virginia
Company of London, received a charter from King
James I of England for a settlement in the New
World.
1. How did the joint stock company work?
2. Why was the charter of the Virginia Company
significant in American history?
3. On May 24, 1607, about 100 English settlers, all of them men, disembarked. They called
the place Jamestown. Describe the plight of the first arrivals.
4. The colonist’s arrival 400 years ago unleashed changes that profoundly transformed the environment.
5.
6. Jamestown was saved from utter
collapse by the leadership of Captain
John Smith.
Despite Smith’s efforts, the colonists
died in droves, and dying individuals
were driven to desperate acts. They
were reduced to eating “doggs, catts,
ratts, myce” and even to digging up
corpses for food. One hungry man
killed, salted, and ate his wife, for which
he was killed.
Of the 400 settlers in Virginia by 1609,
only 60 survived the “starving time”
winter of 1609-1610.
7. As the desperate survivors began the journey back to England, they met a relief party
led by a new governor, Lord De La Warr. He ordered the settlers back to Jamestown,
imposed a harsh military regime, and undertook aggressive military action against the
Indians.
Disease continued to be the biggest killer. By 1625, only approx. 1,200 of the nearly
8,000 attempted settlers remained in Virginia.
Lord De La Warr
