1. Chapter 3-1 Early English Settlements

2. The Virginia Company
1606 The Virginia Company receives a Charter from King James I for land in North America
Charter – right to organize settlements
Joint-Stock Company – investors buy share or stock in a company in exchange for future profits

3. 3-1 Jamestown
April 1607 ships enter Chesapeake Bay and establish the settlement of Jamestown
Settlers faced many hardships
Poor farmland (very swampy)
Swarmed by mosquitoes with disease
Many colonists not accustomed to labor
Investors in London expected quick profits so many spent their time looking for gold and silver

4. 3-1 Captain John Smith Spring 1608 38 of 144 settlers left
Smith forced the settlers to work
Explored the area and traded with Native Americans for corn
new settlers arrived
Fall-1609 Smith returns to England and the colony begins to fail without strong leadership
Spring 1610 only 60 survivors

5. 3-1 Economics No gold or silver found
John Rolfe – begins planting tobacco and selling his crops in England, Virginia now has a crop that will help them prosper and grow
1614 – The V. Company allows colonists to rent plots of land
Encourages colonists to work harder
Allows colonists to operate for a profit in a competitive system

6. 3-1 Economics 1618 – private land ownership expanded
Colonists that can pay their way are granted 100 acres plus additional land for family and slaves over 15
This was known as a headright

7. 3-1 Representative Government
1619 – The Virginia Company allows colonists to have some say in how they are governed
10 towns sent 2 representatives each called burgesses to meet
The assembly had the right to make local laws for the colony
Met for the first time in a church and became known as The House of Burgesses

8. 3-1 New Arrivals in Jamestown
1619 – women
African American laborers
William Tucker, first African American born in America, he was free
1660’s was when slavery became recognized by the colony law
1620’s The Virginia Company faced many financial troubles
1624 King James canceled the charter and made Virginia the first royal English colony in America