Jamestown Colony

Established 1607

Joint Stock Company – A company owned by

many people. Virginia Company of London – A joint stock

company formed to make a colony in the New World.

Indentured Servants – People who agree to work for 5-7 years (usually) in exchange for passage to the New World.

Vocabulary Preview

Primary Goal: Find

gold and other resources.

Secondary Goal: Use the land to generate wealth through cash crops.

Why Colonize?

Why Talk About

Jamestown? It was the first successful

English Colony in the New World.

First representative government in the New World

Settle by the

“James River” Why did they

choose to settle next to the river? By river: easy to

bring in people & supplies

Inland: Hidden from Spanish ships sailing in Atlantic

Where Was the Colony?

144 Men set out for the New World, 39

died on the voyage Settlement was in swampland Impure drinking water Disease Starvation Lack of skills: hunting, fishing and

farming Native American Attacks

Early Issues

Two Men Save the

ColonyJohn Smith John Rolfe

John Smith

Disney Version

John Smith True Life Painting

First leader of Jamestown Colony.Created laws forcing people to

work.Fixed damaged relations with the

Indians.Increased trade with Indians who

helped colonists survive.

John Rolfe

Brought tobacco to North America from the Caribbean.

Cross-bred North American tobacco and Caribbean type, making a product that Europeans would pay for.

This high value cash crop saved the economy of Jamestown.

Jamestown Grows

Tobacco cultivation makes people very wealthy.Virginia Co. promises 50 acres for anyone who will go to the colony.

People begin coming to the New World via “indentured servitude.”

Others came as apprentices, trying to make a career. (blacksmiths, silversmiths, cobblers, printers)

The Seed of Government

Burgesses- Elected Representatives.House of Burgesses- Elected officials would meet and make laws for the colony. This is the first representative government in the American Colonies.