The first permanent English settlement in America was founded at
Jamestown, Virginia, in May, 1607. The colonists who went ashore that
spring morning more than three and one-half centuries ago discovered no
cultivated countryside. Instead of the trim, green farms one sees along
the James River today, they found a howling wilderness full of hostile
Indians and wild beasts. Neither the colonists nor their
merchant-sponsors in England were prepared for the troubles that
Jamestown faced. The settlers died of disease, starvation, and Indian
attacks, and they quarreled endlessly among themselves. The stockholders
in the Virginia Company never made any money on their investment in the
colony.
The Jamestown settlers sailed from England in three ships on December
19, 1606. Captain Christopher Newport was in charge of getting the
colonists to Virginia. The ships stopped in the Canary Islands and the
West Indies before reaching their destination. It was a long, exhausting
voyage. Several weeks after landing at Jamestown, Captain Newport
returned to England. The settlers then were on their own.