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Population chart of Virginia, including Roanoke Colony and Jamestown numbers. Among the survivors of the Sea Venture who arrived at Jamestown in May 1610, and were turned back by Lord Delaware, was a young Englishman named John Rolfe. His wife and young daughter had perished during the journey and delay at Bermuda.
Price, Jacob M. France and the Chesapeake: A History of the French Tobacco Monopoly, 1674–1791, and of its Relationship to the British and American Tobacco Trades (University of Michigan Press, 1973. 2 vols) online book review; Rainbolt, John C. “The Case of the Poor Planters in Virginia for Inspecting and Burning Tobacco.”
The James Fort c. 1608 as depicted on the map by Pedro de Zúñiga. Jamestown, also Jamestowne, was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as the capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg.
Jamestown occupied land belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy; it was also on the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies by ship in 1610. Tobacco became Virginia's first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns.
The colonists at Jamestown were saved only by the timely arrival three weeks later of a supply mission headed by Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, better known as "Lord Delaware". The Virginia Company of London failed to discover gold or silver in Virginia, to the disappointment of its investors. However, they did establish trade of various types.
The birthplace of John Rolfe, born c. 1585, remains unproven. At that time, the Spanish Empire held a virtual monopoly on the lucrative tobacco trade. Most Spanish colonies in the Americas were located in South America and the West Indies, which were more favorable to tobacco growth than their English counterparts (founded in the early 17th century, notably Jamestown in 1607).
[3] [4] They most likely worked in the tobacco fields, under a system of race-based indentured servitude. [5] [6] The modern conception of slavery in the British colonies was formalized in 1640, and fully entrenched in Virginia by 1660. [7] In 1676, Jamestown was deliberately burned during Bacon's Rebellion, though it was rebuilt.
Painting of John Smith and colonists landing in Jamestown. On 4 May [O.S. 14 May] 1607, 105 to 108 English men and boys (surviving the voyage from England) established the Jamestown Settlement for the Virginia Company of London, on a slender peninsula on the bank of the James River.