9781422274231

charter to the Virginia Company to establish a permanent English settlement in North America. The company was a business venture, and shares were sold to pay the cost of sending people and supplies to the new land, called Virginia, to create a settlement. The people who bought shares in the Virginia Company expected to receive a return on their investment from gold, silver, or other valuables discovered in Virginia. BUILDING A NEW COLONY The first group of about a hundred English colonists arrived at Virginia in May of 1607. They found a suitable spot for a community, and set to work building shelters, a fort, and a storehouse, and a church. This first settlement was called Jamestown, in honor of the king. But establishing a colony in a faraway land was not easy. The settlers did not have adequate supplies, and they had trouble with local Native Americans. Many

English colonists arrive in Virginia, 1607. Several previous attempts to establish a colony in Virginia had failed.

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Origins of Slavery in America