Jamestown colony history jamestown colonists

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.

It became the first long-term English settlement in North America.^[1][2]

The trips aboard the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and the Godspeed, and the settlement itself, were sponsored by the London Company, whose "adventurers" (investors) hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World.

The settlers suffered terrible hardships in its early years, including sickness, starvation, and native attacks. By early 1610, most of the settlers had died due to starvation and disease.^[3] With resupply and additional immigrants, it managed to endure, becoming America's first permanent English colony.^[4]

Once the settlement location was chosen, the company members