Virginia Company Ships Set Sail: Jamestown Expedition Begins
Three ships. 105 men. Zero women. The Virginia Company promised gold and a passage to China — neither existed. What they found instead: swamp, starvation, and Powhatan warriors who'd been watching Europeans fail for decades. Within six months, half the settlers were dead. Within three years, some resorted to cannibalism. But they didn't leave. Tobacco saved them — John Rolfe's 1612 crop became so profitable that by 1619, the settlement imported both democracy and enslaved Africans in the same summer. England finally had its foothold, built not on exploration or idealism, but on the simple, stubborn refusal to abandon a terrible investment.
December 20, 1606
420 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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