"The World of 1607," a special exhibition at Jamestown Settlement from April 2007 to April 2008, put the founding of Jamestown in a global context and focused on worldwide cultural developments during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Explore themes from "The World of 1607" in audio minutes.
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in 2007, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Virginia state agency that operates Jamestown Settlement, and WCVE-FM Richmond produced a series of audio 'minutes' titled "Jamestown: A Fruitful Soil," providing a historical overview of the people and events of 17th-century Virginia.
England in 1067 When the early colonists departed England bound for Virginia, they left behind a society divided by class, rank, wealth and religion, but also one uniquely unified in its view of the world.
Africans Come to Virginia The great tobacco fortunes of early Virginia would not have been possible but for the steady supply of African slaves toward the end of the 17th Century. They were transported from Africa along an extensive and sophisticated pipeline.
Algonquian Empire
In 1607, when Christopher Newport’s little fleet anchored in what would be called the James River, it made rival claim to a domain, inhabited by the highly organized and sophisticated Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom.
Profit Motive and Global Economy
The Virginia Company's huge investment finally paid off. Although it came too late to save the company, the profits from tobacco made Jamestown a significant player in the world economy.
Virginia Company Charters and Challenges
Over its seventeen year life span, the Virginia Company struggled to plant a colony far from the edge of European civilization and to make it yield a profit. To some extent they were making it up as they went along.
The Brothers Powhatan
In 1607 Indians of Virginia's Tidewater discovered they had new neighbors on the James River. Their leaders, Powhatan and Opechancanough, countered the English threat in different ways.
John Smith and the Problems of LeadershipCouncilor, geographer, diplomat, soldier, taskmaster. In great measure, the Jamestown settlement survived by the hand of Captain John Smith.
Conlonial Entrepeneurs In a burst of entrepreneurial creativity, the Virginia Company, founder of the Jamestown colony, tried again and again and again to make the colony a commercial success.
Angolan Connection Angela, an African from what is now the modern nation of Angola, was captured by Portuguese slave traders for shipment to the Spanish colony of Mexico. In 1619, when her ship was captured by privateers in the Caribbean, she became one of the first Africans in Virginia.
The Great Charter and the First General Assembly
The prospects for Virginia seemed bleak in 1618. The death rate was high, there were few if any profits or capital resources, and the course of the colony was uncertain. That year the colony acquired a new leader and a new direction.
Women
Although outnumbered, sometimes six to one, women played an important role in the survival and prosperity of Jamestown and Virginia.
Tobacco and Labor Tobacco cultivation in early Virginia could be lucrative if one had land and labor. Land was there for the taking, labor was another matter.
Virginia Company of London For nearly two decades the Virginia Company of London tried to exploit its monopoly in the New World. Despite its efforts and innovations, its money and influence, the company could not make the colony pay.
Voyage to Virginia
In late April 1607 after 6,000 miles and over four months at sea, a little flotilla bearing 104 settlers and the hopes of anxious investors, rounded Cape Henry beginning the grand adventure that became Virginia.
Pocahontas and the Two Johns - Smith and Rolfe One of the most famous love stories in history is that of Pocahontas and John Smith. There's only one little problem with that romantic tale: It never happened.
Virginia Expands Jamestown was the first English settlement in Virginia in 1607. Within a few years, though, the colony began to stretch its boundaries both in population and territory
FLASH player required for Introductory Video, Quadricentennial Minutes and Jamestown Chronicles. Click here for free download.
Administered by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia that is accredited by the American Association of Museums.
