May 13, 1607: Jamestown founded

In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, a group of 104 English men and boys began a settlement on the banks of Virginia's James River. They were sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, whose stockholders hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World. The community suffered terrible hardships in its early years, but managed to endure, earning the distinction of being America's first permanent English colony.

Some 100 English colonists arrive along the west bank of the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Dispatched from England by the London Company, the colonists had sailed across the Atlantic aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery.

Upon landing at Jamestown, the first colonial council was held by seven settlers whose names had been chosen and placed in a sealed box by King James I. The council, which included Captain John Smith, an English adventurer, chose Edward Wingfield as its first president. After only two weeks, Jamestown came under attack from warriors from the local Algonquian Native American confederacy, but the Indians were repulsed by the armed settlers. In December of the same year, John Smith and two other colonists were captured by Algonquians while searching for provisions in the Virginia wilderness. His companions were killed, but he was spared, according to a later account by Smith, because of the intercession of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's daughter.

During the next two years, disease, starvation, and more Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more settlers and supplies. The severe winter of 1609 to 1610, which the colonists referred to as the "starving time," killed most of the Jamestown colonists, leading the survivors to plan a return to England in the spring. However, on June 10, Thomas West De La Warr, the newly appointed governor of Virginia, arrived with supplies and convinced the settlers to remain at Jamestown. In 1612, John Rolfe cultivated the first tobacco at Jamestown, introducing a successful source of livelihood. On April 5, 1614, Rolfe married Pocahontas, thus assuring a temporary peace with Chief Powhatan.

The death of Powhatan in 1618 brought about a resumption of conflict with the Algonquians, including an attack led by Chief Opechancanough in 1622 that nearly wiped out the settlement. The English engaged in violent reprisals against the Algonquians, but there was no further large-scale fighting until 1644, when Opechancanough led his last uprising and was captured and executed at Jamestown. In 1646, the Algonquian Confederacy agreed to give up much of its territory to the rapidly expanding colony, and, beginning in 1665, its chiefs were appointed by the governor of Virginia.

This Week in History, May 13 - May 19

May 13, 1568 Mary Queen of Scots defeated
May 13, 1607 Jamestown settlers arrive
May 13, 1981 Pope John Paul II shot

May 14, 1796 Jenner tests smallpox vaccine
May 14, 1904 First American Olympiad
May 14, 1948 State of Israel proclaimed
May 14, 1973 Skylab launched

May 15, 1756 The Seven Years War begins
May 15, 1941 First Allied jet flies
May 15, 1963 The flight of Faith 7
May 15, 1972 Governor George Wallace shot

May 16, 1770 Louis marries Marie Antoinette
May 16, 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends
May 16, 1968 Protests mount in France
May 16, 1975 Japanese woman scales Everest

May 17, 1970 Heyerdahl sails papyrus boat
May 17, 1973 Televised Watergate hearings begin
May 17, 2004 First legal same-sex marriage performed in Massachusetts

May 18, 1860 Lincoln nominated for presidency
May 18, 1896 Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson
May 18, 1974 India joins the nuclear club
May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens erupts

May 19, 1588 Spanish Armada sets sail
May 19, 1749 Ohio Company chartered