King James I granted a charter to the Virginia Company to establish England's first successful colony in North America at Jamestown in 1607. The colony struggled at first due to its location in a swamp which led to disease, lack of food production as colonists searched for gold, and threats of starvation. John Smith helped save the colony through peaceful relations with Native Americans and establishing agriculture. The cultivation of tobacco as a cash crop in 1612 helped the Jamestown colony prosper. The colony established a representative government in 1619 and saw the arrival of both additional settlers including the first enslaved Africans.

1. England’s First Successful Colony Building the Jamestown Colony

6. “ Desperate settlers cooked dogs, cats, rats, snakes and toadstools to survive. To keep warm, the broke up houses to burn as firewood.”