European settlements
European settlementsThe European history of Virginia began in 1570 with a short-lived Spanish mission probably located on the York River. In 1584, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained a grant from Queen Elizabeth to colonize all of North America not occuppied by the Spanish or French. The first expedition to the vast new territory, named Virginia in honor of the queen, was sent out the same year by Sir Walter Raleigh and arrived at Roanoke Island in 1585. More settlers came two years later, but by 1591--their supplies having been interrupted by England's war with Spain--all the colonists had died or disappeared.
After a few other false starts, on December 20, 1606, the London Company, established by Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton, sent out three ships--Susan Constant, Discovery, and Goodspeed--carrying 143 adventurers, most of them, according to the 18th Century Virginia writer William Byrd, "reprobates good families." The ships landed on April 26, 1607, and the settlement of Jamestown, named in honor of the king, was established May...
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