Essay On The First Settlement Of Virginia

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The people in the Virginia Company were the first people to make the arduous 4-month journey to Virginia based on funding given by king James. They founded the first settlement of Jamestown, and since the beginnings of colonization in Virginia, the settlers have faced problems. The settlers of Virginia faced problems because of the small number of people who migrated to Virginia, the geography of Virginia, the native people living there, and the economy of the new colony. One of the obstacles the people of Virginia faced was getting enough to people to actually join the settlement. The government of England wanted the people who lived in Virginia to send back valuable goods, and produce their own food. However, the first expedition in 1607 was comprised of adventurers and traders, ill fitted for settlement life. To boost income, and increase the number of people living in Virginia, the English government set up a headright system, which gave every man who moved to Virginia free land. England also reworked the government of Virginia from a military-style regime, to a government run by local leaders. These changes caused 4,500 people to move to Virginia. The people of Virginia also faced problems because of where they chose to settle. The swamplands of Virginia were disease-ridden, and were…show more content…
At first they traded corn for cloth and hatchets, but as more settlers wanted land, the tribe threatened war on the basis that the Virginians wanted to take over them, not trade. Once many more people came to the colonies, they demanded land that the Native Americans had, causing war. The Native Americans launched a surprise attack, killing a third of the Virginians. The Virginians retaliated by taking the cornfields from the Native Americans. Taking the Native American’s food source from them, and the increasing number of migrants quelled the threat of

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