Jamestown, Virginia, was established in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
The Virginia Company of London founded the settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Colonists arrived on Jamestown Island in May 1607 and built a fortified settlement named for King James I of England. Earlier English attempts, including the Roanoke Colony, had failed or disappeared, making Jamestown the first lasting English foothold in the region.
The location created serious challenges. It had poor drinking water, disease, food shortages, and conflict with nearby Indigenous communities. During the Starving Time of 1609–1610, only about 60 colonists survived. The settlement recovered partly after tobacco became a profitable crop, especially through John Rolfe’s cultivation of a marketable strain.
Jamestown remained Virginia’s colonial capital until 1699, when the seat of government moved to Williamsburg. Its history also includes the 1619 representative assembly and the arrival of the first recorded Africans in Virginia that same year.