Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in America.
The Virginia Company established the settlement on Jamestown Island in the Colony of Virginia. The colonists arrived in May 1607 and built James Fort, naming the settlement for King James I of England. The location was on the James River, inland from Chesapeake Bay.
Jamestown followed earlier failed English ventures, including the Roanoke Colony. Its settlers faced disease, limited food, conflict, and difficult relations with nearby Indigenous communities. The settlement survived its early crises and became the capital of Virginia, a role it held until 1699.
Jamestown is often confused with Plymouth, founded by English Pilgrims in 1620. Plymouth was important to New England history, but Jamestown was established thirteen years earlier. In 1619, Virginia’s General Assembly met at Jamestown, an event often cited in the development of representative government in English North America.