Jamestown was the settlement established in 1607 by the first permanent English colony among the future Thirteen Colonies.
The settlement was founded on Jamestown Island in the James River in present-day Virginia by the Virginia Company of London. It became the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, although earlier English attempts, including Roanoke, had failed or disappeared.
Jamestown’s early years were extremely difficult. Colonists faced disease, hunger, conflict, and poor relations with nearby Indigenous communities. The settlement survived partly through trade and assistance, including interactions with the Powhatan Confederacy. Tobacco cultivation later became economically important after John Rolfe helped develop a profitable export crop.
Jamestown was not the first European settlement anywhere in North America, nor was it the first English colony attempted. Plymouth Colony was founded later, in 1620. Jamestown’s 1607 founding nevertheless makes it a major predecessor of the political communities that declared independence in 1776.