Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States in 1607.
The Virginia Company established the settlement in the Virginia Colony on Jamestown Island. The colonists arrived in May 1607 and built James Fort along the James River, naming the settlement for King James I of England.
Jamestown endured severe early hardships, including disease, food shortages, conflict, and the winter remembered as the Starving Time. The cultivation and export of tobacco later helped make Virginia economically viable. In 1619, the colony’s House of Burgesses met at Jamestown, creating an important early example of representative government in English America.
Jamestown is often confused with Plymouth, founded by English Pilgrims in 1620, or St. Augustine, founded by Spain in 1565. Roanoke preceded Jamestown but failed to become a permanent English settlement.