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This is a timeline of events related to the settlement of Jamestown, in what today is the U.S. state of Virginia. Dates use the Old Style calendar (e.g., the settlement naming occurred 4 May 1607 [O.S. 14 May 1607]).[1]
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- June 1561: Native Virginian Paquiquineo is kidnapped by the crew of the Spanish caravel Santa Catalina in Chesapeake Bay. Some historians believe Paquiquineo and Opechancanough are the same individual.[2]
- Sept 8 1565: The Spanish Empire settles St. Augustine, Florida. Spain annexes parts of the Outer Banks, calling the region (north to Delaware Bay) "La Florida".[3]
- c. Feb 1571: Paquiquineo, now Christened as "Don Luís de Velasco", slays eight Jesuit missionaries attempting to setup Ajacán Mission.[4]
- c. 1585 CE: Walter Raleigh is granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth II, naming the North American coast "Virginia" in tribute to her. This leads to the establishment of a colony on Roanoke Island with 108 men.[5]
- August 18, 1590: John White and the Watts expedition men discover the Roanoke Colony abandoned
- May-June 1602: Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, Captain Bartholomew Gilbert, Captain Gabriel Archer, and others explore the New World coast with the intention of starting a colony but occupy Cuttyhunk Island for only a few weeks before returning to England[6]
- March 24, 1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies. James VI of Scotland becomes King James I of England.
- c. 1605: Chesapeake people are slain by order of Powhatan (Native American leader)[citation needed]
- April 10, 1606: Virginia Company of London is formed by Bartholomew Gosnold from a charter from King James I of England, with plans to create a proprietary colony in "Virginia" (which describes coastline that is now known as Carolinas and north to New England)[6]
- 1606 – 1612: Eastern Virginia and the Tidewater region experiences a severe six-year-long drought, affecting colonists and natives alike[7]
- December 20, 1606: 105 to 108 men and boys (with 39 crew) board ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and the Godspeed in Blackwall, London, set for Virginia colonization
- c. 1607: Chief Powhatan inherits Powhatan Confederacy of tribes with political domain over much of eastern Tidewater Virginia (Tsenacommacah)
- February 13, 1607: Near the Canary Islands, John Smith is charged with plotting a mutiny by Captain Christopher Newport[6]
- March 28 1607: John Smith is spared from execution by hanging by the Reverend Robert Hunt and Bartholomew Gosnold, but is kept as a prisoner[6]
- April 26, 1607: First landing of the English settlers occurs at Cape Henry
- May 4, 1607: Fleet meets Rappahannock people and visit a Paspahegh native village where the colonists were entertained
- May 8, 1607: Fleet encounters Appomattoc native up the James River
- May 12, 1607: Archer's Hope is explored as a potential settlement site
- c. May 1607: Settlers deposit three pigs on Hog Island for safekeeping.[8][9]
- May 14, 1607: Jamestown Island is selected (by decree of Edward Maria Wingfield) as the settlement site. The settlement is named "James His Towne" in tribute to James I of England.
- c. May 14, 1607: Virginia Company instructions are unsealed to identify the pre-determined Council Members of the settlement: Edward Maria Wingfield (president), Bartholomew Gosnold, John Martin, John Ratcliffe, George Kendall, Christopher Newport (ex officio), and John Smith. Smith is denied a council membership by the president.
- May 18, 1607: A party of 100 Paspahegh attempts to fight the colonists
- May 21, 1607: Christopher Newport, Gabriel Archer, and other explorers visit the Weanock native people
- May 23, 1607: Newport and explorers meet Parahunt "Tanx" Powhatan (son of Powhatan)
- June 15, 1607: Initial construction of James Fort concludes
- c. June 1607: Sometime before setting sail, Christopher Newport convinces leaders to free John Smith and appoint Smith to the council[10]
- June 22, 1607: Newport sails for England in the Susan Constant (with cargo of fool's gold and dirt (to test for precious metals)[11]), leaving the Discovery and reassembled shallops (or barges) for the colonists to use in the rivers and bays
- c. June 22, 1607: Jamestown colonists begin to succumb to disease due to non-potable water and mosquito-borne illnesses
- c. June 22, 1607: Chief Powhatan sends corn and venison to the malnourished Jamestown settlers
- c. August 1607: About 100 Englishmen arrive to settle Popham Colony (in present day Maine)
- August 12, 1607: The Susan Constant (with Newport) arrives back in London, England
- August 22, 1607: Bartholomew Gosnold dies
- September 10, 1607: Council President Edward Maria Wingfield is deposed/impeached and arrested for allegedly hoarding food. John Ratcliffe becomes president. George Kendall is imprisoned for mutiny, and held on the Discovery.[11]
- 1607-12-10 John Smith takes nine men on a shallop to explore and find food up the Chickahominy River. George Cassen is captured and tortured to death
- December 1607: John Smith is taken by Opechancanough to Werowocomoco, either to be inducted as a ceremonial tribe member or to be executed. Pocahantas participates.
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- c. January 1608: only 38 to 40 colonists are alive. Ratcliffe and the Council plan to return to England on Discovery.
- c. 1608-01-05: John Smith uses a compass to confound Opecanchanough and his hunting party, avoiding death
- c. January 1608: John Smith returns to Jamestown from his encounter with Powhatan
- c. January 1608: President John Ratcliffe holds John Smith responsible for the deaths of two English explorers, and sentences him to death by hanging[citation needed]
- January 2, 1608: Newport and the "first supply" mission ships (the John and Francis and Phoenix) arrive in Jamestown, adding 60 to 100 settlers to the colony. Newport overturns Smith's death sentence.
- January 7, 1608: At James Fort, a major fire occurs through carelessness, burning down most wattle shelters and the food storehouse.[11] Colonists must live in the ruins to overwinter.[12]
- Feb 1608: Newport and Smith trade with Powhatan. Thomas Savage (a teenaged boy) is sent to live with natives; while Namontack (a page to Powhatan) is sent to live with English.[11]
- April 10, 1608: Newport sails for England with the John and Francis and Phoenix
- May 21, 1608: Newport and the first supply ships arrive back in England
- June 2, 1608 – July 22, 1608: John Smith explores Chesapeake Bay and rivers to find food and passage to the Pacific Ocean
- c. 1608 Printing of John Smith's True Relation of Virginia in London, England.
- June 8-10 1608: At Roaring Point, natives attempt to repel Smith and English explorers with archers waiting on the shore. The next evening, Smith comes ashore and leaves a basket of trade goods. Eventually, four Nanticoke men unaware of the situation meet with Smith and spread the word that he does not wish to attack. Hundreds of native people come to talk and trade.
- June 17 1608: At Nomini Bay, two native men invite Smith's shallop crew to go up the creek. They are led into an ambush. However, gunfire disarms the native, and ceasing fire, they exchange hostages. The weroance explains that paramount chief Powhatan had ordered the ambush.
- c. June 18 to July 16 1608: Smith's exploration in the shallop continues, with charting of the Potomac River and towns along the way. The explorers meet a Wicocomico man named "Mosco". Smith guesses that he is partly of European descent due to facial hair. Mosco guides the English along a portion of the Potomac.
- July 17 1608: Smith is wounded by stingray near the mouth of the Rappahannock River. He is treated by a doctor and survives. The area is named Stingray Point.
- July 18-21 1608: Smith's shallop returns to Jamestown
- July 1608: John Ratcliffe leaves office (either by resignation or deposition) in July 1608, two months before the end of his term
- Sept 10, 1608: John Smith is elected to serve a one-year term as president of the council. His term was to end September 10, 1609.[12]
- July 24, 1608 – September 27, 1608: Smith's second exploration of Chesapeake Bay and rivers to find food and passage to the Pacific Ocean. Matthew Scrivener is in command in Jamestown while Smith is gone.
- c. October 1, 1608: Newport and the "second supply" mission ship (the Mary and Margaret) arrive in Jamestown, adding about 70 settlers to the colony. Included are Jamestown Polish craftsmen, "Dutch" (German) carpenters and glassmakers,[13] and two English women: Mistress Margaret Fox Forrest and Anne Burras.
- c. October 1608: Captain Newport, John Smith, and armed men meet with Powhatan (Wahunsenacawh) to bestow gifts such as a scarlet cloak and a feather mattress.[14] Included is a coronation ceremony (using a metal crown with fake jewels, which attempted to make Wahunsenacawh a vassal of King James I.[15][16]
- c. 1608: Hog Island contains a drove of 60 pigs, which go unused by colonists[8]
- c. autumn 1608: Jamestown Glasshouse is built by German glassmakers[17]
- November 1608: Jamestown's first wedding (of two English): Anne Burras marries John Laydon, a carpenter[11]
- December 1, 1608: George Kendall is executed for treason
- January 7, 1609: Matthew Scrivener drowns in the James River, near Hog Island
- c. springtime 1609: John Smith decrees, "He who does not work, neither shall he eat"
- June 2, 1609: Newport, George Somers and the "third supply" ships (Sea Venture, Diamond, Faulcon, Blessinge, Unitie, Lion, Swallow, Virginia, and Catch (ketch)) form a flotilla and depart England
- June 1609: Samuel Argall departs England for Virginia, attempting a more northerly, more direct route via Bermuda.[18]
- c. July 1609: In the Chesapeake Bay, Spanish reconnaissance ship, La Asunción de Cristo, is driven off by the timely arrival of Mary and John (captained by Samuel Argall), preventing the Spanish Empire from discovering a weakened Jamestown.[19] Pedro de Zúñiga y de la Cueva, the Spanish ambassador to England, was desperately seeking the location in order to authorize an attack by Philip III of Spain.[citation needed]
- July 24, 1609: A tropical storm (likely a hurricane) hits the supply mission flotilla separating ships and delaying the resupply
- July 28, 1609: The Sea Venture is shipwrecked near Gates' Bay, St. George's Island, Bermuda. The 150 Virginia-bound people become castaways on the uncolonized island, dubbed "Virginiola".[20][21]
- c. summer 1609: In Bermuda, Stephen Hopkins is accused of mutiny for wanting to remain a Bermuda colonist, arguing the Virginia Company contract voided by shipwreck
- c. fall 1609: Fort Algernon is built nearby Jamestown
- c. October 1609: John Smith is severely wounded by a gunpowder accident, and must return to England for proper treatment. The Faulcon, Unitie, Blessinge, and Lion depart Virginia, while the Swallow and Virginia (pinnace) remain behind.[22]
- c. Oct 1609: Master George Percy takes over as president of the governing council[12]
- Oct 4 1609: Seven of the nine ships of the "third supply" mission arrive, delivering approximately 350 colonists but little supply. Four of the ships harbor sufferers of yellow fever,[23] while the Diamond and Unity bring bubonic plague to the colony, killing at least 30 emigrants on the journey (and more over the following months).[24]
- c. November 1609: Henry Spelman of Jamestown, a teenage boy, is sent to live with Powhatan as a translator and ambassador
- c. November 1609: After trading for corn with Powhatan confederacy natives, John Ratcliffe is stripped naked, flayed, and burned at the stake
- c. November 1609: Powhatan natives attack and kill several settlers, and destroy the stock of pigs on Hog Island.
- c. November 1609: Captain and Councillor Francis West takes the Swallow to trade with Patawomeck people. West kills several natives and steals food, but sets sail for England to avoid mutiny by his crew.[25]
- c. November 1609 – June 1610: Starving Time begins in the winter, killing many
- c. winter 1609-10 Gabriel Archer dies
- Feb 1610: In the Somers Isles, Bermuda Rolfe (baby girl) is born to John Rolfe and Mistress Sarah Hacker Rolfe, but soon perishes
- Feb 1610: In the Somers Isles, Bermudas Eason (baby boy) is born to Edward Eason and wife
- March: About 60 out of 500 to 600 colonists remain alive. Francis West and 36 men aren't counted as they had absconded to England.
- May 10 1610: In the Somers Isles, Thomas Gates, Newport, Somers, and other castaway-colonists (totaling 137) board the Deliverance and Patience to sail to Jamestown. Two sailors (Christopher Carter and Edward-Robert Waters) remain behind on Bermuda.
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- May 23, 1610: Deliverance and Patience (with castaway-colonists) arrive from Bermuda in Virginia expecting 500-600 settlers, but find only 60 colonists remaining[26][27]
- May 24 1610: Thomas Gates and Thomas Dale issue Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall [sic], also known as "Dale's Code", a martial law/authoritarian system of government
- June 7: Thomas Gates and leaders decide to abandon Jamestown. Colonists plan to head north to Newfoundland fishing settlements for food and evacuation.
- June 8: Jamestown refugees meet the supply ships of Thomas West, Lord De La Warr at Mulberry Island. Thomas West convinces the colonists to return to Jamestown with fresh supplies and healthy men.
- July 9: St. John's Episcopal Church (Hampton, Virginia) is founded on Cape Henry.
- August 9, 1610 De la Warr sends Percy with 70 colonists to attack the Paspahegh and Chickahominy villages, burning buildings, destroying crops, and killing up to 75 natives. This ignites the first of the Anglo-Powhatan Wars.
- June 19 1610: George Somers and Samuel Argall sail for Bermuda to gather wild hogs for Jamestown.[10]
- July 20, 1610: Christopher Newport and Thomas Gates leave Virginia (on the Blessinge and Hercules[28]) for England, where he will use his story of the Sea Venture wreck to advocate for the colony and to spur further investment. Aboard with him are two Virginia Indians recently taken prisoner: weroance Sasenticum and his son Kainta.
- c. 9 November 1610 George Somers dies at Bermuda from exhaustion
- c. 1610: Captained by Nathaniel West, the Mary Ann carries widow Mistress Francis West to Virginia[29]
- c. 1610: The Mary and Thomas (also known as Mary and James) carries William Tucker to Virginia [30]
- c. 1611: Henricus is founded on Farrar's Island
- c. January 4, 1611: Henry Spelman is returned to Samuel Argall, in trade for copper ore to Jopassus (brother to paramount chief)[31]
- c. winter 1611: Colonists suffer from scurvy, including "Kemps" a native living with the English.[31] Dr. Lawrence Bohun experiments in treating the disease with local vegetables, such as Ipomoea purga and sassafras.
- c. 1611: Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr contracts an illness. He boards a ship bound for Nevis, West Indies, (captained by Samuel Argall), but is blown off course and forced to sail to England.[32]
- March 1611: Thomas West returns to England, appointing George Percy to lead the colony in his absence
- August 1611: Thomas Gates returns to Virginia at the head of an expedition that includes three ships, 280 men, 20 women, 200 heads of cattle, 200 swine, and various other supplies and equipment
- c. 1611: Puritan Reverend Alexander Whitaker arrives in Jamestown.[11]
- c. 1611: John Rolfe cultivates Nicotiana tabacum as a viable cash crop for smoking tobacco (marketed as "Orinoco tobacco")
- c. 1612: Area drought ends after six years
- c. 1612: The town of "New London" (later named St. George's) is founded, becoming the oldest continuously inhabited British town in the New World
- c. 1613: Thomas Dale founds "Bermuda Cittie", which was renamed to be "Charles City" (and then later, City Point, Virginia)
- 13 April 1613: Samuel Argall abducts Pocahontas for use in prisoner exchange for return of English captives by Powhatan
- c. 1614: Pocahontas is baptised by Alexander Whitaker and given a Christian name of "Rebecca", Henricus[citation needed]
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- 5 April 1614: Richard Buck officiates the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas (known as "Rebecca" Rolfe). A period of peace occurs between the natives and the colonists.
- 1614 April 5: the Rolfes move to Varina Farms
- c. January 1615: Pocahontas gives birth to a son, Thomas Rolfe, at Varina Farms
- c. 1615: the Somers Isles Company is formed by charter to colonize the "Somers Isles" (Bermuda)[20]
- Spring 1616: John Rolfe, "Rebecca Rolfe" (Pocahontas), son Thomas Rolfe, a company of about 12 Powhatans, Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Dale, and others leave for England aboard the Treasurer.[12][33]
- April 1616: George Yeardley is appointed deputy-governor while Thomas Dale returns to England.[34] Yeardley relaxes laws and punishments set by Dale's Code, and the colony prospers.
- c. In March 1617, John Rolfe and "Rebecca" (Pocahontas) board a ship to return to Virginia, but they had sail only as far as Gravesend on the River Thames when Pocahontas becomes gravely ill
- c. March 1617: Rebecca/Pocahontas dies from unknown causes (perhaps a respiratory disease), aged 20 or 21 years.
- May 25, 1617: John Rolfe returns to Virginia on the George, led by Samuel Argall. Argall is assigned to replace George Yeardley as Governor,[12] finding Jamestown in a deteriorated state[35]
- c. 1617 Alexander Whitaker drowns in the James River
- c. 1618: Powhatan (Native American leader) dies. His son Opechancanough succeeds as chief-paramount
- c. 1618 April: Lord De La Warr dies en route to Virginia, and is replaced by George Yeardley[12]
- c. October, 1618: George Yeardley and wife Temperance Flowerdew travel to England[36]
- November 18, 1618: The Virginia Company of London issues its "Instructions to George Yeardley," which includes the establishment of the ancient planter/headright system. Part of the purpose was to encourage settlers to emigrate to Virginia, which included building a college. These instructions come to be known as the Great Charter.[37]
- November 24, 1618: George Yeardley is knighted by James VI and I[citation needed]
- c. January 1619 (N.S.): Ship George departs England with George Yeardley, Temperance Flowerdew, Edmund Rossingham, Doctor John Pott, Mistress Pott, and others[38]
- c. April 1619: Ship George arrives to Virginia
- May c. 1619 a craftsmen strike begins because of a lack of voting rights[39]
- July 21: Jamestown craftsmen strike ends
- July 30, 1619: the first Virginia General Assembly convenes at the Jamestown Church. Dale's Code is no longer law.[40]
- c. late August 1619: First Africans in Virginia are purchased from The White Lion and Treasurer as "indentured servants" for tobacco farming.[41] This includes "Angela".
- 1619 December 4: Captain John Woodlief (Woodleefe) and the Margaret (of Bristol) arrive at Berkeley Hundred with 36 settlers and 19 crewman (all males).[42][43] By written order of the Virginia Company of London, the passengers hold a Thanksgiving, and celebrate the same holiday in 1620 and 1621.
- 1620: 90-100 English women are enlisted as Tobacco brides to help the gender inequality and family gap of Jamestown[5]
- November 11, 1620: About 100 pilgrims arrive on the Mayflower to Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod
- October, 1621: the George arrives with Francis Wyatt (appointed to be Virginia Governor) and George Sandys
- c. November 1621: Nemattanew (known derisively as "Jack-of-a-Feather") is slain by settlers
- c. March 1622: Ship Seaflower containing relief supplies for Virginia, is accidentally sunk in Bermuda[44]
- March 22, 1622: Indian massacre of 1622 occurs, killing over 350 people in surrounding plantations and Henricus
- Dec 20: Ship Abigail arrives with hungry, diseased passengers.[11] The colony is reduced to 500 settlers over the winter.
- 1623: Captain William Norton arrives at the colony with skilled Italian glass workers[45]
- 1623: Conspiring with William Tucker, Dr John Pott feeds poisoned wine to 200 natives, killing them in retaliation to the previous year's massacre
- Sept 1623: William Claiborne maps out "New Towne" for the growing Jamestown, now referred to as "James Cittie".[46]
- May 24, 1624: the Virginia Company's royal charter is revoked due to overwhelming financial and political problems, making the Colony of Virginia a Crown colony (under royal authority) instead of a proprietary colony. The General Assembly is dissolved.[5]
- March, 1625: King James I dies. Charles I of England assumes official control of the Kingdom of England.
- September 1626: Joan Wright is accused of witchcraft[47]
- 1629: Charles I of England grants his attorney general, Robert Heath, title and land south of Virginia. Dubbed "Carolana", it comprised present-day North Carolina, Georgia, and other parts of the Deep South.
- June 21 1631: John Smith dies in London, England
- 1639 The King formally approves the restoration of the General Assembly.
- c. November 1639: Richard Lee I arrives in Virginia
- July: John Punch, an indentured servant to Hugh Gwyn, is sentenced to a lifetime of slavery by the Virginia Governor's Council. Punch is considered the first legal sanctioning of slavery in the English colonies.[48]
- April 1644: Opechancanough plans another coordinated attack, which results in the deaths of another 350 to 500 of the 8,000 settlers in outlying plantations.[5]
- 1646: Opechancanough is captured, taken to Jamestown, and shot in the back by a guard--against orders--and killed[49]
- January 30, 1649: Execution of Charles I. Charles II of England is crowned in February.
- 1649: Population estimates for Virginia is 15,000[50]
- July 30, 1676: Declaration of the People of Virginia
- Sept 18 1676: Jamestown is burned/torched by Bacon's Rebellion forces
- October 1676: Nathaniel Bacon dies, marking a death knell to the rebellion
- Legislature temporarily uses Middle Plantation as a statehouse
- February, 1685: Charles II of England dies. James II of England assumes the crown of the Kingdom of England.
- November, 1688: James II of England is deposed. Glorious Revolution occurs.
- 1693: College of William & Mary is established by royal charter
- 1697: Population estimate for the Virginia colony is 70,000[50]
- 1698: Another fire is started by a prisoner awaiting execution.[51] The conflagration destroys the prison and the statehouse. The legislature temporarily relocates to Middle Plantation and was able to meet in the new facilities of the College of William & Mary
- 1699: Colony capital permanently moves to Middle Plantation, which is renamed Williamsburg
- c. 1750: Jamestown ownership consolidates into two families via land sales: Travis and Ambler.[5]
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