Читать книгу The Beginnings of America, 1607-1763 - Various - Страница 5

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The first permanent English settlement in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in May, 1607. The colonists who went ashore that spring morning more than three and one-half centuries ago discovered no cultivated countryside. Instead of the trim, green farms one sees along the James River today, they found a howling wilderness full of hostile Indians and wild beasts. Neither the colonists nor their merchant-sponsors in England were prepared for the troubles that Jamestown faced. The settlers died of disease, starvation, and Indian attacks, and they quarreled endlessly among themselves. The stockholders in the Virginia Company never made any money on their investment in the colony.

The Jamestown settlers sailed from England in three ships on December 19, 1606. Captain Christopher Newport was in charge of getting the colonists to Virginia. The ships stopped in the Canary Islands and the West Indies before reaching their destination. It was a long, exhausting voyage. Several weeks after landing at Jamestown, Captain Newport returned to England. The settlers then were on their own.