See also: Jamestown

Jamestown was a village of Virginia, founded in 1607 on the river James. It was about the British first colony permanent on the American continent, an old establishment with Roanoke having disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Jamestown was located at some 60 km of the current town of Richmond. The river and the city draw their name from Jacques Ier of England (“Jacques” is the translation of James ) which had just gone up on the throne.

Colonization

Three ships ( Constant Susan , Godspeed , Discovery ) with 104 men arrived at the site of Jamestown the May 14th 1607. The May 26th, the Paspegh Amerindians attacked the colonists, killed a person and wounded eleven others of them.

In 1619, Dutch boats unload the first African slaves.

From May 11th to 13rd, Jamestown celebrates its 400 years. It is the oldest permanent site of colonization of the current United States, but is not the oldest city, since the site was abandoned with the XVIIIe century with the profit of a place more adapted for the capital of the State of Virginia.

See too