In 1606, more than 100 English men embarked on a seagoing voyage for opportunities in a New World. They settled on the banks of the James River in 1607 and named their settlement “Jamestown,” which was the first permanent English settlement in the New World – 13 years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock!
Their will to survive those horrible first years was matched only by the will of the cultures they encountered, the Virginia Indians and later the Africans. Three continents of people brought together by life's circumstances — their beliefs, their ideas, their way of life — became the very foundation on which our democratic nation has stood for almost 400 years. |
