The London Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of London, was a
division
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
*Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
*Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
*Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...
of the
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Main ...
with responsibility for
colonizing the east coast of North America between
latitudes 34° and
41° N.
History
Origins
The territory granted to the London Company included the eastern coast of North America from the
34th parallel (
Cape Fear) north to the
41st parallel (in
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
). As part of the Virginia Company and Colony, the London Company owned a large portion of Atlantic and inland Canada. The company was permitted by its charter to establish a settlement within this area. The portion of the company's territory north of the
38th parallel was shared with the
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of America between latitudes 38° and 45° N.
History
The merchants (with ...
, with the stipulation that neither company found a colony within 100 miles (161 km) of the other.
The London Company made landfall on 26 April 1607, at the southern edge of the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
, which they named
Cape Henry
Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake Bay.
Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Cha ...
, near present-day
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
. Deciding to move the encampment, on 4 May 1607 they established the
Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown Settlement is a living history museum operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, created in 1957 as Jamestown Festival Park for the 350th anniversary celebration. Today it includes a recreation of the original James Fort (c. 1607 to 1614 ...
on the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
about upstream from its mouth at the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
. Later in 1607, the Plymouth Company established its
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America. It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Ma ...
in present-day
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, but it was abandoned after about a year. By 1609, the Plymouth Company had dissolved. As a result, the charter for the London Company was adjusted with a new grant that extended from "sea to sea" of the previously-shared area between the 38th and the
40th parallels. It was amended in 1612 to include the new territory of the ''Somers Isles (or
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
).
The London Company struggled financially, especially with labor shortages in its Virginia colony. Its profits improved after sweeter strains of
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
than the native variety were cultivated and successfully exported from Virginia as a
cash crop
A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...
beginning in 1612. By 1619 a system of indentured service was fully developed in the colony; the same year the home government passed a law that prohibited the commercial growing of tobacco in England.
[ Chapter III - The Commercial Policy of England Toward the American Colonies: the Acts of Trade, p. 37 in ]Emory R. Johnson
Emory Richard Johnson (March 22, 1864 – March 8, 1950) was a United States economist who specialized in transportation issues.
Biography
Johnson was born in Waupun, Wisconsin. He studied at University of Wisconsin (1888) and University of Penns ...
, T. W. Van Metre, G. G. Huebner, D. S. Hanchett, ''History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United State''s - Vol. 1, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915. In 1624, the company lost its charter, and Virginia became a royal colony.
A
spin-off,
The London Company of The Somers Isles (fully the ''Company of the City of London for the Plantacion of The Somers Isles'', but generally referred to as ''The Somers Isles Company''), operated until 1684.
In Renaissance England, wealthy merchants were eager to find investment opportunities, so they established several companies to trade in various parts of the world. Each company was made up of investors, known as "adventurers", who purchased shares of company stock. The Crown granted a charter to each company with a monopoly to explore, settle, or trade with a particular region of the world. Profits were shared among the investors according to the amount of stock that each owned. More than 6,300 Englishmen invested in joint-stock companies between 1585 and 1630, trading in Russia, Turkey, Africa, the East Indies, the Mediterranean, and North America.
Founding
Investors in the
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Main ...
hoped to profit from the natural resources of the New World. In 1606 Captain
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold (1571 – 22 August 1607) was an English barrister, explorer and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company in London and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expedition to ...
obtained of King
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
a charter for two companies. The first, the Virginia Company of London (now known generally as the "London Company"), covered what are now
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and
Carolina, between Latitude 34° and Latitude 41° North. Gosnold's principal backers were Sir
Thomas Gates, Sir
George Somers
Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London. He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by ...
,
Edward Wingfield and
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America'' (1582) and ''The Pri ...
.
The second company, the
Plymouth Company of London (today known as the "Plymouth Company"), was empowered to settle as far as 45° North, encompassing what are present day
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, and
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
.
The company paid all the costs of establishing each colony, and in return controlled all land and resources there, requiring all settlers to work for the company.
The first leader of the Virginia Company in England was its treasurer, Sir
Thomas Smythe
Sir Thomas Smythe (or Smith, c. 1558 – 4 September 1625) was an English merchant, politician and colonial administrator. He was the first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 until envel ...
, who arranged the 1609 charter. He had been governor of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
since 1603 and continued with one break until 1620.
In an extensive publicity campaign, Wingfield, Gosnold and a few others, circulated pamphlets, plays, sermons and broadsides throughout England to raise interest in New World investments. Investors could buy stock individually or in groups. Almost 1,700 people purchased shares, including men of different occupations and classes, wealthy women, and representatives of institutions such as trade guilds, towns and cities. Proceeds from the sale of stock were used to help finance the costs of establishing overseas settlements, including paying for ships and supplies and recruiting and outfitting laborers. A single share of stock in the Virginia Company cost 12 pounds 10 shillings, the equivalent of more than six months' wages for an ordinary working man.
The largest single investor was
Thomas West, Lord de la Warre, who served as the first governor of Virginia between 1610 and 1618. (The English colonists named the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
and Native American
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
tribe, called the Delaware Indians, after him.)
The business of the company was the settlement of the Virginia colony, supported by a labour force of voluntary transportees under the customary
indenture
An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...
system. In exchange for 7 years of labor for the company, the company provided passage, food, protection, and land ownership (if the worker survived).
First expedition
In December 1606,
the Virginia Company's three ships, containing 105 men and boys as passengers and 39 crew members,
set sail from
Blackwall, London
Blackwall is an area of Poplar, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London. The neighbourhood includes Leamouth and the Coldharbour conservation area.
The area takes its name from a historic stretch of riverside wall built along ...
and made landfall on 26 April 1607 at the southern edge of the mouth of what they named the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
on the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
. They named this shore as
Cape Henry
Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia located in the northeast corner of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to the long estuary of the Chesapeake Bay.
Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Cha ...
. They were attacked by Native Americans, and the settlers moved north. On 14 May 1607, these first settlers selected the site of
Jamestown Island
Jamestown Island is a island in the James River in Virginia, part of James City County. It is located off Glasshouse Point, to which it is connected via a causeway to the Colonial Parkway. Much of the island is wetland, including both swamp and ...
, further upriver and on the northern shore, as the place to build their fort.
In addition to survival, the early colonists were expected to make a profit for the owners of the Virginia Company. Although the settlers were disappointed that gold did not wash up on the beach and gems did not grow in the trees, they realised there was great potential for wealth of other kinds in their new home. Early industries, such as glass manufacture, pitch and tar production for naval stores, and beer and wine making took advantage of natural resources and the land's fertility. From the outset, settlers thought that the abundance of timber would be the primary leg of the economy, as Britain's forests had long been felled. The seemingly inexhaustible supply of cheap American timber was to be the primary enabler of England's (and then Britain's) rise to maritime (merchant and naval) supremacy. However, the settlers could not devote as much time as the Virginia Company would have liked to developing commodity products for export. They were too busy trying to survive.
![Jamestown_settler_dead_in_the_swamp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Jamestown_settler_dead_in_the_swamp.jpg)
Within the three-sided fort erected on the banks of the James, the settlers quickly discovered that they were, first and foremost, employees of the Virginia Company of London, following instructions of the men appointed by the company to rule them. In exchange, the laborers were armed, and received clothes and food from the common store. After seven years, they were to receive land of their own. The gentlemen, who provided their own armor and weapons, were to be paid in land, dividends or additional shares of stock.
Initially, the colonists were governed by a president and seven-member council selected by the King. Leadership problems quickly erupted. Jamestown's first two leaders coped with varying degrees of success with sickness, assaults by Native Americans, poor food and water supplies, and class strife. Many colonists were ill-prepared to carve out a new settlement on a frontier. When
Captain John Smith
John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first pe ...
became Virginia's third president, he proved the strong leader that the colony needed. Industry flourished and relations with
Chief Powhatan
Powhatan ( c. 1547 – c. 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommaca ...
's people improved.
Instructions
After so many failed colonizing attempts in the 16th century such as the
Roanoke Colony
The establishment of the Roanoke Colony ( ) was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The English, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 15 ...
, and with the ascension of
King James to the throne of England on 24 March 1603, the effort to colonize was renewed, but this time in the form of joint-stock companies, which did not involve the king's treasury, also known as the public treasury. Thus it became, from a royal perspective at least, a largely risk-free endeavor. Although a profit-driven enterprise, the king was motivated by international rivalry and the propagation of religion, and the individuals who ventured to the New World were motivated by a chance to improve their economic and social standing.
Thus King James awarded a patent to a group of investors which included detailed instructions for everything from where to place watchmen and with how many, to where to plant. It instructed
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport (1561–1617) was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the ''Susan Constant'', the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to found the settle ...
, captain of the
Susan Constant
''Susan Constant'', possibly ''Sarah Constant'', captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company (the others being ''Discovery'' and '' Godspeed'') on the 1606–1607 voyage that resulted in the fo ...
, and
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold (1571 – 22 August 1607) was an English barrister, explorer and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company in London and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expedition to ...
, captain of the
Godspeed and leader of the expedition of three ships, on their duties upon reaching the land they named Virginia. There were no instructions for administration or governance.
The Charter of 1606
The First Virginia Charter established provisions for governance of the colony. It was to be governed by a colonial council, which proved ineffective. A governor,
Lord De La Warr
Earl De La Warr ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1761 for John West, 7th Baron De La Warr.
The Earl holds the subsidiary titles of Viscount Cantelupe (1761) in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baron De La Warr ( ...
, was dispatched in 1610 to provide firmer governance of the colony. The council back in London whose directives and interests Lord De La Warr represented was composed of knights, gentlemen and merchants who had invested in the company. This charter also limited the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company of London to 100 miles from the seaboard and from 38 degrees to 45 degrees latitude north.
Charter of 1609
In 1609, the Virginia Company received its Second Charter, which allowed the company to choose its new governor from amongst its shareholders. Investment boomed as the company launched an intensive recruitment campaign. Over 600 colonists set sail for Virginia
between March 1608 and March 1609.
Sir
Thomas Gates, Virginia's deputy governor, bound for the colony in the
Third Supply The Jamestown supply missions were a series of fleets (or sometimes individual ships) from 1607 to around 1611 that were dispatched from England by the London Company (also known as the Virginia Company of London) with the specific goal of initially ...
aboard the ''
Sea Venture
''Sea Venture'' was a seventeenth-century English sailing ship, part of the Third Supply mission to the Jamestown Colony, that was wrecked in Bermuda in 1609. She was the 300 ton purpose-built flagship of the London Company and a highly unusual ...
'', was shipwrecked in
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
, along with the admiral of the company, Sir
George Somers
Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London. He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by ...
, Captain Newport, and 147 other settlers and seamen. When Gates finally arrived to take up his new post in 1610, with most of the survivors of the ''Sea Venture'' (on two new ships built in Bermuda, the ''Deliverance'' and the ''Patience''), he found that only 60 of the original 214 colonists had survived the infamous
"Starving Time" of 1609–1610. Most of these were dying or ill. Despite the abundance of food which Gates' expedition brought from Bermuda (which had necessitated the building of two ships), it was clear the colony was not yet self-sufficient and could not survive.
The survivors of Jamestown were taken aboard the ''Deliverance'' and the ''Patience'', and the colony was abandoned. Gates intended to transport all the settlers back to England, but the fortuitous arrival of another relief fleet, bearing
Governor Lord De la Warre, granted Jamestown a reprieve. All the settlers were put ashore again, and Sir George Somers returned to Bermuda aboard the ''Patience'' to obtain more food. (Somers died there, and his nephew, Matthew Somers, the captain of the ''Patience'', sailed the vessel to
Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...
in England, instead, to claim his inheritance).
Charter of 1612
The third Virginia Charter or Charter of 1612, was essentially the same as the Charter of 1609, with the difference being territorial jurisdiction, expanding it to the Atlantic Islands like Bermuda and from “sea to sea”. In ''domestic correspondence'' written by
John Chamberlaine
John Chamberlaine (1745 – 12 January 1812 in Paddington Green) was an antiquary and acted as keeper of George III's drawings, coins and medals from 1791 until his death in 1812. He published prints of drawings in the Royal Collection by Ho ...
to The Right Honorable
Sir Dudley Carlton, Knight, His Maties (sic. ie., ''Majesty's'') Ambassador at Venice dated 12 February 1612, Chamberlaine wrote:
This is also quoted in ''BERMUDA under the SOMMER ISLANDS COMPANY 1612–1684'' by A. C. Hollis Hallett:
Administration of the Somers Isles, alias Islands of Bermuda, was in fact transferred in 1615 to a spin-off of the London Company titled the
Company of the City of London for the Plantacion of The Somers Isles, which administered that colony until losing its royal charter in 1684. Bermuda remained strongly linked to Virginia (the nearest English territory to it until
Carolina Colony
Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alabama ...
was settled from Bermuda in 1670 under
William Sayle
Captain William Sayle (c. 1590–1671) was a prominent British landholder who was Governor of Bermuda in 1643 and again in 1658. As an Independent in religion and politics, and an adherent of Oliver Cromwell, he was dissatisfied with life in Ber ...
), however, until the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, when rebel General
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
of Virginia would address a letter to the people of Bermuda seeking their aid in the war:
By this Charter, neither the stock issue of 1609 nor the authorized lottery system, mitigated the shortage of cash flow.
The "Great Charter"
This was an ordinance and constitution that proceeded from a set of instructions issued in 1618 to the governor and the
Council of Virginia known as An Ordinance and Constitution of the Virginia Company in England 24 July 1621.
This document replaced military law with common law, and provided for land ownership for settlers living in the colony. It is also of great significance for it provides governance independent of the Crown. An assembly took place in a church composed of Governor Sir
George Yeardley and 22 select men representing seven regions. They then organized into a legislative body, establishing a precedent for self-governance, a pivotal point in American history.
Collapse and dissolution
After 1620, with growing demand for tobacco on the continent, the company arranged to sell Virginia tobacco in the Netherlands, but the next year and despite company pleas to maintain the privilege of freedom of trade, the Privy Council forbade the export of any product of Virginia to a foreign country until the commodities had been landed in England, and English duties had been paid.
By 1621, the company was in trouble; unpaid dividends and increased use of lotteries had made future investors wary. The company debt was now over £9,000. Worried Virginians were hardly reassured by the advice of pragmatic Treasurer Sandys, who warned that the company "cannot wish you to rely on anything but yourselves." In March 1622, the company's and the colony's situation went from dire to disastrous when, during the
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian massacre of 1622, popularly known as the Jamestown massacre, took place in the English Colony of Virginia, in what is now the United States, on 22 March 1622. John Smith, though he had not been in Virginia since 1609 and was not an ey ...
, the
Powhatan confederacy killed one-quarter of the European population of the Virginia colony.
When the Crown and company officials proposed a fourth charter, severely reducing the company's ability to make decisions in the governing of Virginia, subscribers rejected it. King James I forthwith changed the status of Virginia in 1624, taking control of it as a
royal colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...
to be administered by a governor appointed by the King. However, the government's colonial policy of export restrictions did not change. The Crown approved the election of a Virginia Assembly in 1627. This form of government, with governor and assembly, would oversee the colony of Virginia until 1776, excepting only the years of the
English Commonwealth
The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...
.
Bermuda had been separated from the Virginia Company in 1614, when the Crown briefly took over its administration. In 1615, the shareholders of the Virginia Company created a new company, the
Somers Isles Company, which continued to operate Bermuda. It was subsequently, also known officially as ''The Somers Isles'' (for the Admiral of the Virginia Company,
Sir George Somers
Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London. He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by ...
) until being dissolved in 1684 and made a royal colony. Meetings were held at town hall to discuss the distribution of the tobacco.
Native American relationships
The instructions issued to Sir
Thomas Gates, on 20 November 1608, called for a forcible conversion of
Native Americans to
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
and their subordination to the colonial administration. The records of the company record a discussion during one of its first meetings about publishing a justification of their business enterprise methods to "give adventurers, a clearness and satisfaction", a public debate where Catholics and neutrals might attack them. Whereas Catholic arguments would be in support of Spanish legal claims to the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
under the
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Emp ...
, it was feared that the neutral "pen-adversaries" might "cast scruples into our conscience" by "criticising the lawfulness of the plantation." It was decided to forego such a publication of a justification.
In 1608, Sir
Edward Coke
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
, in his capacity as
Lord Chief Justice, offered a ruling in ''
Calvin's Case'' that went beyond the issue at hand: whether a Scotsman could seek justice at an English Court. Coke distinguished between aliens from nations at war with England and friendly aliens, those from nations in league with England. Friendly aliens could have recourse to English courts. But he also ruled that with "all infidels" (i.e. those from non-Christian nations), there could be no peace, and a state of perpetual hostility would exist between them and Christians.
In 1609, the company issued instructions to settlers to kidnap Native American children so as to educate them with English values and religion. These instructions also sanctioned attacking the
Iniocasoockes, the cultural leaders of the local
Powhatans
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhat ...
. Only after
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr ( ; 9 July 1577 – 7 June 1618), was an English merchant and politician, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. He was ...
arrived in 1610, was the company able to commence a war against the Powhatan with the
First Anglo-Powhatan War
The AngloPowhatan Wars were three wars fought between settlers of the Virginia Colony and Algonquin Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy in the early seventeenth century. The first war started in 1609 and ended in a peace settlement in 1614. The ...
. De La Warr was replaced by Sir
Thomas Dale, who continued the war, which continued until a truce was made with the marriage of
Pocahontas to
John Rolfe in 1614.
The military offensive was accompanied by a propaganda war: Alderman Robert Johnson published ''Nova Britannia'', in 1609, which compared Native Americans to wild animals--"heardes of deere in a forest". While it did portray the Powhatan as peace-loving, it threatened to deal with any who resisted conversion to Anglicanism as enemies of their country. (Johnson was the son-in-law of
Sir Thomas Smythe
Sir Thomas Smythe (or Smith, c. 1558 – 4 September 1625) was an English merchant, politician and colonial administrator. He was the first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 until envel ...
, treasurer of the company in London and leader of its "court" faction.)
The company began to turn a profit after 1612, when planting a couple of new varieties of tobacco yielded a product that appealed more to English tastes than the native tobacco. Tobacco became the commodity crop of the colony, and settlers were urged to cultivate more. The colony struggled with labor shortages as mortality was high.
In 1622, the
Second Anglo-Powhatan War
The AngloPowhatan Wars were three wars fought between settlers of the Virginia Colony and Algonquin Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy in the early seventeenth century. The first war started in 1609 and ended in a peace settlement in 1614. The ...
erupted. Its origins are disputed. English apologists for the company say that
Opchanacanough initiated the war.
Robert Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to:
Entertainment Film
* Robert Williams (actor, born 1894) (1894–1931), American stage and film actor
* Robert B. Williams (actor) (1904–1978), American film actor
* R. J. Williams (born ...
, a 21st-century Native American law professor, argues that Opchanacanough had secured concessions from Governor Yeardley which the company would not accept. Thus, Opchanacanough's
attack
Attack may refer to:
Warfare and combat
* Offensive (military)
* Charge (warfare)
* Attack (fencing)
* Strike (attack)
* Attack (computing)
* Attack aircraft
Books and publishing
* ''The Attack'' (novel), a book
* '' Attack No. 1'', comic an ...
, on 18 April 1622, may have been a pre-emptive attempt to defeat the colony before reinforcements arrived.
In about a day, the Powhatan killed 350 of 1,240 colonists, destroying some outlying settlements. The Virginia Company quickly published an account of this attack. It was steeped in
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
theology of the time: the massacre was the work of
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
in that it was justification for the destruction of the Powhatan, and building English settlements over their former towns. New orders from the London Company directed a "perpetual war without peace or truce" "to root out from being any longer a people, so cursed a nation, ungrateful to all benefitte, and incapable of all goodnesses."
Within two years, the Crown took over the territory in 1624 as a
royal colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...
.
See also
*
List of trading companies
A trading company is a business that works with different kinds of products sold for consumer, business purposes. In contemporary times, trading companies buy a specialized range of products, shopkeeper them, and coordinate delivery of products t ...
References
Further reading
*''The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London'' edited and introduction by Samuel M. Bemiss, published by Virginia's 350th Anniversary Celebration Corp, 1957, Williamsburg, Virginia.
*''Dissolution of the Virginia Company: The Failure of a Colonial Experiment'' by Wesley Frank Craven, published by Oxford University Press, 1932, New York
*''The Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624'', by Wesley Frank Craven, published by University Press of Virginia, 1957, Charlottesville, Virginia.
*''The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1624'', by Charles E. Hatch Jr.
*''History of the Virginia Company of London with Letters to and from the First Colony Never Before Printed'', by Edward D. Neill, originally published by Joel Munsell, 1869, Albany, New York, reprinted by Brookhaven Press
*''Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of A New Nation'', by David A. Price, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2003, New York
External links
London Company nowadays(founded in 1994, not related in any way other than the name)
Jamestown Rediscovery
images of manuscript and printed editions of the ''Records of the Virginia Company of London''
*
ttp://manybooks.net/titles/cravenw2855528555-8.html The Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624- Free ebook from manybooks.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:London Company
1606 establishments in England
1624 disestablishments in England
17th century in Bermuda
Colony of Virginia
English colonization of the Americas
Virginia Company