Home > Multicultural America: > English Americans

Jamestown, a former village in Virginia on the James River, was the site of the first English settlement in the New World. It was founded in 1607 by John Smith and named for King James I of England. Jamestown was home to the first representative government established by the colonists, the House of Burgesses (1619). Initially Jamestown was structured with a somewhat Utopian ideal. The community shared the harvest and distributed food to families according to need. When the Communist-like system ultimately failed, the settlers turned to privatization.

Captain John Smith documented some his experiences in Jamestown during the settlement for the benefit of the London Company, which commissioned the venture. One of the subjects addressed by Smith in his reports was the weather in Virginia. Smith explained that, "Some times there are great droughts, other times much raine, yet great necessity of neither, by reason see...