soil of a new continent. As they stood together
as the first Africans in British North America, no
one recorded their reactions or opinions about
leaving their homes in Angola. Their perspective
was lost in time.
The second ship, the Treasurer, arrived a few
days later for a quick trade at nearby Kicotan
(now Hampton), Virginia, but quickly departed
for Bermuda. They traded their remaining goods
and sold the rest of the Africans upon their ar-
rival. The English colonies were expanding and
the captives supplied them with an instant and
distinguishable workforce. The Spanish and
Portuguese capture and enslavement of Africans
as laborers in the Atlantic world was common
practice by the time Jamestown was established,
and the British followed suit. By the end of the
17th century, the colonies’ reliance on indentured
servants had shifted toward that of enslaved Af-
rican people.
By March 1620, 32 Africans were documented
living in Virginia; 15 men and 17 women. The
first American-born African likely was either
at Flowerdew Hundred Plantation or at Kicotan,
both nearby settlements on the James River. In
1624, this small African population had shrunk
to only 21, most likely from death due to illness,
the 1622 Powhatan uprising, or because some
were sold back into the Atlantic trade.
There is no record stating the official legal
status of these first Africans in Virginia. There
was already an established racial caste in the Por-
tuguese and Spanish colonies, and it is fair to
presume the English followed this custom. They
most likely saw these Africans as something
other than indentured servants, a status com-
mon for their poor white counterparts.
Early Virginia census records show that many
Africans were never listed by name, just their
“race,” and cited their appearance as starklyNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 83MAPPING
THE COLONY
Point Comfort
(above) is one of
the many features
indicated on the
extremely detailed
map of the Virginia
region that Captain
John Smith created
for England in the
early 1600s.
ALBUM“He brought not any thing but 20. And odd
Negroes, w[hich] the Governo[r] and Cape
Merchant bought for victuals.”—John Rolfe, August 1619