continued tobehard.'"haveeatenmore in adayat
home tha nIhaveherefo r aweek; "wrotea young
mannam edRich ardPrcrh o rn cin ale t ter(Qhis
parent sbackInEngland.
Thesa m e wastrueformanyinVirginia.Nor was
h un gertheonlyproblem.D ise aseslike malariaand
warsagainstthe A merindianscontinuedto kill
h und redsofse ttlers.Between 1619 and 1621 about
3.560peop l e leftEn glan d(Qsettlein Virginia. Before
thoseycarswen:ove-r.3.()(X)ofth emwere dead.
Hu tthesurvivorsstayed.In16 19therew asall
imporr.mtchange-in the-\va)'theyweregoverned.
Virgi nia' saffairshadbeencontrolledsofarb y
governor s sent over bythe Vi r g i n iaCom pany.Now
th eCompan y allowed a bo dycalledt heHouseo f
Burgessestobeset lip.Theb urgesseswereelec ted
representativ esfromthe-vario ussmallsettlements
alongVirginia'srivers.T he ymettoadvisethe
governor o n the laws thecolonyneeded.Tho ug h
fewrealizedit at thetime. th eVirginiaHou seo f
Bur g ess es w asthe stanofanImportanttraditionin
Americanlift,-thatpeopleshould have a sayin
decisionsaboutm anns[hatconce rn them.
TheH ou seofBurgessesm er forthe firsttimein
A ugust 1619. In thatsamemonthVirginiasaw
anotherimportantbeginning.Asma ll Dut ch
warshipanchoredat J am es to w n.Onbon dwere
rwcnrycap t u red blackAfricans.Theship's capt ain
soldthemtothe-settlersasindenturedse rvant s.
The b lacksweresettoworkIntheto bac cofields
withw hitt'indenturedservantsfromEng land.B u r
there w asa veryseriousd ifferen ce between their
positio nandth ato f th ewhitesworkingbesid ethem.
White se rva ntswerein den tu redfo ra fix ednumber
o f years. T he ir mas te rsm ig ht (featth e mb adl y.but
theyknvwrhatOlll'daythe ywouldbefree .Black
se rvantshadno suc hhope.T heir indentureW:ISfor
life. In f.1Ctthey wereslavesc althougbit wasyears
beforetheirmaster sopenlyadmittedthefact.
T heViq~iniaCompanyneverm adeaprofit.U y 161 -l-
ithadru noutofmoney. T h eEngli shgo vernme nt
pu tan endtotheCompanyandnu deitselfro:spon-
siblcfortheVirg:iniacolo n ists.There were still\"Cry
fewoftill'Ill.FierceAmerindianattack s1Il 1622 had
destroyedse ver alscnlc m cn tsandkilledover 350
culonisrs .Ouro f nearl y10. 11011 scnlcrssento utsince
1(>417.a1(,2-1-n"IlSlISshoe..-cdonly 1.2 75 survrvors.J VIR(;INl.H"BH-:INNIN(; SB uttheirhard shi pshadtoughenedth e su rv ivo rs.
BuildinganewhomelandIIIth e steamyriver valleys
o f Virg in i:Ihadprovedharderan dtakenlo ngerthan
anyonehadexpec ted. .Bur this first societyofEnglish
peopleover seash adputdownlivingro ot sintothe
American so il.Otherstruggleslayahead,butby
162-1-o nething w asclear -. Vir gi n iawould survive.Thelostcolony
Thejamestownsettlerswerenotthefirst English
p eopl eto visit Virginia .Twenty yearsearlier the
adventurer Sir Walt er Raleig hhadse nt sh ips to
findlandin the NewWorldwhereEnglishpeople
might se tt le. He nam ed the land they visited
Vir ginia. in hon o r of Elizab eth , Eng lan d 's un-
marriedQ ueen.
In J u ly 1585, 108 Eng lish settlers landed on
Roa n o keIsland,o ff[h e coastofwhatisnowth e
sta reofNorthCarolina.Theybuilthouses anda
fo rt.p lantedcro psandsearched-withoutSUCCl'SS-
fo r gold. But they ran out offood and made
enemiesofthe local Amerindianinhabitants. In
lessth ana yearth eygave up andsailed back ro
En g land.
In15l:URaleightriedagain. H iss h ipslanded 118
settle rson Roanoke. includingfo u rtee n family
groups. Theco lonists wereledbyanartist and
mapruakcrflam edJohn White. whohadbeena
member ofthe 1585 expedition. Among them
were White's daughter and her h usband. On
A ug ust 18th th e couple became t he parents of
Virgi niaDare.thefirs t Eng lish child to be hornin
A merica.
InAugu stWhite retu rnedtoEng land for sup plies.
T hr ee years passed befo re he w as able toreturn.
When his shipsreach edR oan o k e inAugust1590,
he fo u nd th e sen lemcnr desert ed .Therewas 110
signofw h ath adhappenedtoitspeopleexcepta
wordcarve donatree-"Croarou."thehomeo f a
friendly Ind ian chief. fifty milt'Sto the south.
Some believe that th e Roanoke settlers were
carried off by Spanish soldiers fro m Flo rida.
Othersthinkthat[heymayhave d ecidedtogoto
livewithfriendlyIn diansonthemainland.They
wereneverseen.orheardof. again.15