They made a particularly long voyage of four months, including a stop in the Canary Islands,[10][11] in Spain, and subsequently Puerto Rico, and finally departed for the American mainland on April 10, 1607.

The JAA analyzed information from a study conducted in 1985 by David Stahle and others, who obtained drawings of 800-year-old bald cypress trees along the Nottoway and Blackwater rivers.

Don Pedro de Zúñiga, the Spanish ambassador to England, was desperately seeking this information (in addition to spies) in order to get Philip III of Spain to authorize an attack on the colony.

They specifically demanded that the colonists send commodities sufficient to pay the cost of the voyage, a lump of gold, assurance that they had found the South Sea, and one member of the lost Roanoke Colony.

It fell to the third president of the council, Captain John Smith, to deliver a bold and much-needed wake-up call in response to the investors in London, demanding practical laborers and craftsmen who could help make the colony more self-sufficient.

[26] After Smith was forced to return to England because of an explosion which gave him deep burn wounds during a trading expedition,[27][full citation needed] the colony was led by George Percy, who proved incompetent in negotiating with the native tribes.

On June 2, 1609, Sea Venture set sail from Plymouth, England, as the flagship of a seven-ship fleet (towing two additional pinnaces) destined for Jamestown as part of the third supply mission, carrying 214 settlers.

Although some of the ships did make it to Jamestown, the leaders and most of the supplies had been aboard Sea Venture, which fought the storm for three days before the Admiral of the company, Sir George Somers, deliberately drove it onto the reefs of Bermuda to prevent its foundering.

[29] The survivors (including Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Gates, Captain Christopher Newport, Silvester Jourdain, Stephen Hopkins—later of Mayflower—and secretary William Strachey) were stranded on Bermuda for approximately nine months.

However, on June 10, 1610, the timely arrival of another relief fleet, bearing Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (who would eventually give his name to the colony of Delaware), which met the two ships as they descended the James River, granted Jamestown a reprieve.

The Anglo-Powhatan War lasted until Samuel Argall captured Wahunsenacawh's daughter Matoaka, better known by her nickname Pocahontas, after which the chief accepted a treaty of peace.

That this turnaround coincided with the end of a drought that had begun the year before the English settlers' arrival probably indicates multiple factors were involved besides the colonists' ineptitude.

[39] Among the colonists who survived the Starving Time was John Rolfe, who carried with him a cache of untested tobacco seeds from Bermuda, which had grown wild there after being planted by shipwrecked Spaniards years before.

Because of the high cost of the trans-Atlantic voyage at this time, many English settlers came to Jamestown as indentured servants: in exchange for the passage, room, board, and the promise of land or money, these immigrants would agree to work for three to seven years.

[54] When the statehouse burned again in 1698, this time accidentally, the legislature again temporarily relocated to Middle Plantation and was able to meet in the new facilities of the College of William & Mary, which had been established after receiving a royal charter in 1693.

[55] He was joined by Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones, who directed the building of batteries and conducted ordnance and armor tests for the first Confederate ironclad warship, CSS Virginia, which was under construction at the Gosport Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth in late 1861 and early 1862.

[55] Some of the forces from Jamestown and the crew of Virginia relocated to Drewry's Bluff, a fortified and strategic position high above the river about 8 miles (13 km) below Richmond.

In 1932, George Craghead Gregory of Richmond was credited with discovering the foundation of the first brick statehouse (capitol) building, circa 1646, at Jamestown on the land owned by Preservation Virginia.

[58] In the present time, as part of the Colonial National Historical Park, the Jamestown Island area is home to two heritage tourism sites related to the original fort and town.

[61] In addition to their newsletter and website, new discoveries are frequently reported in the local newspaper, the Virginia Gazette based in nearby Williamsburg, and by other news media, often worldwide.

The museum complex features a reconstruction of a Powhatan village, the James Fort as it was c. 1610–1614, and seagoing replicas of the three ships that brought the first settlers, Susan Constant, Godspeed, Discovery.

[63] However, it is also speculated that the celebration was moved further east on the island closer to the Travis grave site, in order to avoid damaging Major William Allen's corn fields.

[63] Former US President John Tyler of nearby Sherwood Forest Plantation gave a 2½ hour speech, and there were military displays, a grand ball and fireworks.

The general area in James City County near Jamestown was also considered unsuitable, as it was not very accessible in the day of rail travel before automobiles were common.

Held from April 26, 1907, to December 1, 1907, attendees included US President Theodore Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, the Prince of Sweden, Mark Twain, Henry H. Rogers, and dozens of other dignitaries and famous persons.

Special events included army and navy reviews, air force fly-overs, ship and aircraft christenings and even an outdoor drama at Cape Henry, site of the first landing of the settlers.

[63] This celebration continued from April 1 to November 30 with over a million participants, including dignitaries and politicians such as the British Ambassador and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.

[63] The highlight for many of the nearly 25,000 at the Festival Park on October 16, 1957, was the visit and speech of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and her consort, Prince Philip.

On May 4, 2007, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip attended a ceremony commemorating the 400th anniversary of the settlement's arrivals, reprising the honor they paid in 1957.

In 2019 Jamestown, in cooperation with Williamsburg, held a commemoration that marked the 400th anniversary of three landmark events in American history: the first meeting of the General Assembly, the arrival of the first Africans to English North America, and the first Thanksgiving.