Virginia played an important role in the 17th-century world economy.nbsp; The colony became the main supplier of tobacco to England and Europe and imported manufactured goods made in many parts of the world.

Jamestown was the first English settlement in Virginia in 1607. Within a few years, though, the colony began to stretch its boundaries both in population and territory.

One of the most famous love stories in history is that of Pocahontas and John Smith. Therersquo;s only one little problem with that romantic tale: It never happened.

For nearly two decades the Virginia Company of London tried to exploit its monopoly in the New World. Despite its efforts and innovations, its money and influence, the company could not make the colony pay.

Tobacco cultivation in early Virginia could be lucrative if one had land and labor. Land was there for the taking, labor was another matter.

Although outnumbered, sometimes six to one, women played an important role in the survival and prosperity of Jamestown and Virginia.

The prospects for Virginia seemed bleak in 1618. The death rate was high, there were few if any profits or capital resources, and the course of the colony was uncertain. That year the colony acquired a new leader and a new direction.

Angela, an African from what is now the modern nation of Angola, was captured by Portuguese slave traders for shipment to the Spanish colony of Mexico. In 1619, when her ship was captured by privateers in the Caribbean, she became one of the first Africans in Virginia.

In a burst of entrepreneurial creativity, the Virginia Company, founder of the Jamestown colony, tried again and again to make the colony a commercial success.

Councilor, geographer, diplomat, soldier, taskmaster.nbsp; In great measure the Jamestown settlement survived by the hand of Captain John Smith.