In 1606, James I was king of England, and one of his many goals was to expand English territory to include the eastern coast of the New World. He authorized the Virginia Company, a London-based trading company, to expand British territory through the issuing of land charters. Jamestown was one of these charters.
Jamestown, founded on May 14, 1607, was the first permanent English settlement in North America. As chronicled in John Smith's The General History of Virginia, members of the colony suffered several hardships, including starvation, disease, disorganized leadership, and Native attacks. It was not until the colony's mastery of the tobacco crop that Jamestown became a permanent colony.