This is a timeline of events related to the establishment of Jamestown, which today is located the U.S. state of Virginia. Dates below use the Old Style calendar (e.g., the settlement naming occurred ).
Before 1606
June 1561: Native Virginian Paquiquineo was kidnapped by the crew of the Spanish caravel Santa Catalina in Chesapeake Bay. Some historians believe Paquiquineo and Opechancanough are the same individual. September 8, 1565: The Spanish Empire settled in St. Augustine, Florida and annexed parts of the Outer Banks, calling the region north to Delaware Bay "La Florida". Feb 1571: Paquiquineo, now christened as "Don Luís de Velasco", slayed eight Jesuit missionaries attempting to set up Ajacán Mission, somewhere on the Virginia Peninsula. 1585: Walter Raleigh was granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I, naming the North American coast "Virginia" in tribute to her. This led to the establishment of a colony on Roanoke Island with 108 men. . May – June 1602: Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, Captain Bartholomew Gilbert, Captain Gabriel Archer and others explored the New World coast with the intention of starting a colony, but occupied Cuttyhunk Island for only a few weeks before returning to England. March 24, 1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies. James VI of Scotland becomes King James I of England. 1605: Chesapeake people were slain on the orders of Powhatan (Native American leader).
1606
Blanton, Dennis B. "Drought as a Factor in the Jamestown Colony, 1607-1612." Historical Archaeology 34, no. 4 (2000): 74-81. .
1607
March 28, 1607: John Smith was spared from execution by hanging by the Reverend Robert Hunt and Bartholomew Gosnold, but was kept as a prisoner.
.
. May 1607: Settlers deposited three pigs on Hog Island for safekeeping.
. . .
. . . . . August 1607: About 100 Englishmen arrived to settle in Popham Colony (present day Maine). . .
December 10, 1607: John Smith took nine men on a shallop to explore and find food up the Chickahominy River. George Cassen was captured and tortured to death.
1608
January 1608: Only 38 to 40 colonists were alive. Ratcliffe and the Council planned to return to England on Discovery. January 5, 1608: John Smith used a compass to confound Opecanchanough and his hunting party, avoiding death. January 1608: John Smith returned to Jamestown from his encounter with Powhatan. January 1608: President John Ratcliffe held John Smith responsible for the deaths of two English explorers, and sentenced him to death by hanging.
January 7, 1608: At James Fort, a major fire occurred through carelessness, burning down most wattle shelters and the food storehouse. Colonists had to live in the ruins to overwinter. February 1608: Newport and Smith traded with Powhatan. Thomas Savage (a teenaged boy) was sent to live with natives; while Namontack (a page to Powhatan) was sent to live with English. April 1608: Presumed lost at sea, the Phoenix, a supply ship captained by Francis Nelson, arrives in Virginia; carrying 20-40 passengershttps://historicjamestowne.org/history/history-of-jamestown/zuniga-map-of-james-fort-2/Avery E. Kolb. "Early Passengers to Virginia: When Did They Really Arrive?" The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 88, no. 4, 1980, pp. 401–14. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4248428. Accessed 6 June 2026. . . . June 2, 1608: The Phoenix departs Virginia with writings and maps from John Smith.https://historicjamestowne.org/history/history-of-jamestown/zuniga-map-of-james-fort-2/ June 8–10, 1608: At Roaring Point, natives attempted to repel Smith and English explorers with archers waiting on the shore. The next evening, Smith came ashore and left a basket of trade goods. Eventually, four Nanticoke men unaware of the situation met with Smith and spread the word that he did not wish to attack. Hundreds of native people came to talk and trade. June 17, 1608: At Nomini Bay, two native men invited Smith's shallop crew to go up the creek. They were led into an ambush. However, gunfire disarmed the natives, and ceasing fire, they exchanged hostages. The weroance explained that Mamanatowick Powhatan had ordered the ambush. June 18 to July 16, 1608: Smith's exploration in the shallop continued, with charting of the Potomac River and towns along the way. The explorers met a Wicocomico man named "Mosco". Smith guessed that he is partly of European descent due to facial hair. Mosco guided the English along a portion of the Potomac. July 17, 1608: Smith was wounded by stingray near the mouth of the Rappahannock River. He was treated by a doctor and survived. The area was named Stingray Point. July 18–21, 1608: Smith's shallop returned to Jamestown. July 1608: John Ratcliffe left office (either by resignation or deposition) in July 1608, two months before the end of his term. Sept 10, 1608: John Smith was elected to serve a one-year term as president of the council. His term ended on September 10, 1609.
1608: Printing of John Smith's True Relation of Virginia in London, England.
1608: Hog Island contained a drove of 60 pigs, which went unused by colonists. Autumn of 1608: Jamestown Glasshouse was built by German glassmakers. November 1608: Jamestown's first wedding (of two English): Anne Burras married John Laydon, a carpenter. .
1609
. Springtime of 1609: John Smith decreed, "He who does not work, neither shall he eat". .
June 1609: Samuel Argall departed from England for Virginia, attempting a more northerly, more direct route via Bermuda.Connor, Seymour V. "Sir Samuel Argall: A Biographical Sketch." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 59, no. 2, 1951, pp. 162–75. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4245766. Accessed 18 Aug. 2024. July 1609: In the Chesapeake Bay, Spanish reconnaissance ship, La Asunción de Cristo, was driven off by the timely arrival of Mary and John (captained by Samuel Argall), preventing the Spanish Empire from discovering a weakened Jamestown.Horn, J. (2008). A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. Ukraine: Basic Books. Pedro de Zúñiga y de la Cueva, the Spanish ambassador to England, was desperately seeking the location in order to authorize an attack by Philip III of Spain.
Summer of 1609: In Bermuda, Stephen Hopkins was accused of mutiny for wanting to remain a Bermuda colonist, arguing the Virginia Company contract voided by shipwreck. Fall of 1609: Fort Algernon was built nearby Jamestown. October 1609: John Smith was severely wounded by a gunpowder accident, and had to return to England for proper treatment. The Faulcon, Unitie, Blessinge, and Lion departed from Virginia, while the Swallow and Virginia (pinnace) remained behind.Bernhard, Virginia. A Tale of Two Colonies: What Really Happened in Virginia and Bermuda?. United Kingdom, University of Missouri Press, 2011 October 1609: Master George Percy took over as president of the governing council. October 4, 1609: Seven of the nine ships of the "third supply" mission arrived, delivering approximately 350 colonists but little supply. Four of the ships harbored sufferers of yellow fever, while the Diamond and Unity brought bubonic plague to the colony, killing at least 30 emigrants on the journey (and more over the following months).
Winter of 1609 – 10: Gabriel Archer died.
1610
February 1610: In the Somers Isles, Bermuda Rolfe (baby girl) was born to John Rolfe and Mistress Sarah Hacker Rolfe, but soon perished. February 1610: In the Somers Isles, Bermudas Eason (baby boy) was born to Edward Eason and his wife. March 1610: About 60 out of 500600 colonists remained alive. Francis West and 36 men were not counted as they had absconded to England. May 10, 1610: In the Somers Isles, Thomas Gates, Newport, Somers, and other castaway-colonists (totaling 137) boarded the Deliverance and Patience to sail to Jamestown. Two sailors (Christopher Carter and Edward-Robert Waters) remained behind on Bermuda.
May 24, 1610: Thomas Gates and Thomas Dale issued Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall , also known as "Dale's Code", a martial law/authoritarian system of government. June 7, 1610: Thomas Gates and leaders decided to abandon Jamestown. Colonists planned to head north to Newfoundland fishing settlements for food and evacuation. June 8, 1610: Jamestown refugees met the supply ships of Thomas West, Lord De La Warr at Mulberry Island. Thomas West convinced the colonists to return to Jamestown with fresh supplies and healthy men. July 9, 1610: St. John's Episcopal Church (Hampton, Virginia) was founded on Cape Henry. August 9, 1610: De la Warr sent Percy with 70 colonists to attack the Paspahegh and Chickahominy villages, burning buildings, destroying crops, and killing up to 75 natives. This ignited the first of the Anglo-Powhatan Wars. June 19, 1610: George Somers and Samuel Argall sailed for Bermuda to gather wild hogs for Jamestown. July 20, 1610: Christopher Newport and Thomas Gates left Virginia (on the Blessinge and Hercules) for England, where he would use his story of the Sea Venture wreck to advocate for the colony and to spur further investment. Aboard with him were two Virginia Indians recently taken prisoner: Weroance Sasenticum and his son Kainta. November 9, 1610: George Somers died at Bermuda from exhaustion. 1610: Captained by Nathaniel West, the Mary Ann carried widow Mistress Francis West to Virginia. 1610: The Mary and Thomas (also known as Mary and James) carried William Tucker to Virginia.
1611
1611: Henricus was founded on Farrar's Island. January 4, 1611: Henry Spelman was returned to Samuel Argall, in trade for copper ore to (brother to paramount chief). Winter of 1611: Colonists suffered from scurvy, including "Kemps", a native living with the English. Dr. Lawrence Bohun experimented in treating the disease with local vegetables, such as Ipomoea purga and sassafras. 1611: Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr contracted an illness. He boarded a ship bound for Nevis, West Indies, (captained by Samuel Argall), but was blown off course and forced to sail to England. March 1611: Thomas West returned to England, appointing George Percy to lead the colony in his absence. August 1611: Thomas Gates returned to Virginia at the head of an expedition that included three ships, 280 men, 20 women, 200 heads of cattle, 200 swine, and various other supplies and equipment. 1611: Puritan Reverend Alexander Whitaker arrived in Jamestown. 1611: John Rolfe cultivated Nicotiana tabacum as a viable cash crop for smoking tobacco (marketed as "Orinoco tobacco").
1612
1612: The Bermuda settlement of "New London" (later named St. George's) was founded, becoming the oldest continuously inhabited British town in the New World.
1613
1613: Thomas Dale founded "Bermuda Cittie", which was renamed to "Charles City" (and later City Point, Virginia) 13 April 1613: Samuel Argall abducted Pocahontas for use in prisoner exchange for return of English captives by Powhatan.
1614 .
April 5, 1614: Richard Buck officiated the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas (known as "Rebecca" Rolfe). A period of peace occurred between the natives and the colonists. The Rolfes then moved to Varina Farms.
1615 January 1615: Pocahontas gave birth to a son, Thomas Rolfe, at Varina Farms. 1615: The Somers Isles Company was formed by a charter to colonize the "Somers Isles" (Bermuda).
1616
Spring 1616: John Rolfe, "Rebecca Rolfe" (Pocahontas), son Thomas Rolfe, a company of about 12 Powhatans, Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Dale, and others left for England aboard the Treasurer. April 1616: George Yeardley was appointed deputy-governor while Thomas Dale returned to England. Yeardley relaxes laws and punishments set by Dale's Code, and the colony prospered.
1617