ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the origins of English colonial settlement in North America, concentrating on Virginia's tumultuous early years. Written in 1584 to convince Queen Elizabeth I to support North American colonization, Richard Hakluyt's "Discourse on Western planting" represents one of the earliest and most coherent expressions of England's New World ambitions. Shortly after Hakluyt's work was published, the queen granted Raleigh the first English license to settle in North America. George Percy, who travelled to Virginia with the first group of English settlers in 1606-1607, served as president of the Jamestown colony's council during the settlement's perilous early years. He offers one of the few surviving accounts of the founding of the Jamestown colony. John Smith travelled with Percy on the first voyage to Virginia. Although often out of favor with his fellow colonists, he became one of the most important traders, diplomats, and administrators during the first years at Jamestown.
