Colonial Virginia Terms

A person who agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the New World, food, shelter, and clothing.

• Indentured Servant

• Free Laborer

• Contract Worker

• Slave

The first representative assembly in the British American colonies, established in Jamestown in 1619. (A mini-government within Jamestown)

• House of Burgesses

• General Assembly

• Continental Congress

• Virginia Assembly

The severe winter of 1609-1610 in Jamestown, during which many colonists died from starvation, disease, and conflict with Native Americans.

• Starving Time

• Harvest Famine

• Colonial Crisis

• Winter of Despair

A royal document giving certain privileges or powers to a person or group.

• Charter

• Decree

• Mandate

• Edict

King James I revokes the Virginia Company's charter, and Virginia becomes a royal colony.

• 1607

• 1620

• 1624

• 1636

The ships land at Cape Henry (in modern-day Virginia).

• April 26, 1607

• May 14, 1607

• June 1, 1607

• July 4, 1607

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607 in present-day Virginia.

• Jamestown

• Plymouth

• Roanoke

• Savannah

The powerful leader of an alliance of around 35 Native American tribes controlling the area where Jamestown was founded. He was the father of Pocahontas.

• Powhatan

• Tecumseh

• Sitting Bull

• Geronimo

A company who was granted a charter by King James I to establish colonies in North America. They funded and oversaw the settlement of Jamestown.

• Virginia Company

• Plymouth Company

• Massachusetts Bay Company

• New England Company

Warly leader of the Jamestown Colony. He is known for his strong leadership style and his "work or starve" policy

• John Smith

• William Bradford

• Pocahontas

• George Washington