English settlement of North America
Colonies at Jamestown and Plymouth begin a very different kind of empire.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 13 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Early Modern, Holocene
Jamestown is founded in 1607 as a commercial venture and nearly fails; tobacco saves it, and the first enslaved Africans arrive in 1619. Plymouth follows in 1620 with religious dissenters. Unlike Spanish America, English settlement involves large-scale migration of families and the displacement rather than incorporation of indigenous populations — a pattern with very different long-term demographic and political consequences.