The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, is the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed proprietary attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, and Roanoke Island by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1580s.

The founder of the new colony is the Virginia Company, with the first two settlements in Jamestown on the banks of the James River and Popham Colony on the Kennebec River in modern-day Maine, both in 1607.

The Popham colony quickly fails due to a famine, disease, and conflict with local Native American tribes (the Powhatan Confederacy) in the first two years.

Jamestown is also at the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies in 1610.

Tobacco becomes Virginia's first profitable export, the production of which hasd a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns.

In 1624, the Virginia Company's charter is revoked by King James I, and the Virginia colony is transferred to royal authority as a crown colony.