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Jamestown is founded by the Virginia Company. -
Period in Jamestown Colony history referred to as the Starving Time -
The rule of Sir Thomas Dale and Good Order in Virginia -
John Rolfe establishes a tobacco plantation on the James River about 30 miles (48 km) from the Jamestown Settlement -
Violent confrontation between hundreds of English and Powhatan men on the Pamunkey River, Virginia -
The first session of the first colonial legislative assembly, the Virginia House of Burgesses, convenes in Jamestown. -
Slavery begins in the colonies, as twenty Africans are brought by a Dutch ship to Jamestown for sale as indentured servants. -
Virginia was made a royal colony -
Maryland makes lifelong servitude for black slaves legally mandatory. Similar laws are later passed in New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas and Virginia. -
Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion against Virginia Governor William Berkeley, which results in Bacon's burning of Jamestown. Bacon and his western Virginia rebels also crush the Susquehannock Indians who have been attacking the settlers of western Virginia. The rebellion disintegrates when Bacon dies suddenly that year.