Virginia Company

The Virginia Company was an English joint-stock company chartered by James I in 1606 to colonize the Atlantic coast of North America. Its settlement at Jamestown became the foundation of the Virginia colony.

Virginia Company of London: The Virginia Company branch authorized to establish settlements in southern Virginia, including Jamestown. This branch organized the 1607 settlement that became the company’s defining achievement.
Joint-stock company: A business organization that pools capital from investors who hold shares in a common enterprise. This structure let the company finance an expensive overseas venture by spreading risk.
Virginia General Assembly: The legislature of Virginia, first convened in 1619 as the House of Burgesses. Its establishment under company rule introduced representative government in English America.
Massachusetts Bay Company: An English joint-stock company that established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century. Its settlement developed a different religious and political character from company Virginia.
Virginia Company of Plymouth: The Virginia Company branch authorized to colonize northern parts of the territory granted in 1606. Its separate northern patent shows the original company’s division into regional ventures.
Virginia Company lottery: A series of public lotteries used by the Virginia Company to raise money for colonization. Lottery proceeds supplemented investor funds as the company struggled to finance its settlements.
Virginia Company massacre of 1622: A coordinated Powhatan attack in 1622 that killed hundreds of English colonists in Virginia. The attack intensified conflict and helped undermine confidence in company administration.
Dutch West India Company: A Dutch chartered company that conducted trade, warfare, and colonization in the Atlantic world. It offers a comparison with a European corporation combining commerce and imperial power.
Virginia Charter of 1606: A royal grant establishing English claims and rules for colonization along North America’s Atlantic coast. It gave the company legal authority to organize settlements and govern its colonists.
Headright system: A colonial land-grant system awarding acreage for transporting people to a settlement. The company used land incentives to attract migrants and secure labor for Virginia.

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