Two attempts by the English to establish a colony on Roanoke Island are organized by Sir Walter Raleigh. The second disappears without a trace.

April: King James I issues a charter to the Virginia Comnpany for tract of land along the mid-atlantic coast.

December: Adm. Christopher Newport leaves London with the Godspeed, Discovery and Susan Constant bound for Virginia.

May 13: 104 male settlers arrive at site they name James Cittie and establish the first permanent English settlement in the New World, known as Jamestown.

June 15: James Fort is complete

Dec. 10: Capt. John Smith leads expedition up the Chickahominy River in search of food and is captured.

Dec. 29: Capt. John Smith is brought before Powhatan; Smith believes that Pocahontas, Powhatan's daughter, saves his life.

June: Capt. John Smith launches his first voyage of exploration from Jamestown, surveys the upper Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, in vain search for a passage to the Pacific Ocean. He says of the Potomac: "Neither better fish, more plenty, not more variety for small fish had any of us seen in a place."

July-August Capt. John Smith heads out on his second explotration voyage, mapping other bay tributaries, including the Rappahannock River up to the fall line. He encounters many Indians, including "that peevish nation," the Rappahannocks, who attack his ship from marsh below Occupacia Creek.

Sept. 7: Capt. John Smith returns to Jamestown.