Stories of a Nation: Surviving Jamestown. Colonial House . Interactive History. On the Trail of Captain John Smith: A Jamestown Adventure. History Globe. In 1606, some 105 adventurers set off from England to try and establish the first permanent English colony in the New World.
They settled in what is now the state of Virginia and called their colony first James Fort, and then James Towne, in honor of James I, the King of England. The early years of the colony were nearly a total disaster.