Editing James City County, Virginia (section)

===17th and 18th centuries===

====Proprietary colony====
{{main|History of the Jamestown Settlement (1607-1699)}}
The [[Virginia Company of London]] was granted a proprietorship (charter) by King [[James I of England]] to attempt to establish a colony in the area we now know as Virginia. England had been at war with Spain and was seeking both capital funds and income in the form of royalties. In December 1606, three ships set sail from England, led by Captain [[Christopher Newport]]. Upon reaching the New World at [[Cape Henry]], they selected a site to settle about {{convert|40|mi|km}} inland from the coast along a river to be better protected from attacks by sea from other Europeans. Soon after the establishment of Jamestown in 1607 in the new [[Colony of Virginia]], [[England|English]] settlers first explored and then began settling more of the areas adjacent to [[Hampton Roads, Virginia|Hampton Roads]] and along the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]].

The first five years were very difficult, and the majority of the colonists perished. In 1612, imported strains of [[tobacco]] cultivated in Virginia by colonist [[John Rolfe]] were successfully exported and a [[cash crop]] had been identified.

In 1619, the Virginia Company of London under a new leader, [[Edwin Sandys (American colonist)|Sir Edwin Sandys]], instituted a number of changes, to help stimulate more investment and attract settlers from England. In the long view, foremost among these was the establishment of what became the [[House of Burgesses]], the first representative legislative body in the European settlement of North America, predecessor of today's [[Virginia General Assembly]], first convened by a Royal Governor, [[George Yeardley|Sir George Yeardley]], of [[Flowerdew Hundred Plantation]]. Also in 1619, the [[plantations in the American South|plantations]] and developed portions of the Colony were divided into four "incorporations" or "citties," as they were then called. These were (east to west) [[Elizabeth City (Virginia Company)|Elizabeth Cittie]] (initially known as Kecoughtan), [[James City (Virginia Company)|James Cittie]], [[Charles City (Virginia Company)|Charles Cittie]], and [[Henrico City (Virginia Company)|Henrico Cittie]]. Each cittie covered a very large area. Elizabeth Cittie not only included land on both side of the James River, but most of what we now know as [[South Hampton Roads]] and also included Virginia's [[Eastern Shore of Virginia|Eastern Shore]].

The Virginia Company's "James Cittie" stretched across the [[Virginia Peninsula|Peninsula]] to the [[York River (Virginia)|York River]], and included the seat of government for the entire colony at [[Jamestown Island]]. Each of the four citties extended across the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]], the major thoroughfare of commerce for the settlers, and included land on both the north and south shores. With the incentives of 1619, many new developments, known as "[[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundreds]]"  were established.

====Wolstenholme Towne, Carter's Grove Plantation====
About this same time, downriver from Jamestown, in the southeastern end of what is now James City County near present-day [[Grove, Virginia|Grove]], a fortified settlement known as [[Wolstenholme Towne]] was established near the river and just east of the confluence of Grove Creek on a land grant known as [[Martin's Hundred]]. However, the population of the town, named for [[Sir John Wolstenholme, 1st Baronet|Sir John Wolstenholme]], a principal of the Martin's Hundred Society investors back in England, was severely decimated during the [[Indian massacre of 1622]], and many men, women and children were killed or abducted. While it was rebuilt, Wolstenholme Towne was eventually abandoned about 1643, and soon even the location was forgotten as it became one of the [[Former counties, cities, and towns of Virginia|lost towns of Virginia]].

Over 100 years later, the property had become part of [[Carter's Grove Plantation]], itself built around 1753 by the grandson of [[Robert Carter I|Robert "King" Carter]] of [[Corotoman]], who had become one of the wealthiest planters and served for a period as Virginia's acting governor. Another 200 years later, the long-lost site of Wolstenholme Towne was rediscovered in 1976 during an archaeological dig overseen by [[Ivor Noel Hume]] after the Carter's Grove Plantation property came under the ownership of [[Colonial Williamsburg Foundation]].

====Royal colony, creation of shires (counties)====
[[File:James City County sign on US 60 entering from east at Skiffe's Creek.jpg|300px|right|thumb|James City County sign on [[U.S. Route 60 in Virginia|U.S. Route 60]] entering [[Grove, Virginia|Grove]] from east at [[Skiffe's Creek]]. This border with the former [[Warwick County, Virginia|Warwick County]] was established in 1634 by order of King Charles I of England ''(Warwick County became part of the [[Newport News, Virginia|City of Newport News]] in 1958)'']]
The privately owned [[Virginia Company]] lost its charter in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony. In 1634, the English Crown created eight [[shires of Virginia|shires]] (i.e., [[County (United States)|counties]]) in the colony of Virginia, with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. [[James City Shire]], as well as the James River and Jamestown which had been named earlier, took its name from King [[James I of England|James I]], the father of the then-king, [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. About 1642–43, the name of the James City Shire was changed to James City County.

====Middle Plantation, Williamsburg, Green Spring====
On high ground midway across the Virginia Peninsula, [[Middle Plantation (Virginia)|Middle Plantation]] was established in 1632 as a fortress in the ongoing conflicts with [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. By 1634, a palisade or fortification had been completed across the peninsula with Middle Plantation at the center. This protected the lower peninsula to the east.

Middle Plantation and James City County were selected for the site of the [[College of William and Mary]] in 1693 and became the location of the capital in 1699 after Jamestown was burned (again) in 1698. Shortly thereafter, Middle Plantation was renamed [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] in honor of King [[William III of England]]. The capital was moved to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] in 1780 at the outset of the [[American Revolution]]. The [[Battle of Green Spring]] was fought in the county just a short time before the British surrender at Yorktown. ([[Green Spring Plantation]] was the former home of Royal Governor [[William Berkeley (governor)|William Berkeley]]).