Editing History of Bermuda (section)

=== 1612 official settlement ===
[[File: State House of Bermuda (1614).png|thumb|[[State House, Bermuda]] by John Smith]]
Two years later, in 1612, the Virginia Company's Royal Charter was officially extended to include the island, and a party of sixty settlers was sent on ''Plough'', under the command of Sir [[Richard Moore (Governor)|Richard Moore]], the island's first governor. Joining the two men left behind by ''Deliverance'' and ''Patience'' (who had taken up residence on Smith's Island) and Edward Chard, they founded and commenced construction of the town of [[St. George, Bermuda|St. George]], designated as Bermuda's first capital, the oldest continually inhabited English town in the [[New World]].<ref name=Smithsonian/>

Bermuda struggled throughout the following seven decades to develop a viable economy. The Virginia Company, finding the colony unprofitable, briefly handed its administration to the Crown in 1614. The following year, 1615, King [[James I of England|James I]] granted a charter to a new company, the [[Somers Isles Company]], formed by the same shareholders, which ran the colony until it was dissolved in 1684. (The Virginia Company itself was dissolved after its charter was revoked in 1624). Representative government was introduced to Bermuda in 1620, when its [[House of Assembly of Bermuda|House of Assembly]] held its first session, and it became a self-governing colony.<ref name=Wilkinson/>{{rp|76–77,138–139,178–179}}