Editing James City County, Virginia (section)

====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.