The first permanent English colony in North America was Jamestown, Virginia founded in 1607. It was a business venture of the Virginia Company of London, an English firm that planned to make money by sending people to America to find gold and other valuable natural resources and then ship the resources back to England. Initially, the colony suffered from a lack of leadership and profitable enterprises which resulted in starvation and near failure of the colony. In order to induce Englishmen to come to the Virginia Colony, the company instituted a series of changes that helped the colony grow. The company’s monopoly on land was lessened which allowed the colonists to acquire land for themselves. English common law was imposed and eventually a measure of self-government was allowed. At this point, more women and families began to come to come to Virginia. Tobacco Cultivation Changed Virginia There was no gold in the Jamestown colony, but John Rolf successfully crossbred native strains of tobacco with West Indian tobacco. Tobacco quickly became a major cash crop and an important source of wealth in Virginia. Tobacco cultivation was labor-intensive. People known as indentured servants were sent from England to work for the Virginia Company. Indentured servants worked for a land owner in exchange for their passage to the New World in hopes of eventually claiming their own land. More tobacco cultivation required more indentured servants. Tensions began to develop over the continual need to supply land to newly freed indentured servants. African slaves were introduced to the Virginia Colony in 1619. Eventually, plantation owners came to rely on African slaves as a more profitable and renewable source of labor. As a result, Virginia’s colonial economy became highly dependent on slavery. House of Burgesses The Virginia Company established a legislative assembly that was similar to England’s Parliament, called the House of Burgesses. The House of Burgesses was the first European-style legislative body in the New World. The representatives were both appointed by the company’s governor and elected by land-owning males of Virginia. Laws enacted were subject to approval by the governor and the London board of directors, but it was the first self-government in the colonies. However, all the colonists did not own land and therefore lacked representation. i dont know if this helped i hope it did