Final answer:
The headright system awarded land in Virginia to colonists who could pay for their own travel to America or finance others, granting them 50 acres of land per head transported.
Step-by-step explanation:
The system that gave colonists land in Virginia was the headright system. This initiative was implemented by the Virginia Company to motivate English migrants to settle in the New World. Each person who paid their own passage to Virginia or financed someone else's was granted 50 acres of land as a headright. The system not only facilitated the acquisition of land by planters and small farmers but also was a response to the high demand for labor, particularly in the tobacco industry, which was labor-intensive and required more land for cultivation. The headright system, in conjunction with the use of indentured servants, played a critical role in the development of a new landowning middle class in Virginia