Final answer:
The Virginia Company of London was created in 1606 as a joint stock company to settle and manage Virginia, seeking profits through gold and spreading Christianity. Despite a rocky start, it eventually found wealth through tobacco trade and introduced significant governance changes to bolster profitability and colonization appeal.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Virginia Company of London was established by James I in 1606 as a joint-stock company. Its primary goals were to settle and exploit the resources of Virginia, which included the search for gold, and the propagation of the Christian religion to the native inhabitants. The First Virginia Charter granted land to two branches of the Company: the London and the Plymouth branches, with the former setting up a colony near Chesapeake Bay (eventually Jamestown) and the latter in the New England area. Despite the high expectations, the colony had trouble becoming profitable, with early returns consisting of negligible resources instead of the hoped-for gold and riches.
By 1608, trial and error in their efforts led to the establishment of tobacco as a profitable export, which became the golden resource the Company had sought. Controversies about management and goals, such as finding a northwest passage, crowning Powhatan, or achieving a positive relationship with Native Americans, also filled the Company's history. Eventually, changes in governance and economic strategies, like the introduction of the Headright System and the establishment of the General Assembly, sought to make both the colony itself and colonization more attractive to settlers and investors.