This Issue:

Table of Contents

Cover Story

Grades 2-3

Where It All Began

On December 20, 1606, three ships set out from London, England. The Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery carried 144 people. They were headed for the New World.

The ships reached what is now Virginia on April 26, 1607. They sailed into Chesapeake Bay (see map). There, one voyager wrote, they found "fair meadows and goodly tall trees." They built a fort and named it after their king, James.

This May, we celebrate the 400th birthday of Jamestown. It was the first successful, permanent English settlement in the New World.

The Struggle to Survive

The 104 boys and men who came ashore faced many challenges. Food was hard to find. They were attacked by Indians.

But the settlers did not give up. They†found local tribes willing to trade with them. Pocahontas was the daughter of an Indian chief who ruled the area. During the hard winter of 1608, she brought the settlers food.

America's Birthplace

Archaeologists digging in Jamestown have made exciting discoveries. They have mapped out the triangular shape of the fort and have dug up arrowheads, coins and other artifacts.

In Jamestown, America had a strong beginning. It was there that the country's first representative government met. The settlers gave America a rich legacy to build upon.

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