The English Seek an Empire

The English, like the French and the Dutch, entered the race for an American empire well after the Spanish. The English did not have a permanent settlement in the Americas until the founding of Jamestown on the Chesapeake River in 1607. In the 1620s, the English also established settlements in the West Indies, which quickly became the economic engine of English colonization. Expansion into these areas demanded new modes of labor to ensure a return on investment. Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, large numbers of European indentured servants crossed the Atlantic while growing numbers of Africans were forced onto ships for sale in the Americas. This rapid expansion of English settlement not only fostered conflicts with Indian nations but also fueled tensions among settlers themselves.