After Christopher Columbus came to the New World in 1492, the land became a matter of competition between different European countries: France, Spain, Portugal, and, most importantly, Britain. Each of these countries set up their individual 'governments' over the areas they claimed and took control over the native peoples living on the land. The year 1607 brought the British's Virginia Company to the New World for its first permanent settlement, Jamestown. This settlement took a turning point for the worst as disease and starvation took its toll on the people. However, while devastation occurred, the settlement pulled through after the 'discovery' of tobacco. Planting tobacco and enslaving the native peoples (in addition to Africans) brought prosperity to the Jamestown settlement. North of Jamestown came other British settlements - including Plymouth, Massachusetts. These settlements were founded by those fleeing religious persecution and added to the expansion and development of the British colonies in the New World. As the colonies expanded, more and more people immigrated to the New World in hopes of gaining wealth and prosperity.
