Continuity in Colonization: A comparative study between Hampton and Jamestown, Virginia, regarding their occupation and its impact

Continuity in Colonization: A comparative study between Hampton and Jamestown, Virginia, regarding their occupation and its impact

JFL, Active Learning Classroom (171)

It has been widely circulated that Jamestown, Virginia, is the oldest permanent continuous English settlement in the New World. Not all parts of that statement are true. Locals of a place no more than half an hour down the road would contest that claim, saying that the city of Hampton better fits the criteria. What do those qualifiers mean, and which settlement deserves the title? Based on an examination of primary and secondary sources, both settlements will be compared with the qualifiers oldest, permanent, continuous, and English. To be oldest, the founding of the current location of the settlement must precede the other. To be permanent, the settlement must have been founded with the intention of perpetual establishment and occupation. To be continuous, the settlement must have never lost occupation or removed to another location. To be English, the settlement must have been an English colony, eliminating other American settlements such as those founded by the Spanish and Portuguese. Based on the major event of Jamestown’s burning and the removal of the capital to Middle Plantation, it will be concluded that Hampton better fits the criteria because it exists and has existed in the same location for a longer period of time. Jamestown was essentially abandoned and no longer exists as a political entity, whereas Hampton remains a central power in Tidewater Virginia society.