What factors turned England's Chesapeake colony of Virginia from stark failure to brilliant success?
             In the 1580's, the English landed in an unknown world called America. They quickly set up camp and created the small city of Roanoke, in present-day North Carolina. The population of Roanoke colony was very small; they were English's prototype colony. The expedition leader, John White, was very excited and returned home to England to spread the news. When he returned to Roanoke in 1590, he returned to an abandoned colony, with no signs of what happened. The Roanoke Colony was a miserable failure.
             English colonization was delayed afterwards due to England's war with Spain, from 1588 to 1604. But once the war was over, England was back at it again and set forth to the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Company, who was a group of investors, set sail once again in 1607 and created a fort named Jamestown. The difference between Jamestown and Roanoke is... Jamestown was a success. The first couple years for Jamestown settlers was hard, especially in the cold, violent Atlantic Coast winters. Jamestown was doomed the first winter until the Powhatan tribe came the rescue.
             After the first couple winters were over with, the Chesapeake started to boom economically. One of the biggest allies of the Chesapeake was tobacco. Tobacco was unknown to England, and in 1613, John Rolfe developed a hybrid cured Virginia leaf. This new phenomenon was packaged and shipped to England and the rest of Europe, and the smoking craze was on. With tobacco on the rise for the Virginia Company, they needed much help farming it. The Virginia Company was giving land away in the Chesapeake to anyone who can afford the trip over. In the years between 1619 and 1624, 4,500 new English settlers arrived to raise tobacco. For those who wanted to get out of England and couldn't afford it, the Virginia Company paid their way. T...