Jamestown Fiasco Jamestown was considered by many scholars as the first permanent English settlement in North America. Jamestown was founded on May 14, 1607 by a group of settlers led by Captain Christopher Newport, who was hired by the London Company. In looking at the first fifty years of the colony's existence, historians have learned much about early colonial attitudes toward religion, gender roles, labor, and Indian life and culture. In this exert Morgan focuses on the possible causes for Jamestown's major problem--producing their own food. One possible reason to why the English fail to grow food was poor "organization and direction" of the colony. The