Abstract
The theme of our study being "Virginias 400th Anniversary", we decided to study the birth of Virginia and more precisely Jamestown settlement and Williamsburg, where we spent one day of our trip. Four hundred years ago, on May 14th, 1607, men and boys crossed the Atlantic Ocean on three ships. They established, on the southern fringe of Chesapeake Bay, what became the first permanent English settlement in the New World: Jamestown. Here, three cultures (European, North American and African) came together and defined the character of an important nation: the United States of America. In setting up camp on the marshy Jamestown peninsula, the colonists were taking the first steps toward creating the American landscape we know today: the government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States' Heritage today: The mission of Jamestown's site is to preserve, protect and promote this original first permanent English settlement in North America and to tell the story of the role of the cultures that came together to lay the foundation for a uniquely American form of democratic government, language, free enterprise and society. Now this site is jointly administered by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service. You can have an interactive visit of it, with the reproduction of the planting of settlers, Indians, and you can visit the living-history museum, which is very interesting.
