In 1607, the first permanent British colony was established in Jamestown in Chesapeake Bay region by the Virginia Company, a joint stock company that received a charter from King James I and sold shares to raise funds. The colonist, led by Captain John Smith, settled at the mouth of the James River. Early years were difficult, the colonists faced conflicts with natives, starvation, and difficulties finding stable sources of food and support. Experiments with tobacco proved successful and the exportable commodity became Virginia’s main source of revenue, providing many of its landowning gentry a comfortable lifestyle throughout the next century and beyond. Half of the settlers in the southern colonies came to America as indentured servants-labors