<P> The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed proprietary attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, and the subsequent further south Roanoke Island (modern eastern North Carolina) by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1580s . </P> <P> The founder of the new colony was the Virginia Company, with the first two settlements in Jamestown on the north bank of the James River and Popham Colony on the Kennebec River in modern - day Maine, both in 1607 . The Popham colony quickly failed due to a famine, disease, and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first two years . Jamestown occupied land belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy, and was also at the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies by ship in 1610 . Tobacco became Virginia's first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns . </P> <P> In 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I, and the Virginia colony was transferred to royal authority as a crown colony . After the English Civil War in the 1640s and 50s, the Virginia colony was nicknamed "The Old Dominion" by King Charles II for its perceived loyalty to the English monarchy during the era of the Protectorate and Commonwealth of England. . </P> <P> From 1619 to 1775 / 1776, the colonial legislature of Virginia was the House of Burgesses, which governed in conjunction with a colonial governor . Jamestown on the James River remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699; from 1699 until its dissolution the capital was in Williamsburg . The colony experienced its first major political turmoil with Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 . </P>

What was the name of the government set up in the virginia colony