what did the headright system offer to get settlers to come to jamestown
Headright The headright system began in Jamestown, Virginia in 1618[1] as an attempt to solve labor shortages due to the advent of the tobacco economy,[2] which required large plots of land with many workers. The disproportion that existed between the amount of land available and the population led to a situation with a low supply of labor, resulting in the growth of indentured servitude and of slavery. The headright system also served to attract new colonists. Colonists who had already been living in Virginia were each given[when?] two headrights of 50 acres (200,000 m2); immigrant colonists who paid for their passage were given one headright, and individuals would subsequently receive one headright each time they paid for the passage of another individual. This last mechanism increased the division between the wealthy land-owners and the working poor. Headrights were given to heads-of-households, and because 50 acres were accumulated for each member of the household, families had an incentive to make the passage to the colonies together.[3]
Colony of Virginia The founder of the new colony was the Virginia Company,[3] 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.