The Jamestown Settlement was the first permanent English settlement in North America.[1] Named for King James I of England, Jamestown was founded in the Virginia Colony on May 14, 1607. In modern times, "Jamestown Settlement" is also a promotional name used by the Commonwealth of Virginia"s portion of the historical attractions at Jamestown. It is adjacent and complementary to the Historic Jamestown attraction at Jamestown Island. Jamestown followed no fewer than eighteen earlier failed attempts at European colonization of North America, including the famous "Lost Colony"[2] at Roanoke Island in what is now Dare County, North Carolina. (The ill-fated Spanish Ajacan Mission, established thirty-six years earlier by Jesuit priests fewer than fifteen miles from Jamestown, Virginia, was a venture to convert Native Americans to Christianity rather than an attempted settlement of Europeans. Other successful colonies in North America were in Spanish dominions such as New Spain, New Mexico, and Spanish Florida.) Late in 1606, English entrepreneurs set sail with a charter from the Virginia Company of London to establish a colony in the New World. After a particularly long voyage of five months duration, the three ships, named Susan Constant, The Discovery, and The Godspeed, under Captain Christopher Newport, made land in April 1607 at a place they named Cape Henry. Under orders to select a more secure location, they set up a cross and gave thanks for safe landing, then set about exploring what is now Hampton Roads and a Chesapeake Bay outlet they named the James River in honor of their sitting king, James I of England.