A Year In History: 1619

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This Year in History:

1619

Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.

July 30

First legislative assembly in America convenes in Jamestown

In Jamestown, Virginia, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World—the House of Burgesses—convenes in the choir of the town’s church. Earlier that year, the London Company, which had established the Jamestown settlement 12 years before, directed Virginia Governor Sir George Yeardley to summon a “General Assembly” elected by the settlers, with every free […]

U.S. Government and Politics

August 20

First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America

On August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists. The arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World marks a beginning of two and a half centuries of slavery in North America. Founded at Jamestown in 1607, the Virginia […]

Slavery

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First legislative assembly in America convenes in Jamestown

First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America

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