In late August 1619, the English privateer ship White Lion put into Point Comfort, near Jamestown, Virginia, and traded about 20 African captives for supplies. They had been seized from a Portuguese slave ship, the Sao Joao Bautista, bound for Mexico, by privateers. The colonists recorded their arrival as the first Africans in English North America, although Spanish colonies had held enslaved Africans since the 1500s. Their status was unclear at first, some becoming servants who earned freedom, but slavery was codified in Virginia law by the 1660s. In all some 12.5 million Africans were taken across the Atlantic, of whom about 10.7 million survived the passage.
Before and after
- 22 April 1616Death of Miguel de Cervantes
- 23 April 1616Death of William Shakespeare
- from 1618 to 1648Thirty Years' War
- 1619Manneken Pis
- August 1619The first enslaved Africans arrive in English Virginia
- from 1620 to 1621Polish–Ottoman War of 1620–1621
- 1620Construction of Luxembourg Palace
- from 30 August 1620 to 27 August 1623Palatinate campaign
- from 17 September 1620 to 7 October 1620Battle of Cecora
More in Society, economy & sport
- 1583Founding of University of Edinburgh
- from 31 December 1600 to 1 June 1874Founding of East India Company
- 5 November 1605Gunpowder Plot
- 1701Founding of Yale University
- 1746Founding of Princeton University
- 25 May 1754Founding of Columbia University
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 17th century.