<p>The New World wasn't exactly new. &nbsp;Native Americans, for thousands of years, prospered before European contact. &nbsp;Spain possessed much of South America, while France acquired the central portions of North America. &nbsp;On May 14, 1607, a group of roughly 100 British members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River.&nbsp;Famine, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first two years brought this Atlantic coastal colony to the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies in 1610.&nbsp;</p>