In 1607, American Indians, hidden along the banks of a Virginia river, watched as three boats filled with bearded strangers sailed upstream. For more than a century, the Spanish had been busy establishing an empire in the New World, far to the south. Meanwhile, other Europeans began launching their own colonial efforts in lands that for many centuries had been home to tens of thousands of Native Americans. These newly arrived strangers riding upstream were Englishmen, ready to take great risks in the name of their king as they reached the unknown shores of what is today Chesapeake Bay. They would settle on an island in a river they named for their king - James. Just in time to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its settlement, ""Jamestown"" treats students to a fully illustrated and highly readable history of the first permanent English colony in North America.