Jamestown: A Corporate Trip Gone Wrong

The United States basically started as a corporate business trip that went horribly wrong.

On December 20, 1606, three tiny ships left London, not filled with

families looking for freedom, but with guys looking for gold. The Virginia Company

sent them to get rich quick, but they had no idea what they were doing.

They packed heavy wool for the humid Virginia swamp and drank brackish water that gave them salt

poisoning. It was a nightmare. They faced mutiny, shipwrecks, and the infamous

Starving Time where they had to eat rats just to survive. They never found a single nugget

of gold. Instead, they pivoted to growing tobacco, which actually saved