In late August of 1619, approximately 20–30 Africans arrived at Point Comfort (in modern Hampton, Virginia) by way of an English warship, White Lion. Their arrival is the first known occurrence of Africans in mainland British America. These men and women were captives whom had been removed from the Portuguese slave ship, San Juan Bautista, following an encounter the ship had with the White Lion and her consort, the Treasurer, another English ship, while attempting to deliver its African prisoners to Mexico. Historians suspect that the enslaved Africans were Kimbundu-speaking and hailed from the Kingdom of Ndongo in West Central Africa.
Shortly after the White Lion’s arrival at Point Comfort the Treasurer also arrived with additional enslaved Africans from the San Juan Bautista. Although the majority of these captives were ultimately taken to Bermuda for trade, records indicate that “two or three” enslaved Africans from the Treasurer were left behind in Virginia. It is suspected that the captives from both ships were transported to Jamestown just a few days following their arrival. The Virginia Colony’s first census, taken in March 1620, recorded 32 Africans, 17 female and 15 male, none of whom were named but all probably from the White Lion and Treasurer. Although slavery as an institutional concept did not yet exist in the colonies, Virginia’s first Africans were probably enslaved for life, though a few eventually became free. 19, 20
