roprietors was
for the most part dispelled and that demands on the Northern Neck land
offices increased to equal other areas in Virginia.

RETROSPECT

The availability of land was a leading motive in the European
colonization of America. Although much of the country was inhabited by
Indians, European nations claimed sovereignty over the area and denied
superior claims by the non-Christian aborigines. The London Company held
essentially to this position, although gradually the colony of Virginia,
like other English colonies, recognized the Indian's right of occupation
and provided some compensation for relinquishment of territory. By the
middle of the seventeenth century Virginia had initiated the policy of
laying out Indian boundaries or creating reservations for neighboring
tribes that were not open to white settlement.

Under the London Company land was held in common until the provision for
distribution to individual stockholders was carried out after 1616. In
addition to grants according to the number of shares of stock owned, the
company rewarded individuals with land for special services rendered to
the colony. And to stimulate immigration, grants were offered as
dividends to voluntary associations or "societies of adventurers" for
organizing and financing settlements such as the hundred or particular
plantations. It was also possible to obtain patents by purchase or by
"treasury right" under the company, but the most significant development
was the provision for acquisition by headright as outlined in the
Instructions to Governor George Yeardley in 1618.

With the dissolution of the company in 1624, the "treasury right" was
discontinued in Virginia and did not reappear other than in the Northern
Neck until 1699. The major method of obtaining title to land was the
headright which attempted to maintain an appropriate balance between the
size of the population and the area patented. However, its basic concept
was distorted by irregular practices and fraudulent acts. Other
conditions for obtaining patents after 1624 were as a dividend for each
share of stock invested in the company, as remuneration for special
services, and as a means of encouraging frontier fortification.

The size of land patents gradually increased during the seventeenth
century with the peak being reached in the third quarter. During the
last quarter of the period there was a definite trend toward the breakup
of large estates by dist