Edwin Sandys is known for bringing reforms and changes in Virginia when he became Company Treasurer. Reforms and changes were necessary because earlier settlers in Virginia had suffered from starvation because of the limited food supply. The colonists unable to produce crops properly because of a labor shortage and some were deserting the colony in numbers. Sandys tried to solve the problem by persuading women from England to come in Jamestown to marry colonists.
Imposing of tariffs meant that European countries could not sell goods in the U.S., so they imposed their own tariffs, resulting in a decline of worldwide trade.
In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450-1500) became the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa, opening the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia.
