James Oglethorpe established the colony of Georgia. It was through his friends in England in 1732 that the British government that let him establish the first new colony in North America within 50 years. Later that year he led the expedition of colonists that landed in Savannah early in 1733. Oglethorpe spent most of the next decade in Georgia, where he directed the economic and political development of the new colony, defended it militarily, and continued to generate support and recruit settlers in England and other parts of Europe.