Jamestown Drought Essay

In the document titled “Jamestown’s Environment”, it says that the tides caused saltwater to overflow into their drinking water, turning it into brackish water, deeming it undrinkable. Also, in the document “Rainfall in Jamestown”, you can see that in there was a large drought during the first 5 years that Jamestown was established, which didn’t really help crop growth. Finally, in “Chronology of English Mortality”, it talks about how the area bred disease that constantly sickened many of the settlers and even killed them. So, all of that can connect back to the thesis since the diseases and lack of water ended killing so many of the

( Document D) The Indians had most of the forts in Jamestown then the English had. The English had very little space to farm or to do anything in there land areas that they had they also had very little supplement. The supplement just barely got around to all of the English settlers sometimes the some of the English had no food to eat so they died in Jamestown. (Document

Colonists and Natives were too confident and they tried to survive in the deathful fighting's and attacks! In 1607 the first English colonists arrived on the James River. They were sent by the Virginia company to find riches like gold, copper, and metal. They brought 104 men with them and three ships: The Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed. When they arrived on the James River they also founded Jamestown which was the first English settlement in 1607 although before the colonists even got to the New World the emperor Powhatan was in power. Although why did so many colonists died in early Jamestown between 1607 and 1611? The reason why so many colonists died in Jamestown between 1607 and 1611 was because of disease, attack of Natives, and drought. So in the next few paragraphs, I will prove using historical evidence that colonists died because of disease, drought, and attacks of natives.

The colonist would often trade with the indians but they would have it so the colinist would get the better deal. The indians wouldn’t have attacked the indians for no resson. Often the colonist would start the fight because they were low on food and they were agitated. Colonist were scared to even leave their house becasuse of the indians. The relationships were really bad as you can

Another reason the relationship between the Natives and the British were not as good, was those coming over for religious freedom. For instance, the Puritans did not have a strong relationship between the Natives. Puritanism was a type of Christianity and they believed there was only one God. On the other hand, the Native Americans believed differently. They believed that everyone was equal. The Puritans put their faith above everything while the Natives had actions, like dancing and rituals. Also, the Puritans believed in selling land while Natives did not. As one can assume that would not settle for a healthy relationship. The Puritans treated the Natives with disrespect due to the fact they had different beliefs. As Document 1 states, years later, the Indian religion would convert to Christianity. The Quakers also came over to the “New World” for religious freedom. The way the British treated the Natives is similar to the way the Nazis treated the Jews. The Jews and the natives were both looked down upon for a certain amount of time. The two groups’ social rank was at the bottom, based on their stance on their religion. Both groups were also murdered for their beliefs. The relationship between Natives and Quakers was different than the relationship of the Puritans and Natives. Very soon, the Quakers began to realize that their actions toward the

When the colonists first got there they had a pretty good bond with colonists. After some time the relationship went down. In the article it says “‘Some harsh and cruel dealing by cutting of towe [two] of the Salvages heads and other extremetyes”’(Doc D). This is showing how their relationship started to go down hill. Another reason why the natives and colonists had a bad relationship is because natives just purposely killing them. In document E it shows that one hundred and fourty-one colonists died. This was a little less than

Diseases played a big role in Jamestown’s life throughout their history. Causing “neere halfe” (Document E) of the deaths in Jamestown, there had to be a reason. That reason is “brackish water” (Document A) or unclean water caused by the lack of strong currents in the river all of the disease origins such as feces of animals and humans settles and does not wash away. Since they had the disease in their only freshwater source, the lacked a major resource.

There are many reasons Native Americans and European Colonists did not have a good relationship. The reason for conflict between Colonist and Indians was due to the Colonists insatiable greed for power and land. Some of the reasons not only included physical mistreatment but also an ethical mistreatment of the Native Americans. European Colonists not only brought with them many different diseases that would later aid in the genocide of many Native American tribes, but also a mindset in which they felt superior to there Native neighbors. This feeling of superiority led to an outbreak of violence and many different civil wars. Due to the Native American and the Colonists irreconcilable

To start off, autumn had come and the settlers were able to establish a good supply for the winter. Unfortunately, their food supply was burned in a fire along with their fort. In the video “Jamestown Rediscovery Part 3” slide 38 mentions, “bad luck struck again, however, when their food supplies were ruined in a blaze that swept through and damaged the fort.” Secondly, instead of gathering food supplies, the settlers decided to go looking for ways to please the Virginia Company. Slide 44 of “Jamestown Rediscovery Part 3” states, “In their zeal to do the Virginia Company well, they failed to acquire enough food stores for their own need.” Now, after their food burned, they neglected the fact that they needed a stable food supply of their own. Lastly, the winter, also known as the “Starving Time” was one of the worst periods in Jamestown. With the arrival of 400 new settlers they had to share their small supply with, people began fighting. In addition, page 33 of “Making Thirteen Colonies” states, “That means armed Indians wouldn’t let anyone out. The settlers couldn’t hunt or fish.” With diseases, no water, and no food, only 60 of the people in Jamestown out of 504 died. To conclude, hunger was the worst hardship settlers had to

This is a secondary source document with primary evidence written in it. The general of the Indians was seeking to trade grain for Indians to last them through the winter so they wouldn't starve and die. He got a giant shipload of grain. It seems that the shipload of grain disappeared just like that due to starvation. All of the grain that they had was definitely not enough to last them through the winter until springtime. (Doc D) The document suggests at least three reasons. 1) the settlers must have been low on food. 2) the Indians had reasons to distrust the settlers for their Crewelle Dealinge and therefore might later refused request for trade and food; and 3) one group of colonist got all the traded food then left them. 299 people made it to Jamestown. Disease:84(50+6?+28=about 84 died from disease in 1607 and 1608. Indian Relations: 7(2+3+2=7 settler killings by Indians specifically mentioned in 1607 and 1608. The numbers of death by disease continued to be high; what is new is the large number of settlers killed by Indians either directly or indirectly by the siege. Settler-Indians relations got worse. Something cause the powhatans to become much more aggressive than they were during the first two years. Perhaps it was continuing resupply of colonists. It was becoming clear to the Powhatans the English were not just temporary visitors. (Doc E) Why can't people just get

The colonists couldn’t get all the necessities for life, so they had to ask their only neighbors for help, the natives. Francis West and his men sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to trade corn with the natives. In the novel “The Virginia Adventure,” Ivor Noel Hume wrote about how the colonists received the grain in exchange for corn. He writes, “Though West was able to load his (small ship) with grain, the success involved ‘some harshe and Crewell dealinge by cutting off towe (two) of the Salvages heads and other extremetyes.” In order to get food, they cut off two natives heads. This sparked anger in the natives and it caused a dispute between the colonists and natives. The natives were angry with the colonists for killing their men, so they started to kill the colonists in return. Another reason the natives played a role in the death rate of the colonists was because the colonists planted themselves right in the middle of all the Powhatan tribes. The Jamestown settlement was surrounded by Powhatan settlements, meaning that Jamestown would be surrounded and have nowhere to go during native attacks. The last reason the natives contributed to the decline of the colonists was because the natives started to threaten the colonists. The natives said that anyone who left the settlement would be killed on sight. The evidence on the topic of the native’s relationship helps explain

The English settlement of Jamestown was established in May of 1607. From then on to 1610 almost 200 of the settlers had died. So many settlers died in such little time because of disease, Native American attacks, and starvation.

The Indians knew how to live off the land and were expert hunters and gatherers their main food they grew was corn and traded with the colonist by giving them corn and gathering up food for them. Back in England people who were wealthy had no clue how to survive on the plains and take care of a farm and plow fields and hunt for meat. Since they came from the city of England the Englishmen were people who did not know that kind of life. They were wealthy Englishmen; most of these men were lazy and didn’t know what manual labor was. In addition, there were Englishmen of trade who were carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers who settled down in Jamestown. It was known that one of the main reasons why the Englishmen settled in Jamestown in hope to find gold, rubies, pearls, and silver and to be able to sell it in England for a profit. Devastation struck instead, within a few months less than hundred died. These deaths were excruciating deaths, and the horror of deaths continued from 1607 to 1610. Some men would find themselves going out of their mind, while others had a blistering burning fever, and some men’s skin would just peel off like peeling off a boiled potato and sudden deaths rapidly appeared, some licked up the blood from their falling comrades as some swelled up so fast less than a hundred from five hundred survived. Many of the colonists were very weak and could not do hardly anything. Some figured the cause of the deaths was from

On May 14, 1607, a group of roughly 100 members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company, founded the first permanent English settlement in North America. The Jamestown colonists purpose is to find gold, silver, and other resources all they want is claiming land and riches. Smith left the Jamestown settlers without a strong leader so he left all his people alone. There’s no houses for them, there’s no supplies for them to survive due to the lack of leadership. So the settlers faced many hardships they had not expected. The settlers lacked some skills necessary to contribute for themselves like farming, hunting, etc. Many settlers died not only because of starvation & disease but also during the winter many settlers starve or froze to death because they don’t have anything for that season. After all what happens to them the settler adjusted to their new lives in America. The few remaining colonists turned to local Powhatan Indians to help them learn the process of planting and harvesting corn and tobacco. The settlers relied on

The English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded on May 14, 1607 by Captain Christopher Newport and his fleet of a hundred or so Englishmen. During the next nine decades, this settlement would begin as "a verie fit place for the erecting of a great cittie(Tyler, 33)", and develop into "nothing but Abundance of Brick Rubbish, and three or four good inhabited houses(Miers, 107)." Two major factors led to the gradual decay and destruction of Jamestown: (1) The profit-before-survival attitude of the English settlers, and (2) the persistence of the Indians of the area to drive the English from their native lands.