THIS IS A REPORT I DID ON JAMESTOWN FOR MY HISTORY CLASS.
Why Did So Many Colonists Die?
Imagine being a colonist that has settled on the New World, freshly from England, but death lurks in your every step. The settlement of Jamestown was the first English settlement in Virginia and the New World. Gold was on their minds but a bitter end was all some found. What really went on in the little settlement of Jamestown? Why did so many colonists die? The answer is not pleasing, though death never is. Because of Indian attacks, the horrid environment, and the always-slow starvation, colonists were lead to their own doom.
Indian attacks are the main things that killed a colonist on the spot, when everyone had their backs turned. The Indians had a prophecy that described these strangers and re-supply ships just kept coming. Worry was setting in among the indigenous tribes. An unbearable drought was on its way and competition for food would be ugly. The prophecy stated that people with white skin would come and take over their tribes. The Indians weren’t welcoming these people with open arms, just readied arrows. These strangers had guns that could kill an Indian very fast. These strangers made the Indians trade by force and if they put up a fight, they would be killed. This made enraged the Indians. As the drought got worse the two neighbors fought brutally for food so they could keep themselves going.
Another crisis bubbled up from the depth of their despair. Starvation was a heavy role in the many deaths of the colonists. Drought, lack of supplies, the water, and a greedy man were most of the reasons they all starved. Due to the drought, we can infer that farming would be hard especially since they didn’t have many farmers and lack of supplies. The water there was so terrible that there was even a lack of fish. Not enough to sustain a whole colony. Francis Key was a coward of a man that took food from the Indians then left the other colonist “to god and nature”. He took a large portion of what the colony could have used to survive.
The environmental problems were worse and may have even lead up to the problems that were shared between the Indians and the colonists or starvation. The water was definitely a factor along with the island they picked to live on. The mosquitoes were horrible because of the swamp-like surroundings they had. The brackish water was just as terrible. Barely enough fish swam there and the human waste just didn’t wash out. It was a huge mess and with all that waste it probably built up some disease and mad people sick. They didn’t even bring people to build the best houses, so during winter they probably had very cold shelters.
We now turn back to the question, why did so many colonists die? My own personal theories are that Indian attacks, starvation, and the environment was just to much for these people. The terrible destruction of their lives was made up for when the colony discovered tobacco, which they gained money for from England. Although many died in a horrible way their faith in the New World did not go unrewarded.
<span id="test24140863">. . .</span><br/><div id="post24140863" style="display:none; margin-right:75px;"></div>Indian attacks are the main things that killed a colonist on the spot, when everyone had their backs turned. The Indians had a prophecy that described these strangers and re-supply ships just kept coming. Worry was setting in among the indigenous tribes. An unbearable drought was on its way and competition for food would be ugly. The prophecy stated that people with white skin would come and take over their tribes. The Indians weren’t welcoming these people with open arms, just readied arrows. These strangers had guns that could kill an Indian very fast. These strangers made the Indians trade by force and if they put up a fight, they would be killed. This made enraged the Indians. As the drought got worse the two neighbors fought brutally for food so they could keep themselves going.
Another crisis bubbled up from the depth of their despair. Starvation was a heavy role in the many deaths of the colonists. Drought, lack of supplies, the water, and a greedy man were most of the reasons they all starved. Due to the drought, we can infer that farming would be hard especially since they didn’t have many farmers and lack of supplies. The water there was so terrible that there was even a lack of fish. Not enough to sustain a whole colony. Francis Key was a coward of a man that took food from the Indians then left the other colonist “to god and nature”. He took a large portion of what the colony could have used to survive.
The environmental problems were worse and may have even lead up to the problems that were shared between the Indians and the colonists or starvation. The water was definitely a factor along with the island they picked to live on. The mosquitoes were horrible because of the swamp-like surroundings they had. The brackish water was just as terrible. Barely enough fish swam there and the human waste just didn’t wash out. It was a huge mess and with all that waste it probably built up some disease and mad people sick. They didn’t even bring people to build the best houses, so during winter they probably had very cold shelters.
We now turn back to the question, why did so many colonists die? My own personal theories are that Indian attacks, starvation, and the environment was just to much for these people. The terrible destruction of their lives was made up for when the colony discovered tobacco, which they gained money for from England. Although many died in a horrible way their faith in the New World did not go unrewarded.
