Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonists Die?

Suppose you have to live in an infested, uncommon, and to you an inhabitable land. You come with 100 other men, some dressed in cloth, some dressed in rages. How would the relationship be between you, the environment, unknown aliens, and your “companions?” The spring of 1607, three English ships with a hundred passengers came across the Atlantic, through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and up the James River. Their intention was to create the first permanent English settlement in the “New World”, teach the ways of Jesus Christ to the Native peoples, find a trade route to China, and gather riches. Though only in the first few years of this “permanent” settlement, it started to parish. People …show more content…
In document B it stated that there was a drought from the period of 1607-1611 as the rain index was negative two. This affected the colonists’ food and water sources that was provided by the rain, such as drinking water and growing crops. It is accepted and known when there is a drought it would affect the production and supply of food and water that is available. This would cause the crops of Jamestown to be lacked of nutrients and unable to grow to produce food. Document A, the text said in the second paragraph, line one to three,“… the adjacent river and creeks became brackish as water level rose, reliable sources of fresh water would have been scarce by the seventeenth century…” in the second paragraph, lines one to three. As it is known, salt water if consumed can dehydrate the human body and cause negative physical changes. Crops can also die out if watered with salt water. The colonists set it up so salt water intruded into their source and caused many crops to die out and colonists to become sick. According to Document A, the passage stated in paragraph three, line one-two, and four, “The island is not situated at a point of great natural food abundance, especially relative to other locations very close by… only in the spring and early summer are they there in impressive abundance.” We know that preserving food has been …show more content…
This could have lead to inefficient productivity and useless settlers, more people to feed. Document C, the chart shows of the original settlers in May 1607 many occupations of what we could consider useless appeared. These included occupations such as “47 gentlemen, 4 carpenters, a barber, a tailor, a drummer, a preacher, and 4 boyes.” As it is known, when you have more people, you have more mouths to feed and people to take care of. Of the first shipment of settlers these occupations were unproductive and only caused services in which didn’t create any supplies needed to survive. Document C, the chart for the 1st resupplyment in January, 1608 brought many more useless occupations, these included “28 gentlemen, a copper (barrel maker), a tobacco pipe maker, six tailors, a jeweler, four refiners and goldsmiths, and a perfumer (wig maker).” We learn from our mistakes. Unfortunately, the settlers did not and due to it brought more useless occupations that only serve as pleasure. This also caused many more people to feed, and since this they could be on a shortage of food due to it producing less than needed. In Document C, the data also totaled the amount of people that arrived from each shipment. First shipment, “Total Males: 110 (,) Total Females: 0”, Second shipment, “Males: 120 (,) Total Females: 0.” It shows that no women came to the colony, only men. In olden time women