...The Deaths of Many The year of 1607 was when the first English settlers arrived and built a fort on a place called James Island, soon to be known as Jamestown. Of the 110 original settlers, only forty survived at the end of December. When January came, there was a restock of English colonists which did save the colony from total extinction, but even that was not enough. In the next two years, hard times came when Captain John Smith, who provided much needed leadership, was sent back to England. In the awful winters of 1609-1610, two thirds of the settlers died. Many of the colonists of Jamestown died because of the unsanitary water, an unprepared population, as well as, the very unfortunate drought. First, many colonists died because of the contaminated water provided in Jamestown. In document A, it describes how Jamestown gave the colonists brackish and polluted water. As the water levels rose, many rivers and creeks became brackish or salty water, therefore making fresh water very rare. Also, according to the historian Carville V. Earle, he claimed that the human waste which got dumped into the rivers, festered and did not flush away. The toxins and harmful diseases...
Words: 576 - Pages: 3
...The early settlers of Jamestown had arrived in the settlement with the thought that the region would bring much promise and glory to their lives they had left behind in Great Britain. Contrastingly, they received the complete opposite of what they intended, where a mass amount of tragedies occurred amongst their population. Many historians say that the reasons for the mass amount deaths in Jamestown was primarily due to the spread of disease, environmental or natural disasters, or Native-Americans. The predominant reason why many settlers died in Jamestown was due to the numerous confrontations and attacks amongst the settlers and neighboring Native-American tribes. According to Document E: Chronology of English Mortality in Virginia, 1607-1610,...
Words: 295 - Pages: 2
...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...
Words: 1379 - Pages: 6
...The early settlers of Jamestown had arrived in the settlement with the thought that the region would bring much promise and glory to their lives they had left back in Britain. Contrastingly, they received the complete opposite of what they intended, where only a mass amount of tragedies occurred amongst their population. Many historians say that the reasons for the mass deaths in Jamestown was primarily due to the spread of disease, environmental natural disasters, or Native-Americans. The predominant reason why many settlers died in Jamestown was due to the numerous confrontations and attacks amongst the settlers and neighboring Native-American tribes. According to Document E: Chronology of English Mortality in Virginia, 1607-1610, it shows...
Words: 301 - Pages: 2
...Name: Connor Adkins Early Jamestown DBQ Essay What Caused the Death of So Many Early Jamestown Colonists? Imagine four and a half months on the sea, less than a year on the ground and nearly everyone you know, dead. That was what early Jamestown was like to the colonists. Jamestown was the second English colony and the first permanent one. King James, who the town was named after, gave John Smith, the established leader for many of the colonies early years, a charter to start the colony at Chesapeake Bay because the location seemed perfect. The location was not perfect. From the evidence provided, the Jamestown colonists were eradicated by lack of freshwater, conflict with natives, and few needed personnel. The colonists...
Words: 370 - Pages: 2
...which is located in Virginia, Jamestown. Jamestown wasn't what they expected it all to be. They had poor settling skills and useless people that came just for the sake of making money. Also, they had big problems with getting along with the natives that appeared to be there before them, and the Englishmen didn't realize that they would be drinking salt water if the Atlantic Ocean is connected to the James river. Anyone would know salt water isn't good for any humaning being to drink. As days, months, and years went on things seemed to get worse. Englishmen were dying from whatever was going on that modern day scientist seemed to figure out. By seventeenth century Jamestown’s river know as the James River, the water has become brackish and slimy (Doc A). Due to the Englishmen taking baths and putting their waste in the water. So since...
Words: 651 - Pages: 3
...“In 1607, a group of merchants established England’s first permanent colony in North America at Jamestown, Virginia” (Nash, p. 52). Everyone who settled along the Atlantic seaboard had different reasons and faced many obstacles as well. They suffered from disease, native tribes, and settlement of the new world. The first settlement was Jamestown. Their goals were to prosper in wealth and in their future. The Virginia Company of London sold stocks and traded with people overseas. However, disease hurt their prosperity and they ended up with no profit. A group of indentured servants were used in exchange for free passage to America because of tobacco. The causes of malarial fever, dysentery, and malnutrition killed many settlers, as well as servants....
Words: 283 - Pages: 2
...year 1607, more than 300 English men sailed to the new world on three English ships. They had high hopes of this being the first permanent English settlement in the new world. There were also many other reasons why their hopes were high; there was freshwater streams, possible riches, to spread their religion about Jesus Christ, and maybe even a hidden route to China. They sailed through the James River and then disembarked near the James River. What they did not know was that they were not alone; there were at least 15,000 Powhatan Indians living in small villages. Furthermore, one reason that can have caused many deaths could have been because of the drought that they had to live through. According to Doc B, in the years, 1600 and 1610, Jamestown suffered the longest unbroken period of drought....
Words: 921 - Pages: 4
...Powhatan Indians were already living along the coast of Jamestown. The English settlers built a fort known as Jamestown, but unfortunately over half the settlers ended up dying. More colonists, most young and poor, came with the desire of working off their debt. They produced the...
Words: 595 - Pages: 3
...came to Jamestown for what seemed like a good life, they didn’t expect to have as many hardships as they did. Jamestown was located in the Colony of Virginia and was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. In 1607, 110 male settlers came to the Americas to come to Jamestown, but by December, 70 settlers died—leaving 40 settlers left. How did a seem-to-be wonderland like Jamestown end up to be a ghost town? Well, this is due to shortages of water and periods of major drought, shortages of food, and tension among surrounding Native American tribes and English settlers. First, having little to no water effects life drastically. In paragraph 2 of Document A, the author states,”Because the adjacent river and creeks became brackish as water levels rose, reliable sources of fresh water would have been scarce by the seventeenth century.” Without having access to clean and fresh water the settlers would have become dehydrated. In paragraph 2 of Document A, the author also states,”...the...
Words: 638 - Pages: 3
...The single most important factor in the colonists deaths in early Jamestown was stupidity. These deaths occurred primarily because they choose to bring the wrong people to be the first settlers in the new colony, they didn’t try hard enough to befriend the Natives, and they didn’t have past experience of farming or having sanitation. Many documents can support this because they show how the colonists did not prepare or try hard enough to succeed in the new colony. The new colonies consisted of settlers that didn't work or were only needed in the colony due to being unprepared. In document C it says,“ Gentleman: 47, 28” This shows that in totally between May 1607 and January 1608 75 gentlemen came to the new colony. A gentleman is a rich...
Words: 690 - Pages: 3
...The extreme hardships that the original settlers experienced taught Americans to persevere through tough times. The first settlement was in Jamestown around the time of 1609 to 1611. Life was pretty difficult. They didn't have many jobs and the drought made it hard to grow crops. So they didn't have much to live off of. Many colonist died because of all the diseases, conflicts with Native Americans, and very limited resources. When the colonist arrived they were not the first to discover the land. Native Americans had called that place home for a long time before the colonist arrived. On May 26th, 1607 two die in the first Indian attack on Fort James (Doc E). The Native Americans clearly were a threat to the colonist in Jamestown. At least five more die in the Indian ambushes from June through August (Doc E). As time went on colonist were still being killed by the Native Americans. “Of 100 men at Nansemond Indians kill 50” (Doc E). Even three years later the Native Americans still strived to...
Words: 626 - Pages: 3
...World, where a group of people were trying to escape their former government and start anew, a new colony was formed. This new permanent settlement, referred to as Jamestown, was located in what is now Virginia along the James River. The colony was also the namesake of King James I of England, who reigned from 1566 to 1625. In May of 1607, the colony of Jamestown was officially brought to life. The Virginia Company of London, who settled Jamestown, was a joint stock company that had investors. Jamestown was a colony that, while short-lived and had its own trials and tribulations, was monumental for the startup of the United States of America. At the very beginning of the voyage to Jamestown, there were 144 men and young boys on the boat, most of whom were...
Words: 1225 - Pages: 5
...In 1607, 104 English men and young boys arrived to North America to start a settlement and on May 13th, they arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. This was the first permanent settlement in America. Immediately, dismal conditions prevailed, a numerous amount of settlers chose to seek agricultural ventures, and people began to starve. Settlers were dying of hunger, attacks, lack of supplies, and diseases. The settlement had barely any strong leadership, and this took a toll of them. The leadership began to get better with the election of Captain John Smith, he brought about improvements with their food issues. He forced all of the colonists to work and negotiate food with local Indians, which did not last very long and eventually led to the “Starving Time” in 1609 through 1610. The economic status for the settlement started to progress with the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop in 1612. Unfortunately, with the advancement of attaining the new cash crop, they still had poor living conditions. As far as religion, the settlers were having a great spiritual struggle, they did not have a strong Christian commitment. They felt as if they did not have time to praise God because of all of the problems that they were facing. There was a great amount of discrimination in the first settlement, in fact,...
Words: 524 - Pages: 3
...months later, Pocahontas fell ill and died at Gravesend. Rolfe entrusted his son, who had also fallen quite ill to the care of Sir Lewis Stuckley, and he returned to his adoptive home of Virginia alone. Prior to his first departure to England, Rolfe held public office. He assumed the positions of secretary and recorder general of the colony, and became a member of the governor’s council. Upon his return, he also took a seat as a member of the House of Burgesses. He once again remarried, this time the daughter of a colonist by the name of Jane Pierce. Rolfe also redirected his attention back to the roots of his success, focusing once more on the quality and quantity of Virginia grown tobacco. By 1617, a mere seven years since his arrival to Jamestown, tobacco exports to England amounted to over 20,000 pounds, doubling that number in the next year. By 1630, one and a half million pounds of the tobacco that Rolfe pioneered had been exported, marking the establishment of the first great American enterprise. John Rolfe died at some point in 1622, although the cause is unclear, as a third of the colonial population was killed in an Indian uprising that same year. Although, one thing is clear: Rolfe’s success and innovation did not die with him. John Rolfe throughout history has been overshadowed by his wife Pocahontas. There is no classic Disney film dedicated to him, after all. Regardless, he was crucial in establishing Virginia’s cash crop, and ultimately its economy, for the union that...
Words: 879 - Pages: 4
