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The Starving Times: The Early Colonists In Jamestown, Virginia

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The Starving Times was a very devastating and tough time for the early colonists in Jamestown, Virginia. It all began in the winter of 1609 and lasted til spring of 1610. Another ship, the Sea Venture, had just arrived and brought many more people, but not a lot of supplies. The colonists had experienced a drought earlier in the year, causing almost no crops to grow. Therefore, they were left with very little food and had just lost the one person the Indians had respected, John Smith. The Indians now realized how weak the colonists and formed a plan; starve them out and take back their land. The surround the fort, kept all food out, and kept everybody in. With little supplies and no way of getting food, the colonists began a period of extreme deprivation. …show more content…
People started dying and the numbers quickly dropped. Desperate, they used their houses and fortifications as firewood, and may have even eaten the flesh of their dead. When the winter finally ended, there were 60 people left from the original 240. They decided to abandon Jamestown, boarded a ship, and were almost through the James River, when they ran into more ship with new colonists. Thomas West, the commander of this new fleet, forced the survivors to go back, though they didn’t want too. After this, things finally turned around in Jamestown, and it started to get a little better. In the end, the Starving Times was a period of extreme destitution and impoverishment that forever changed the future of the Jamestown

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