The Virginia Company set out for the new world with three ships and about a hundred men these settlers arrived in America on May 13, 1607. By traveling to the new world ,the settlers were hoping to make a better life for themselves. What the colonists failed to realize was the hardships it would take to make a settlement in a new land.
Colonists faced hard ships such as the poor environment, unskilled colonists, and conflicts with the Native Americans As a result of poor environment several of the Jamestown colonists died.The Virginia company traveled through the Chesapeake Bay and up the James River to an island. This is where the colonists decided to build their settlement. Most of the land on the island was swampy and some areas had standing water on it. Despite these problems, the colonists still decided to build their settlement on the island. The water in Jamestown was undrinkable causing another environment problem.
The water became brackish. (This is when salt water and freshwater mix together making the water undrinkable), and made colonists sick if drank (Doc A).The colonists of Jamestown thought it was a good idea to build their settlement near the river but that caused problems of its own. Colonists would dump their trash and waste into the river, but the tides from the Chesapeake Bay pushed the trash and waste back into Jamestown instead of away from it. This caused the river water to become nasty and undrinkable.
Another reason for death was because of the drought. From 1607-1611 Jamestown received almost no rainfall at all (Doc B). This drought caused for the crops not to grow, the colonists went through a period called the Starving Time.During the Starving Time colonists began eating pets such as cats and dogs, and even started cannibalism. One Jamestown settler was almost burned at the stake because he tried to kill his pregnant wife and eat her.
By the end of the Starving Time more then hundred and ten colonists were dead. The poor environment of Jamestown caused for difficult times among the colonists and resulted in multiple deaths. Most of the settlers who came to Jamestown were unskilled. In 1607, the first group of settlers that came over to Jamestown was a hundred and ten (Doc C).
Twenty-eight out of those 110 did not have an occupation.Out of the first shipment that came over, none were doctors and only one was a surgeon (Doc C). The Jamestown colonists were not immune to the diseases that were in the new world. By not having doctors, those who were sick did not have an effective or fast way of getting better. In 1608 another group of settlers came over. In this group there were a hundred and twenty colonists.
Since most of the men did not have any experience in hard work, it was hard for the colonists to get things done. If the colonists had brought over more skilled people, various lives could have been saved.The Jamestown settlers and native Americans clashed multiple times, resulting in the unfortunate deaths of hundreds of colonists. The colonists of Jamestown built their settlement in the middle of an Indian empire (hook).
Within a few weeks of arriving at Jamestown the colonist suffered their first Indian attack. Thanks to Jamestown’s leader, John Smith, the colonists opened up a trade relationship with the Powhatan leader Wahunsunacock. Everything with the Indians went fine until Smith was injured while cleaning his gun, forcing him to return to Britain.Smith was replaced by ineffective leaders who did not get along with Wahunsunacock like John did. In 1609, a Jamestown colonist named Francis West took thirty-six men to go trade with the Indians. When the Indians would not trade, West cut off two of the Indians hands (doc D) With Smith gone and the aggressive acts by the colonists, Wahunsunacock reversed his truce with the settlers.
He planned to starve the colonists out of Powhatan territory. To fulfill his plan, Wahunsunacock cut off all food supplies to Jamestown and any trade teams were attacked and killed.Powhatan Indians captured and tortured to death the Jamestown leaders. Once Wahunsunacock died, his brother Opechancanough became leader of the Powhatan Indians.
Opechancanouh ordered for the extermination of the Jamestown settlers. This resulted in the Second Powhatan War where over 375 colonists were killed. After this attack the colonists and Indians signed a peace treaty. During the ceremony the colonists poisoned the drinks of the Indians killing at least 200 natives, and causing the third Powhatan War which resulted in the killing of 500 more colonists.The colonist’s bad relationships with the Native Americans ended with over 800 settlers dead. The Jamestown colonists had trouble adapting to their new settlement.
Because the colonists could not adapt countless amounts of settlers died. The three main reasons a lot of colonists died was because of poor environment, unskilled colonists, and bad relationships with the Indians. If the Jamestown colonists would have been prepared better and thought thing through before setting off on their journey, a bunch of lives could have been saved.
