Why Did So Many Colonists Die?

Why did so many colonists die?

The beginning was not easy. In the spring of 1607, English settlers arrived at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, working their way up the James River. Many of the people who made this journey were in search of a new life with freedom while others looked to become rich. The only question left to answer from this was what caused the deaths of so many settlers in Jamestown. The three main reasons for the death of so many colonists were the bad relations with natives, lack of good workers, and the lack of water.

A bad relation with the natives, specifically the Powhatan Indians, was cause of many deaths. An example of the bad relation between the English and Indians is presented in document D. In which we learn that Francis West and his men had killed or wounded many Indians during their struggle to force them to trade with them. These actions from the English would upset the Indians. Proven in document E where we see that the Indians killed more than 200 settlers’ total, from 1607-1610. Learning from the English, we can argue that having a good relation will make good neighbors and having bad relations may cause them to kill you.

The lack of skill of the men who first arrived at Jamestown was another cause of many of their deaths. In the first two ships’ lists from 1607 and 1608 shown in document C, we see that 75 gentlemen and no farmers arrived in these two years. Gentlemen were people of wealth who weren’t used to working with their hands. These settlers really needed people who knew what it was to work hard and would be able to supply everyone with enough resources to survive. Many of these settlers had no skill or had the wrong skills needed for survival, which would eventually lead to more deaths.

Water was a big issue that would also cause many deaths. In document A, it is detailed that “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,” meaning