Compare And Contrast Plymouth And Jamestown

The early 17th century Jamestown witnessed one of the worst winters during 1609. There was scarcity of food and colony settlers were living off carcasses of dogs, cats and horses, time which would be later called the “Starving time”. This colony was founded in 1607 by 104 settlers of which only 38 survived the first nine months, with most succumbing to starvation and disease caused probably by poisoned water. Additionally, this time also saw one of the worst droughts , and since the colonists were not accustomed to agricultural labor, most perished and the survivors were entirely dependent on the trade with Native Americans. Being transported in such ear of such hardship, basic survival skills would be of most imperative. Also business skills would of importance to improve trade and commerce with the indigenous natives for initial survival. Without either of these skillsets it would near impossible to survive let alone thrive in such harsh conditions, especially if coming from an aristocratic background like most of the early settlers. Despite the hardship Jamestown is one of the first successful colonies probably because of Captain John Smith who established trade with the natives and later by a settler John Rolfe who found the land suitable for tobacco and started tobacco farming. In this case, a
However, qualities required here were different. Unlike Jamestown, where entrepreneurship was the most important quality, settlers of Plymouth were religious people, which unfortunately was the prime reason for the colonies downfall as marked by the infamous Salem Witch trials of 1630 along with poor and biased politics. The success was seen in 1634 under the governance of Thomas dudley. The essential survival quality for this settlement was that of hard work. Unlike the aristocrats of Jamestown, the pilgrims were hard workers and they already had a working government that aided to their