Explain Why Early Jamestown Why Did So Many Colonists Die

Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonists Die? It was a rough beginning with constant deaths throughout the colony of Jamestown. English settlers started arriving at the James River in the Chesapeake Bay region of Virginia in the spring of 1607. Some hoped for new homes; most hoped to become rich, but for the most part, the adventure would come to a tragic end. By 1611, 400 of the original 500 colonists had died. So, the question to be answered is why so many colonists died. The answer is to why people died can be found in three basic reasons: issues with the water, the fact that the colonists came with mostly unhelpful skills, and the fact that the colonists failed to maintain peaceful relations with the Indians who were already living in the area. The water became a major problem for the colonists because it was not fresh water; it was a harsh mixture of saltwater and freshwater enough to do some damage. The colonists tried to dig wells for fresh water, but these were subject to drought and/or
Although, how could they when their home was being invaded by a number of snobbish Englishmen? They had quite a motive to be hostile. In 1609 however, the problem grew when another Englishman named Francis West, along with his crew of thirty-six men, “sailed up the Chesapeake bay to try to trade for corn with the Patawomeke Indians”(Hume). It seems he “persuaded” them to trade, most likely by torturing, threatening, and even killing the Indians. He left a lot of angry Indians with a load of grain that he would take to the Jamestown colonists for a supply of food, but he decided instead to just take it back to England with himself. The death toll of the colonists increased after this event, due to the now excelled hostility of the Native