Native American Conflict In Jamestown

Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement to be established in what is now the United States. The majority of the settlers of Jamestown died from various reasons. Conflict was very much present with the Native Americans living in the area. Food was in short supply. Disease ravaged the settlement multiple times and finally the environment took a toll on the settlers of Jamestown.

Native American conflict caused the deaths of over a hundred Jamestown settlers over the course of three years. In the early months of the settlement roughly five settlers were killed. However, tensions grew as the settlement grew larger. 1608 brought relatively minimal conflict compared to the years to follow. In the year of 1609, two groups were stationed
Although the land seemed suitable at the time of founding Jamestown, it would soon be revealed this was not the case. Fish were not in an abundant enough supply year round, and could only be counted on in spring and parts of the summer. One man could potentially be held responsible for some of the deaths that occurred during the previously stated “Starving Time”. This man was known as Francis West, and he had been sent to trade with the Patawomeke Indians. Upon receiving the grain, West and his men returned to Europe. With the amount of deaths that occurred in the winter of 1609 due to starvation, it can be assumed that had West brought back the food the loss of life would be significantly lower. The siege of Jamestown is arguably one of the worst times Jamestown faced. With the inability to leave Jamestown the colonists were left with little food during the winter and over 100 colonists died from starvation and disease. It is also well worth noting that many of those who came to Jamestown were not well equipped for starting a settlement. Of the 110 colonists that started the colony, almost half were gentlemen who were not used to the physical labour that would be
This can be potentially traced back to the positioning of the settlement. Jamestown was positioned near a river; and people placed waste there in the hopes that it would wash away. However the waste festered and and could be a potential cause for some of the outbreaks that occurred in the colony. At the start of the colony there was but one surgeon and no apothecaries. This meant that when an outbreak occurred the colony was not well equipped in containing and treating of the disease. It seemed the disease that killed the colonists returned each year. The first outbreak was in 1607 when half the colony was wiped out by the disease. In 1608 there were reports of “many dead, some sick”; it’s unknown if these deaths were caused by the illness but the mention of some sick leads to a conclusion that sickness is what killed some of the colonists. The trend of the sickness killing many returned in 1609 when fifty were killed by the sickness. Finally during the “Starving Time” a sickness returned to the colony. It’s unknown exactly how many died from disease itself; however 110 colonists died from starvation and disease combined.

Finally the environment and the location of Jamestown contributed to the downfall of the colony. The colony was positioned near brackish waters. When water levels rose it brought the risk of contaminating water with salt. The colonists did not choose a location that was abundant