Urban Poem
Jamestown
"I call them my children," he says of the American settlements, "for they have been my wife, my hawks, my hounds, my cards, my dice and in total, my best content, as indifferent to my heart as my left hand to my right." from 1922 New England Trials. When a settlement is made, it is meant to stay forever. That’s what England intended when colonists set out in May of 1607. The colony was Jamestown, in honor of the king. Most of the colonists from Jamestown died. Many reasons contributed to the Jamestown colonists dying in the early English colony years. Nobody knows exactly why so many colonists died. Historians think that settler skills, environment concerns, and Indian relations might have been the main reasons for the deaths.
The first theory of how so many colonists dies is their settler skills. Document “C” states that forty-seven (47) gentlemen were part of the first hundred-ten (110) settlers to venture into Jamestown. Gentlemen are wealthy men with no working experience. There was also a poor choosing of expertise to travel to Jamestown. Only one surgeon went, meaning if anyone got hurt, there was only one person to help; as long as the surgeon was alive. The first and second trip was all men, no women. That meant that there was no one to cook, clean, and take care of common cold. Jamestown was suffering from the drought, and needed food to survive the winter. Jamestown colonists decided to reach out to their neighboring Pataworneke Indians for help. Document “D” stated that Francis West and thirty six (36) men sailed from Jamestown to the Pataworneke Indians to trade with corn. Once the men reached the Indians, instead of trading, they cut off two (2) of the Indians heads and stole the food. Realizing that the food gathered would not sustain Jamestown through winter, but enough to make it to England, Francis West and his men instead sailed back to England, deserting the colony.
The second theory of how so many colonists died is environment
"I call them my children," he says of the American settlements, "for they have been my wife, my hawks, my hounds, my cards, my dice and in total, my best content, as indifferent to my heart as my left hand to my right." from 1922 New England Trials. When a settlement is made, it is meant to stay forever. That’s what England intended when colonists set out in May of 1607. The colony was Jamestown, in honor of the king. Most of the colonists from Jamestown died. Many reasons contributed to the Jamestown colonists dying in the early English colony years. Nobody knows exactly why so many colonists died. Historians think that settler skills, environment concerns, and Indian relations might have been the main reasons for the deaths.
The first theory of how so many colonists dies is their settler skills. Document “C” states that forty-seven (47) gentlemen were part of the first hundred-ten (110) settlers to venture into Jamestown. Gentlemen are wealthy men with no working experience. There was also a poor choosing of expertise to travel to Jamestown. Only one surgeon went, meaning if anyone got hurt, there was only one person to help; as long as the surgeon was alive. The first and second trip was all men, no women. That meant that there was no one to cook, clean, and take care of common cold. Jamestown was suffering from the drought, and needed food to survive the winter. Jamestown colonists decided to reach out to their neighboring Pataworneke Indians for help. Document “D” stated that Francis West and thirty six (36) men sailed from Jamestown to the Pataworneke Indians to trade with corn. Once the men reached the Indians, instead of trading, they cut off two (2) of the Indians heads and stole the food. Realizing that the food gathered would not sustain Jamestown through winter, but enough to make it to England, Francis West and his men instead sailed back to England, deserting the colony.
The second theory of how so many colonists died is environment