Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonists Die?
Early Jamestown: “Why did So Many Colonists Die?” Outline
So many colonists in early Jamestown perished because of the environmental conditions, their relationship with the Powhatans, and their lack of proper settler skills and general unpreparedness.
In all four years of early Jamestown, the most deaths were caused by sickness, famine, and other environmental conditions, and it is arguably the most important reason that so many colonists died [Fausz 45].
During the time period that the colonists lived in Jamestown, there was a large drought, which, although it can cause death directly, had many indirect and lethal effects on the colonists [“The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts” 39]
As the water levels in Jamestown rose, the water became brackish and disease infested due to the waste from the colonists not flushing away [Blanton 37]. Although the colonists attempted to build wells to save themselves, the wells were ruined by droughts and saltwater, failing to prevent the disease ridden colonists from dying [Blanton 37]. …show more content…
Some of the colonists, driven mad by hunger, went so far as to torture the Powhatans into giving them food, which certainly didn’t reduce the number of people the Powhatans would later kill [Knopf 43]
The next leading cause of death in early Jamestown was the attacks by the Powhatans, a previously friendly tribe that became a foe when they were slaughtered by the English [Fausz
So many colonists in early Jamestown perished because of the environmental conditions, their relationship with the Powhatans, and their lack of proper settler skills and general unpreparedness.
In all four years of early Jamestown, the most deaths were caused by sickness, famine, and other environmental conditions, and it is arguably the most important reason that so many colonists died [Fausz 45].
During the time period that the colonists lived in Jamestown, there was a large drought, which, although it can cause death directly, had many indirect and lethal effects on the colonists [“The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts” 39]
As the water levels in Jamestown rose, the water became brackish and disease infested due to the waste from the colonists not flushing away [Blanton 37]. Although the colonists attempted to build wells to save themselves, the wells were ruined by droughts and saltwater, failing to prevent the disease ridden colonists from dying [Blanton 37]. …show more content…
Some of the colonists, driven mad by hunger, went so far as to torture the Powhatans into giving them food, which certainly didn’t reduce the number of people the Powhatans would later kill [Knopf 43]
The next leading cause of death in early Jamestown was the attacks by the Powhatans, a previously friendly tribe that became a foe when they were slaughtered by the English [Fausz