Early Jamestown- Why did so many people die?

Author's Note: I wrote this for Social Studies, and I decided to put it here. Title pretty much says it all, but everyone had to write an essay on why so many people died in early Jamestown. It was relatively boring, but I tried my best to try to add some life to it.



Imagine this- you’re on a swaying boat in the middle of the ocean. For months on end all you see when you look from the cabin window is water. With miles upon miles of tumbling waves. Or at least until one day you hit land... except you die within a month. Have you ever thought about why things are? Of course you have, once in your life. We’re humans- we want to know, and be curious. Well I’ve been thinking why did so many people died in early Jamestown. So, why did they? The answer is there were many different reasons include brackish water, no food, and disease.

One of the reasons people died in Jamestown was caused by brackish water. You probably wouldn’t think brackish water would matter, but you also probably don’t know what brackish means. Brackish water is salty, and is caused from the alignment of the moon. People would think the freshwater wells were still that- fresh water, but indeed, they were wrong. Also, some human and sometimes animal waste, too was dumped into the rivers which was the main source of fresh water. Of course, people began to become ill from the disgusting mixtures.

Another reason the colonists died right away was due to the drought. It didn’t rain much, obviously. Except the drought wasn’t the key reason to why there weren’t many crops to eat. Too many of the first settlers who came were gentlemen- men who didn’t like to get their hands dirty. There were little to no farmers washed upon the shore, so everyone was pretty much out of luck. But they did have their ways. Of course, they stole from the Indians. That leads to another reason.

 If someone was stealing your crops, would you kill them? Even if not, that’s what the Indians did. Although, it didn’t work quite like that. Then settlers offered to trade for the Indian’s grain, but they didn’t want to. As you could most likely guess, the settlers attacked. Except the Indians weren’t too helpless- they killed people as the settlers killed others from their tribe. Very few people died from Indian attacks, but it still adds to the overall 500 out of 600 settlers dead.

One last reason many settlers died was from the harsh weather. They were in the middle of building some houses, so some people couldn’t find any shelter during the winters. The winds blew hard, and everyone huddled together, but of course that didn’t stop sickness and disease from spreading around. More people died from sickness that anything else.

Too many people died in early Jamestown from no food, brackish water, disease, and Indian attacks. All those deaths add up. Approximately 500 out of 600 of the first settlers died within just a couple of months. It truly is a miracle for those who survived. Luckily, it was enough for them to become our ancestors.  


References
"Colonization & Settlement, 1493-1763 | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. . Jacobsen, Karen. "Refugees' Environmental Impact: The Effect of Patterns of Settlement." Journal of Refugee Studies 10.1:: 19-36. Print. John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & The Summer Isles (Glasgow, Scotland: James MacLehose and Sons, 1907), Vol. 1: 158–59 Documents A, B, C, D, E