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Essay On Why Did So Many Jamestown Die

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Jamestown: Why Did So Many Die? It is 1607 and you decide to go on an epic journey and be a part of a settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, in the New World. You expect riches, you expect to teach the Natives the ways of Jesus Christ, and a possible trading route to China. Once you get there, it is not at all what you expected. You have to eat, kill, and murder innocent people just to survive. This is what the colonists in Jamestown were forced to do to be able to survive and protect those who are innocent. As shown, so many people have died in Jamestown. The question is why did so many of them die? So many colonists died because of the disease, lack of water and food, and Native Americans. Firstly, many settlers died because of illnesses and …show more content…

There were many droughts in Jamestown. Weather the droughts were short, severe, long, or not a big deal, droughts were very prominent during the Jamestown period. As shown in Document B Jamestown had multiple droughts throughout Jamestown history. In fact there was a drought named the Jamestown drought that was very severe and happened through about 1605 and 1610. However Jamestown was not just affected by drought it was also affected by starvation. The Jamestown settlement was near a river and had fish. But, the fish in the river was “only (there) in the spring and early summer…” (Document A). Another instance that starvation was a very big problem for the Jamestown settlers was in the winter of 1909-1910. This was such a big deal it even got it’s own nickname, The Starving Time. Right before the winter of 1909, Francis West and 36 other men sailed to trade with the Patawomeke Indians for the winter to come. They did trade with the Indians. To West and the rest of the crew, it was obvious that the grain they traded was going to help during winter, but it would not be there the whole winter. They also realized the grain would get everyone on the ship “fatly home to England” (Doc D). So they did exactly that. West and his crew left “the colonists and Indians to God” (Doc D). In summary, the lack of food and water severely affected the

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