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What Caused The High Mortality Rate In Jamestown Between 1607-1610

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In order to launch a new colony, colonists must possess certain skills that would increase their chance of survival. Such was not the case with the settlers of Jamestown, Virginia. One hundred ten passengers boarded three English ships, in the hopes of establishing a new colony in North America. In the spring of 1607, they sailed through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and they would create the first permanent English settlement. However, the realities of creating a new colony did not meet their expectations. The one hundred ten settlers who arrived in 1607, only forty of them would manage to survive by the end of December. By the year 1611, eighty percent of the five hundred settlers who had arrived to Jamestown would be dead. The big question is what caused the high mortality rate in Jamestown between the years of 1607-1610? The high mortality rate in the new settlement of Jamestown was caused by the environment, the settlers skills and their backgrounds, and the poor relations the English had with the Native Americans. One of the many reasons …show more content…

The first one hundred ten settlers were all men. There were no females or many doctors that could give medical attention to the sick (Doc C). On the first ship to Virginia, they did not bring any apothecaries, and if a person was sick they were simply left to die because there were no cures for any diseases. On board of the ship, there were forty-seven gentlemen as well. A gentleman was a person of wealth who was not used to working with his hands (Doc C). The gentlemen did not partake in work and as a result they hired many servants to do their work instead. Out of the first one hundred and ten settlers that boarded the ship none of them were farmers (Doc C). The settlers did not think to expect that they might require farmers to grow any crops for food. These factors all contributed to the high mortality rate in

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