Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonist Die?

My name is Jane, I am a ghost, well now I am. I look at my body being dragged and seeing my skull being axed and all I can think of is what has Jamestown become. Jane here is one of the many to die in Jamestown but, one of the few to be eaten. In the spring of 1607, there were three English ships carrying each 100 men. So, why in early Jamestown, did so many colonist die between 1607-1611? I think the reason so many colonist died was because of Jamestown’s geography, the occupations of the colonist, and their relations with the Natives.

The area of Jamestown was not the best place to be in many ways. One of the major problems with the area of Jamestown is the Brackish water. Just in general the brackish water is undrinkable due to it being part saltwater, which they can’t drink(Document A). Also, not to mention all the waste that was dumped into the water would just sit there and fester instead of washing away(Document A). Also think about the competition for clean water. You would also have extremely bad health with all the brackish bad water leaking into the clean water supply. Also what clean water supply did they have, most would say rainfall but they were in a Drought at the time(Document B). So, that is one of the main reasons for the hardship of Jamestown.

A second hardship of Jamestown was their relationships with the Native Americans. On a trading trip with some Patawomeke Indians, who they assumed were more friendly(Document D). But they just end up cutting the heads of some Salvages and extemetyes. Then took all the grain to get themselves back to england.

The third reason for the hardship is that they brought the wrong occupations. They had only brought one surgeon and no doctors the first time. They had also brought some what seems like useless occupations. Such as a barber, wigmaker, and a drummer(Document C). Instead of a doctor, farmer, and gunsmith. These occupations would have definitely helped in the long run. I believe if they had brought these people it could have helped a lot more than the others.

So, what i’m saying is that their was some poor planning when creating this colony. If their location was different it would have decreased amount of people who got sicked than died. Or if they had been kinder to the Native Americans, they could have helped with food during the winter. Something else that could have helped was to bring doctors and farmers would have helped a great deal with a lot of things. Though not everything that happened was there fault in where they had decided to stay. For instance they had just happened to have a long drought exactly the time they settled. So the reason so many colonist died was because of Jamestown’s geography, the occupations of the colonist, and their relations with the Natives.

...