Early Jamestown - Why did so Many Colonists Die Part 1

Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonists Die? Overview: In Мау 1607, about ! !О Englishmen arrived at the mouth of а great Ьау on the coast of Virginia. It was to Ье the first permanent English colony in what is now the United States. The first years of settlement were not easy. This Mini-Q asks why so many colonists died. The Documents: Document А: Jamestown's Environment Document В: Rainfall in Jamestown Document С: Occupation List of the First Settlers Document D: Grain Trade With the Powhatans Document Е: Chronology of English Mortality А Mini Document Based Question (Mini-Q) Hook Exercise: Jamestown Directions: Examine the map, and with а partner, discuss the answers to the questions below. Ве ready to share your thinking with the class. Source: James Horn, А Land as God Made lt, Basic Books, А Member of Perseus Вooks Group, New York, 2005. Drawn Ьу RеЬесса L Wren. Principal Powhatan and English Settlements, 1607-1611 . Appo1111l1-o<: ',. ...,..... Qulyot1&hwb1U1DOCk А Jamesto ,I jtJtnlfS а Powhat,n settlemcnt • 1'.J1gllsh settlcmeлt + Engllshlort + WarтШO,ackA Rluer �:::: JI/' Questions 1. In what modern-day state is tbls region located? 2. What сап you infer about who lived in this area Ьеfоге the arrival of the English? 3. Why do you think the English would choose to settle here? 4. Is there any evidence that the English expected trouЬ!e? 5. Is there any evidence that the English may have been too confident? 6. Just Ьу looking at this map, can you make any predictions why so many colonists died at Jamestown? Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonists Die? was to become Jamestown. Of the 110 original In the spring of 1607, three Eng]ish ships settlers, only 40 would Ье alive at the end of carrying moI"e than 100 passengers saiJed into the mouth of Chesapeake Вау and worked their December. The arrival in January of а resupply ship saved the colony from total collapse, but in way up the James River. Hopes were high, and the next two years, ha1·d times continued. with good !'eason. This was to Ье the first per­ manent Englis\J seltlement in the New Wшld. А Captain John Smith who had pгovided much needed leadership was sent back to England. strong gгoup of English investors stood Ьehind Then, in the awful winter of 1609-1610, two­ the enterprise. The Кing of England, James I, had given the colonizers his Ыessing. Along the thiгds of the settlement died. riveг banks one could see freshwater stгeams, RemarkaЫy, the English kept coming "faire meddowes and goodly tall trees." Ahead men, women, and chi]dren. The vast majority !ау possiЫc richcs, а were young ( 17 to native population to 35) and most were Ье taught thc ways of poor. They hoped to Jesus Christ, and work off their debt maybe even а hidden and, опе day, own а tгade route to Chi па! piece of land. А fcw aпived with money, True, there were апd some would one dangers. А Spanish day find success warship or two would growiпg tobacco. Bul not Ье а sшprise. for most lhere was 110 Also, the English had happy enrung. Ву experienced а recent 1611, of the more failure оп nearby Roanoke: Arrival, 1590. The Granger Collection, New York tban 500 setllers who Roanoke Island. ln fact all the Roanoke coJonists had mysteгiously had arrived at Jamestown, 80% were dead. disappeared. Bllt in 1607, these we1·e ассерtаЫе It is tгuly amaziпg that the colony suгvived. risks. Those English, both in Jamestown and back in the motheг country, wеге а determined bunch. What was рrоЬаЫу тоге impoгtant is that Our foclls, however, is not оп the survival, but on the "faire meddowes and goodly tall trees" of the near destruction. In а Minj-Q, five documents the Chesapeake wеге not empty. Some 15,000 сап only tel1 part of the story, but thal is the Po,vhatan Indiaпs lived in small villages along and around lhe James Rive1·. They were loosely challengc. Examine the documents that foJlow and do уоuг Ьest to answe1· the question: Early шled Ьу а great chief named Wahunsonacock. Jamestown: Why did so тапу colonists die? One of WahLJnsonacock's daLJghters was the faЬled Pocahontas, а very real person who woLJld one day marry an Englishman and saiJ to England. When the English settlers arrived they built а fort on а place they called James Island. This G8 Background Essay Questions 1. Why did the English соте to America in 1607? 2. Who helped рау for settling the James River со!опу? 3. How many settlers died in the first six months? 4. Define or explain each of these terms: Chesapeake Вау Powhatan Wahunsonacock mother country 5. With regard to age and social class, who were the first settlers? Timeline 1492 - Columbus arrives in the Americas. 1600 - Shakespeare writes Hamlet. 1607 - Jamestown is colonized. 1609 - Gailleo discovers the rings of Saturn. 1612 - First tobacco is harvested at Jamestown. 1616 - Pocahontas visits the king of England. J 1619 - First African Americans arrive at Jamestown. 1620 - Pilgrims arrive in Massachusetts. Understandlng the Questlon and Pre-Bucketing 1. What is the analytical question asked Ьу this Мini-Q? 2. What words in the question need to Ье defined? 3. Rewrite the question in your own words including dates. Pre-Bucketing Directions: Using clues from the Mini-Q question, think of logical analytical categories and label the buckets. DocumentA Source: Dennls В. Blanton, "Jamestown's Environment," Center for Archaeologlcal Research, College of Wllllam & Mary, Williamsburg, Vlrglnla, 2000. Many people have commented over the last four centuries on the qualities of Jamestown's environment .... Because the adjacent river and creeks became brackish as water levels rose, reliaЫe sources of fresh water would have been scarce Ьу the seven­ teenth century.... English colonists dug shallow wells to supply themselves with sources of drinking water, but these were vulneraЬle to drought and salt water intrusion. Also, historian Carville V. Earle attributed ... disease in the early years to Jamestown's position at the salt-fresh water transition, where Шth introduced into the river tended to fester rather than flush away. Тhе island is not situated at а point of great natural food abundance, especially relative to other locations very close Ьу.... Fish are present in !оса! streams, but only in the spring and early summer are they there in impressive abundance .... Document Analysis 1. Using context clues, what do you think is meant Ьу brackish water? 2. What twice daily event would cause water levels around Jamestown to rise and cause wells and fresh water streams to Ьесоmе brackish? (Нint: The moon) 3. According to Carville Earle, what happened to human waste that got durnped into the river? 4. What inference can you make about the effect of tides оп health in Jarnestown? 5. Consider the last paragraph. What time of the year do you think starvation was most likely to happen? Document В Source: Adapted from "The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts,' Sciвnce, April 24, 1998. Note: Thls study determlned ralnfall amounts Ьу examining tree-ring pattems in old cypress trees growlng near Jamestown. Every year leaves а growth ring inside the trunk of а tree. А wider ring indicates plenty of rainfall and good growth. А narrow ring usually means less rain. "О" on the chart means average tree-rlng size and therefore average rainfall. >< 4 С1) "D с - t Jamestown Drought .ес о ·ш а: -4 1560 1600 Year 1640 Document Analysls 1. What does the "О" line represent on the chart? What is indicated Ьу а sharp spike below the "О" line? 2. Look at the years 1580 to 1640. During which period did Jamestown suffer its longest unbroken period of drought? 3. In the winter of 1609-1610, Jamestown experienced what settlers called the "starving time." Based on this document, what inference can you make about the cause of this "starving time"? 4. Is there any way lack of rain might strain English relations with the Powhatans? Explain. DocumentC Source: Adapted from John Smith, The Genera/1 Hlstor/e of Virglnia, Nвw England, and the Sиттвг lsles, Вooklll, 1624. Flrst and Second Jamestown Ship Lists Occupation Council (goveшors) Gentlemen LabouJe1·s Cooper (Ьапеl 111aker) Car-penter BlacksmHb Sailer (sail maker) Barber BrickJayer Mason ТоЬассо pipe 111аkег TaiJor Drumшer Preacl1er Boyes Jcweler Refi11e1· апd goldsmiths Guпsшlth Peгfuшer (wig makeг) Apothecarles (drt1ggist ) Surgeon Occupation 1юknown TOTALMALE ТОТАL FВMALE Origlnal Set1Iers Мау 1607 1 st Resupply January 1608 6 47 12 28 о 4 1 1 1 1 1 о 1 1 1 4 о о о о о 1 21 1 о l о о о о 1 6 о о о 1 4 1 1 2 1 1 28 51 110 120 о о Note: А gentlem3n was n person of wea.lth who was not t1se,1 to wo1·king with his l1a1ids. Buyes were young servnn1s. Document Analysls 1. How many settlers aпived in Мау 1607? 1608? How many had known occupations? 2. How many of the settlers from either group were female? Why do you suppose this was the case? 3. What is а "gentleman"? Approximately what percentage of thls first group of settlers were gentlemen? 4. Of the 110 settlers who aпived in Мау 1607, nearly 70 were dead Ьу December. 1s there anything in the ship lists that helps explain why? Document D Source: lvor Noel Hume, Тhв Virglnla Advвnturв, Alfred А. Knopf, 1994. [In 1609] Francis West and thirty-six men [sailed] up the Chesapeake Вау to try to trade for corn with the Patawomeke Indians .... Although still part of Powhatan's Confederacy, the tribe had seen less of the English than had those closer at hand and with luck might Ье more friendly. And so it proved. Тhough West was аЫе to load his [small ship] with grain, the success involved "some harshe and [cruel] dealinge Ьу cutting oftowe [two] ofthe Salvages heads and other extremetyes." The [ship] and her lifesaving cargo returned to [Jamestown].... No one doubted that this new supply of grain would help, but it would not Ье enough to last the winter. On the other hand, decided the ship's crew, it was plenty to get them fatly home to England. So it was that Francis West "Ьу the perswasion or rather Ьу the inforcement of his company hoysed up [sails]" and headed out into the Atlantic, leaving the colonists to the Indians and to God. Document Analysis 1. 1s this а primary source or а secondary source? 2. Why did Francis West sail up the Chesapeake? 3. 1s there any evidence tbat the English forced the Indians to trade their grain? 4. What eventually bappened to the shipload of grain? 5. How might the events described here relate to your findings in Doc В? 6. 1n wbat ways can you use this document to help answer the question: Early Jamestown: Why did so many settlers die? Document Е Source: Adapted from J. Frederick Fausz, "An Abundance of Blood Shed оп Both Sides: England's First lndian War, 1609-1614; Тhв Virginia Magazine of History and Biog,aphy, January 1990. Chronology of English Mortality in Virginia, 1607-1610 14Мау 26Мау June-Aug. Aug.-Oct. Nov. Dec. 1607 Total Populatlon 104 colonists disernbark atJarnestown Island 2 die in first Indian attack on Fort Jarnes At least 3 rnore die in Indian ambushes Surnmer sickness kills half the colonist Capt. George Kendall is executed for mutiny Parnunkeys kill 2 colonists in capturing Capt. John Smith, and, at year's end, the English in Virginia "were but fortie in all" 104 102 99 49 48 40 1608 2Jan. l0Apr. 7 Sept. 8 Oct. Capt. Newport arrives with 100 rnen (1st Supply) Capt. Nelson brings 20 in Phoenix; 2 depart Srnith reports "many dead, some sick" Newport arrives with 70 colonists (2nd Supply) Winter 1608-09 Мid-Jan. Summer Only 8 die during well-provisioned winter 11 colonists die in boating accident Disease returns, 100 atJ arnestown "sickened and half the number died" 6 sblps bring some 250 people (3rd Supply) Of 120 men stationed near the falls, the Indians kill "neere halfe" Of 100 men at Nansemond, Indians kill 50 Powhatan's siege of Jamestown (the "Starving Time") kills some 110 colonists from famine and disease; another 33 slain; 37 desert 140 158 130 200 1609-1610 11-18 August Aug.-Oct. Aug.-Oct. Nov.-May 1610 192 181 131 381 330 280 90 Document Analysis 1. What is the total number of colonists to arrive at Jarnestown Ьу sumrner of 1609? 2. In 1607 and 1608 how many settlers died from disease? How many were kШed Ьу Indians? 3. What generalization can you make about the numЬers and causes of settler death in 1609? 4. What can you infer about settler- Indian relations from 1607 to 1609? ..