Why Did The Colonists Die So Soon?

Author’s note: I wrote this piece saying why I think so many Jamestown colonists died so fast.
So many colonists died in Jamestown, but why? They were not prepared for the hardships they would face on the new land. When they arrived too late to plant crops, so most of the crops failure and the harsh winters, it was almost like they were projected to die from the start. There were many gentleman who refused to work and just lived off their money so they suffered by bringing extra people without getting work out them, they should have put them to work on helping with the brackish water or even fighting the Indians. In 1607 over 100 Englishmen settled in a bay on the coast of Virginia, why did it only take a little over 3 years for all of them to die?

There were many reasons that the colonists may have died in Jamestown but one of the biggest reasons was the environment. When the colonists arrived it was too late to plant crops they did not bring enough food to survive them throughout the winter. The next four years or so they got little to no rain at all which made their crops go bad and not grow. Not only they couldn’t plant crops but they couldn’t drink the water because it was brackish. The brackish water made it unable to drink without cleaning it which took more work.

Not only were the environmental problems bad the settler skills were a problem too. The settlers only brought one surgeon expecting that they wouldn’t have many problems but they didn’t realize they were not going to get there after it was too late to plant crops. They also had many gentlemen who did not work so they were bringing extra people for nothing. The workers had to work for them and get them food and clean their water for nothing so it wasted a lot of energy and supplies.

Although the settlers were not very qualified workers I think another big reason most of the settlers died was because they did not have a good relationship with the Indians. The settlers came to this new land and just barged in and that made the Indians upset. This caused the Indians to start a few fights and kill a ton of the settlers. Also I think the Indians were upset because they wanted the trees and all the other stuff to stay but the people from Jamestown destroyed it all to make shelters.

Why did so many Jamestown colonists die? There are many different theories on why they died but are any of them really true? They pretty much set themselves up for failure. They came right before the winter and did not have much food. They probably died from many different things but I think the top three reasons are environmental problems, the settlers did not have the best skills, and the colonists relationships with the Indians. These many reasons conclude to all of them dying. They thought they could last forever but it only took three years for them all to die.