By Benjamin 

Introduction

Did you know that there were no women in Jamestown until 1620!? And would you be scared if your dad died and you are on unknown territories alone? I know I would be scared. The top three reasons that caused so many deaths in Jamestown are Lack of Skills, Powhatan Relationship and Environmental Problems. Read on to find out more!

Lack of Skills

The settlers didn’t have skills. They should have brought women, more doctors, farmers etc. There were only 104 settlers that came on the first trip. John Smith’s sheet of paper that we will be calling document C said that about ⅓ of the settlers were gentlemen. Another reason is that they built their houses out of mud so every time it rained their houses fell down. In document C even in the first supply of new people and tools there was still no women and only one doctor, that means they couldn’t have families. When the women did arrive it was 13 years later. Another reason is that they didn’t think through that there might not be any gold or silver. That is only a few reasons why the settlers didn’t have skills!

Powhatan Relationship

The settlers had an odious relationship with the Powhatan. One of the problems they had with the Powhatan was that they were blamed for killing Chief Powhatan. J. Frederick Fausz said “more than one hundred people died from 1607-1610 by the Powhatan.”. Another reason that the relations were bad is that the settlers stole food, because there was a drought and droughts make it hard to farm. The Powhatan were already adapted to the land so they had a bigger supply of food. When John Smith left in 1609 the trading stopped and the indians were more desperate for war.        

Environmental Problems

Settlers didn’t have a good landscape. Here are some reasons why: poor soil, brackish water and there was a drought. Document B says when the settlers arrived in 1607 a 5 year drought started from 1607-1611/12. And  Carville V. Earle said in his paragraph “the adjacent river and creeks became brackish as water levels rose.”. So when the tide came in saltwater mixed with freshwater which is called brackish water and when they drank from the river they got sick. Another effect from brackish water was that when the water washed up on the soil it made it terrible for agriculture. Bugs also caused disease like Malaria. Thank you for reading this article!