Audrey G.

The Great Settlement of Jamestown, 1607

           

        Imagine you have an option to go to a place where nobody knows, like your the test in a lab experiment which could make you have superpowers, or might cause death. What would you do? Would you drop everything and test it? Or would you not take the big risk? You may think taking a risk like this is easy, it’s a straight yes, or no. But it’s not that simple. You have to think about the life you could, or could not have. You have to think about the things you could or could not have. Even if you were wealthy, you still wouldn’t know if you would be successful. All the settlers, including the rich ones, only brought a small baggage to the new land. They can not possibly bring their whole house on a small boat for 40, with 104 When the first group arrived at their new home, they must have been thinking, “how are we going to live here?” but after a while, they probably thought, “we’ve done the impossible. We can survive this.” But for many long years, Nobody could tell if they made the right decision on coming to the new world, all they could do was hope.

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A long, long time ago, the 104 people were frightened as they sailed across the deadly ocean, on a small boat, way over the max they could fit in the tiny place.  Just to make their way to present-day Virginia. They were on a ship to Jamestown, a place where nobody knows what lies there. The people arrived to the place, and hoped to find gold and other riches. That was the reason they came to America. They wanted to be rich. The settlers agreed to send riches to Jamestown’s investors. Those investors came from England. The settlers came from England, at the time when King James I ruled. In fact, King James 1 is the reason the town was called Jamestown. The settlers even named the river the James river.  They brought guns in case Native Americans came along, and tools to build houses. But the settlers brought very little farming tools. They thought either the same Native Americans that would kill the would also give them food. But this didn’t go to well. A year later, when the first supply ship came, only 38 of the 104 settlers survived. Things were very hard for these leftover 38 settlers. But the scared, hopeless people were not going to give up, so the people set out into the land to start a place for farming and housing. The struggles began there.

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What a Drought Looks Like

          It was 1607, and a drought had started a year before the settlers arrived! The driest it had been in 800 whole years! Where was the food? They needed to farm! And that’s when the starving time began. The people brought very little farming tools, so the Powhatans gave food to the settlers, but soon the Native Americans were running out! So they were forced to stop sharing. And two years later, the poor, struggling settlers had to live by themselves, with no help, in a forest that they hardly knew! So the settlers tried to steal from the Powhatans. The Native Americans were now so angry that they killed anyone who left Jamestown to get food. Now, it was hard to survive. Imagine eating snakes, vipers, rats, mice, musk turtles, cats, dogs, horses, raptor, their boots, and even dead people! Not only did they have to deal with that, but also their relationship with the Powhatans! They didn’t know the personality of these Native Americans. The relationship was like a cat and a mouse, a killer and prey. The colonists had to face so many struggles, but they could never tell what would happen next with the Powhatans. That’s what the settlers had to face. But back at England, they had no idea. They were testing the unknown.

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Although, these people had many struggles, many people kept coming. It all started off with the men and boys. Investors thought this was the best idea. The first settlers needed to build their homes, and send goods back to England. When the first two settlers arrived in Jamestown, it was already 1608! The first two women were a wife of a settler, and that settler’s maid. But still, with women, there was still more men than women throughout the 1600s. It might have been a better settlement if they brought women, so they could have babies and the settlement could grow, some researchers claim, but others argue, saying then more would die in the starving time, there would be less food to eat. The number of people, and the gender, could have been very important in the history of Jamestown.

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So now we know the amount of people and the gender could have made a big change in not only Jamestown history, but also American history, but how? You might be thinking, well how could this affect our history? And the answer to that question is: the population of England and America. Also, the end result of the American Revolution. It would affect England’s population because England sent many people to America, who could’ve had babies in England, which would create at least 2,000 more people in England today. But, they put those people in America, so America grew more than double, causing America to win the American Revolution. Back then, the more people fighting in the war meant who would win. This was because the first row of people would shoot, and when one goes down, the person behind them would step up and shoot. But we will never know what exactly would have happened if they changed it around.

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            Though there were many things to worry about, the Jamestown settlers could always count on tobacco. It started one day when John Rolfe thought that Virginia might be an outstanding place for the growth of tobacco. The one problem with the tobacco was some smokers felt that the tobacco was harsher from Virginia  than the tobacco from the Caribbean. John Rolfe then imported seed from the West Indies and cultivating the tobacco in Jamestown. Those tobacco seeds became the seeds of a huge, wonderful economic empire. By the 1630s, over a million and a half pounds of tobacco was being exported from Jamestown every year! Tobacco had been a hero for Virginia. It helped them survive because everything from Virginia wasn’t selling in England for a fair price, and tobacco was the only thing that was selling for a fair price, so Virginia made money to live.

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            Historians believe, over the many years, the tobacco might have gotten better over the many years. The people who lived in Jamestown might have found a better way to plant and harvest tobacco. Maybe they tried many ways, but some made no difference, or made it worse. Probably people didn’t have that many materials, so the tobacco didn’t grow well, and some animals would eat it. It was most likely hard for the people to grow and harvest tobacco. It must have been hard for the people to make so much tobacco. You might be thinking it’s not that hard, but the people had to have the right dirt, and they settled on a marsh. So they would have many struggles with that.

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For most of the his life, and the 17th century, Captain John Smith was the leader for Jamestown. In September 1608,  he was leader until his 1609, when he got hurt and was sent back to England. In 1631, he died. He was 51 years old when he died. John Smith, the leader of Jamestown, established the no work, no food policy in 1609. Before this, people were not working, just hoping people would do their share. This saved the colony because the people were frightened, so they planted, and build shelters and homes. Smith also help Jamestown maintain peace with the Algonquian Indians. Although John Smith was the first leader, Edward Maria Wingfield was the first president. He was born is 1550, and died in 1631. Wingfield was a soldier, and was once part of the Parliament, the British law-making part of the government. Because Edward was part of the Parliament, most people respected him, and knew he would make a good leader. 

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After many long years of hard work and dedication, the settlers finally finished the hard times of starting in a new place. They had survived! Everybody was so happy, and they encouraged the settlement of Plymouth. Jamestown now was growing and so was America! People kept coming, and coming to Jamestown, and they all were happy about their choice. Because of Jamestown, more people come every year to America. Without the people who went to Jamestown, people would be nervous to come to the new land. America would be empty.

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