Why Did So Many Colonists Die Essay

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A lot of the colonists died because of starvation. In document B it shows a timeline that shows about how long they went with it raining and not raining. The longest unbroken time they went without rain was year 1610. Due to the drought none of their crops could grow because they needed to keep some of the rainwater to drink. During this time they barely had food for everyone to eat and they barely had enough water for everyone to drink. According to document B this time period was known as the ‘starving time”. In document D Francis West sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to hopefully trade corn with the Patawomkeke Indians. In document D they knew that the supply would last them to their way back to Jamestown. But no one thought that the …show more content…

The tides made it hard for salt water not to go into their fresh drinking water. But many times the tides made salt water go into their fresh water. The colonists would dump their waste into the salt water because no one drank it or used it. When the time came and they had to drink the nasty waste water they began to get diseases from the water according to document A. They were not immune to the diseases and they did not have the right medication. Drinking the water would cause them to get diseases and then they would eventually die. Since the water had waste in it, it probably killed a lot of the fish that were in the water. This cut down their food supply and their drinking supply. Another reason the colonists died was because of their relationship with the Indians. In document E it shows a list of the day, year and how many and how the colonists died. As the years went by there were more people dying from the Indians attacking them. In 1607 the colonist relationship was not the best, but it was not the worst. Between 1609 and 1610 their relationship hit rock bottom and the Indian attacks got worse document E shows. They needed that relationship to be strong so they could keep trading with the Indians. But since their relationship was bad winter would be a hard time without an alliance with the Indians to help them survive

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