Jamestown Flashcards
What were some hardships (problems) the early English settlers experienced at Jamestown?
The early English settlers at Jamestown had many hardships. They did not plant crops right away, so they had nothing to eat much of the time. During one particularly bad winter called “the Starving Time”, they had to eat acorns, tree bark, and rats.
They had problems getting along with the Native American Powhatan people. Sometimes the Indians and the settlers fought each other.
Because they lived near swampy areas, there were many mosquitoes that carried disease. Many settlers died from disease.
Sometimes their houses burned
Why did settlers come to Jamestown?
Some came to make a profit - to make money from stock in the Virginia company and to look for gold and silver. They knew the Spanish had gotten rich from the new world treasures and thought they could too. Others came for adventure, to have their own land, or to convert Native Americans to Christianity.
How did the settlers overcome these problems?
Eventually the people started planting gardens. They learned to fish the way the Native Americans did.
During some peaceful periods, they were friends with Native Americans and traded with them. Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, was especially helpful to the settlers.
John Rolfe planted a new kind of tobacco that grew well in Virginia. This cash crop helped make the colony successful. It took a lot of land to grow tobacco. The English solved this need for more land by making the Indians leave their homes and move west, away from the riverside land where the tobacco plantations were built.
The Virginia settlers created the House of Burgesses where they sent representatives to make laws for the colony.
