convicted the solely of the murder of his wife not the cannibalism, Percy sentenced the man to burn at the stake. The location of Jamestown contributed to the hardships of the early settlers, The Virginia company gave instructions to locate the settlement along the Hudson River, hidden from the Spanish but accessible to ship trade. The soil at Jamestown is sandy and a poor choice for crop growth, also the river in which they drew their drinking water from would turn brackish at high tide. But this was of little concern to Captain Newport, of the Susan Constant, the location of the settlement was not meant to be ideal for agriculture. “The colonists were not meant to be self-sufficient; they would be regularly resupplied. Their job was to look for gold and to buy goods …show more content…
“In 1608 and 1609, 500 new colonist arrived. In 1610 Jamestown's population was 60. Most survivors that spring were huddling near the water, living on little more than oysters.” (Conlin, 31) Sir Thomas Gates took over the governorship from Percy after arriving to the starving colony in 1610 aboard the Sea Venture, along with Gates, John Rolfe and his wife, Sara Hacker, arrived in Jamestown.

No one knows how he Rolfe was able to purchase his black market goods, but Rolfe had somehow been able to smuggle tobacco seeds from the Spanish with him to Jamestown. “Rolfe experimented in is garden in 1612. In 1614 he had more tobacco than he needed for his pipe, and shipped four barrels to England. The reception was sensational. It sold quickly at a huge profit.”