The 110 English settlers that arrived at the mouth of the great Chesapeake Bay in the May of 1607, died because of 3 important reasons: Environment and Geographical causes, Relations with Natives, and Occupations. Most of the English colonists died because of their relations with the neighboring natives, or the Powhatan Indians. According to Document D: “Grain Trade With The Powhatans,” the English gained some grain after trading corn with the Indians, but only after involving “some harshe and Crewell dealinge by cutting of towe (two) of the Salvages heads and other extremetyes.” This incident shows that all trust between the 2 groups was lost. It also shows the tension and unwillingness that they won’t benefit from each other, coming from …show more content…
The lunar tides, droughts, and contamination of their water killed many. According to Document A: “Jamestown’s Environment,” Carville V. Earle, a historian stated that the English dumped all their waste into the river which was swept back by the tides. They believed that the waste would wash away, but it actually “tended to fester rather than flush away.” The fresh water mixed with the filth and because they had no choice, they would drink the water and get really sick or eventually die because of disease. The tides contributed to the issue because they would bring in salt water which mixed into the fresh water, turning into brackish water. Drinking too much brackish water brought disease and killed colonists. A lot of the water supply was spoiled with the filth or in the droughts, so people started digging underground wells to obtain freshwater. Finally, the droughts killed many colonists from 1607-1611, proven in Document B: “Rainfall in Jamestown,” in the graph, which talks about tree rings. The wider, the more rainfall; the narrower, the littler the rainfall. During the period, 1607-1611, the ring was the thinnest and the longest, which makes it the longest unbroken period of