The Complications Faced By The First Jamestown Colonists

The first Colonists of Jamestown faced many difficulties besides problems with the Native Americans (Indians). Before the trip even begun there were hardly any funds to support the first fleet of settlers over to the new world, and it was hard to convince people to go over. There were a lot of doubts. Not knowing where they would go or what happened seemed to scare a lot of people. That could have been one of the factors why people did not want to leave their hometown, England. Plus prowling the seas were the Spanish, which was another problem all on its own. Though it seems once they convinced a few wealthy landowners of coming over, they faced even greater challenges besides dealing with the Native American's. The first issue they seem to stumble upon was starvation. Native American's took the time to show the colonists how to plant corn and replant it, so they would have food. But that didn't seem to help. After a while, the settlers relied on the Indians for corn and eventually the Native American's got tired of it. Though the settlers retaliated and showed them who was the boss. Eventually, Powhatan gave them food when his army of nearly 200 men was blown to pieces by a canon. Plus, not many knew how to hunt or fish, which seemed to another toll on the settlers. Another thing they suffered was dehydration or the lack of finding fresh water. The only source was a river close by, but people used it to bathe in and use the restroom. Being contaminated, it caused people to become sick and die. All in all, it seemed the colonists suffered from starvation, threats, a corrupted government, and had a hard time finding drinking water. Though it seems no matter if that Indians tried to help, they kept following their old habits, eventually leading to the colonist's downfall.

How "bad" did it get in Jamestown before the arrival of Lord De la Warr?

Jamestown got severe before the arrival of Lord De Ia Warr. There was a lack of food, diseases, threats from the Indians, and a corrupted government the Colonists faced. Due to Indian attacks and food scarcity, the colonists turned on each other. They soon started to eat each other which is known as cannibalism. Along with eating others the lack of finding fresh drinking water was harsh. Being found the water was contaminated from their wastes and other things like bathing in the water. The diseases people got from drinking the water killed many. Not many survived. The little food they had stored away was sometimes stolen from the storage places. However, once Lord De Ia Warr came over everything seemed to change dramatically for the colony. People couldn't just sit around and not do anything. If they wanted to eat, they had to work for it. Those who refused to work did not get to eat. He also punished those who got into the storage to steal food and other things. Lord De Ia Warr did not put up with them at all and their games.

How might they have approached this colony effort differently today?

They might have approached the colony differently today by sending over people who were fishers, farmers, artisans, laborers, and people who knew what they were doing. People back in the day that came over did not know what they were doing. They were mostly wealthy people coming over. These people usually got things handed to them, so they probably thought coming over was no different. That was not a very good idea. Nobody wanted to work for what they were hoping for, so the colony slowly fell apart. Besides sending over people who knew what they were doing, these people might try to respect the Indians better. The Indians did their best to help prepare them and show them how to plant corn, so they would have food for the winter months. No one seemed to care, they just ignored the Indians. Eventually, this showed that by ignoring the Indians, many starved and died from the lack of food. Perhaps they should have listen better to the advice given so they could have been more successful on the land.