The "Early Years" of the Chesapeake Colony, Disease and starvation --- Glenda McCoy

           In the early years of the colony many Native people died from epidemic diseases such as smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, and cholera.  As the European and English settlers migrated to the new world they bought many useful goods, trades and technology along with those things came diseases.  The Native people had little or no immunity to these deadly diseases.  The diseases were spread from person to person via contact and from being in close courters together, as a result at times Native people were infecting each other after contracting the disease from the colonists.  These diseases and how they were contracted weaken the Native people and at time nearly destroyed entire communities.

             In April, 1606, three English ships funded by the Virgina Company landed on the coast of the Chesapeake Bay carrying 144 hopeful new colonists.  Unfortunately, the new settlers were proved to be tragically unprepared for the hardships that lay before them.  In only 5 months, early September, 50 of the colonists were already dead.  By the time supply ships arrived in January 1608, only 38 of the original colonists had survived that first harsh winter in the New World.  By 1610, a total of more than 500 English (mostly men), had been transported to the new colony, and of these 500, only 60 or so survived through those first tough years(Roark, 2009).

 Of the original colonists, most died from New World disease, such as malaria or starvation. Most of the settlers were gentlemen and their servants, and knew nothing about farming or hunting. Without the skills and knowledge to grow, and farm their own food, they had little chance for survival.  Those who perished from starvation were greatly due to an unwillingness to give up the old-custom ways of gentlemen not to work with their hands, and tradesmen’s only in their trade. With nothing to trade they were unable to trade for food, or earn money to buy food.  The few colonists that did survive, and did not die of starvation were due to the willingness of the Native people to trade corn to the remaining settlers for English goods such has iron tools, beads or textiles (Roark, 2009).

Group of Pilgrims

Resources

Roark, Johnson, Cohen, Stage, Lawson, Hartmann. Bedford/St. Martin's 2009.“The

American Promise: A History of the United States, 4th Edition. Volume I: To 1877.”

Resources: nationalarchives.gov.uk/
www.boerner.net/jboerner/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/GroupofPrigrims.jpg

Resources: learnNC.org