How could the English colonists have avoided the difficulties they faced at Jamestown?

Glossary of Terms

Use this glossary to assist your reading of the document at Site 2.

other sea: Indian Ocean / bark: sailing ship / wherry: small boat
victuals: food / stoure: small fort / eschew: avoid
munitions: weapons / havens: harbor / pinnace: sailing ship

Part 1: Instructions for the Virginia Colony

Using information from Sites 2 and 3, complete the following chart. Summarize the original instructions to the Virginia Colony and the problems encountered by the colonists in North America.

Location of settlement

Find a safe port in the entrance of a navigable river.

They sailed up a broad river/

Issue: Shelter
What were the instructions? / Build a fort at mouth of river, storehouses first, build public buildingfirst
What happened? / A wooden fort, triangular shaped with a cannon on each point
Issue: Food (Victuals and Crops)
What were the instructions? / Do not plant in low or moist places. Build storage for victuals
planted
What happened? / Tobacco became virgin’s main crop, very high quality.
Issue: Disease
What were the instructions? / You must take especial care that you choose a seat for habitation that shall not be over burthened with woods near your town; for all the men you have, shall not he able to cleanse twenty acres a year; besides that it may serve for a covert for your enemies round about.
What happened? / The mixture of salt water and fresh water in this mosquito-infested swamp became filthy from the settlers' waste matter, and this triggered raging epidemics of typhoid, dysentery, and salt poisoning. The Englishmen died like flies. They also died because they wouldn't work. The company had sent over a collection of colonists that was a disaster about to happen--lazy gentlemen who'd never worked; London street urchins too worn down to work; craftsmen whose skills were pathetically unsuited to pioneering: goldsmiths and jewelers, barbers and glassblowers. So in bountiful Virginia, with the forests and rivers filled with game, they starved. Only 38 were alive, 9 months later. 500 colonist began dying from many epidemics
Issue: Relations with Native Americans
What were the instructions? / Be nice to natives. Don’t offend them don’t let them had their weapons don’t show any weakness.
What happened? / Had bad relationships because natives stopped supplying.

Part 2: New Instructions to the Virginia Colony

For homework, write a new set of instructions for the Virginia Colony, making recommendations for the administration and survival of the Virginia Colony. Be sure that your instructions answer the Focus Question: How could the English colonists have avoided the difficulties they faced at Jamestown? They could have found a better place that was away from the mosquitoes and saltwater. They could have asked the natives how to plant their crops instead of being moochers. They could have grown more corn instead of planting only tobacco.