Letters about Wars and Trade (1760) - Essay Example

The team comprised of skilled men from all lifestyles. They included soldiers, farmers, and artisans with one mind to find readily exploitable land and use its inhabitants as slaves. John Smith was admitted to the colony in 1608 with the main purpose to consolidate the colony, subordinate the natives, and make the colony profitable. This was a hard task for Smith who quite the operation after he suffered a wound. Additionally, his harsh leadership did not work well to consolidate the natives but alienated even his own subordinates (Lankford 18).

The task of consolidating colonies did not end after Smith quit in 1609 but continued under Captain Christopher Newport. The team managed to meet some of their targets including getting slaves for cheap labour. However, the team with slaves acted defiantly and its work productivity was much lesser compared to the settlers. The natives worked unwillingly producing very low results in the tasks delegated to them. In addition, not all settlers engaged in real work because others proved superior.

One major hindrance to consolidation of colonies the threat other colonies posed to it. For instance, a colony could abduct a ship from a rival colony after a trade harvesting and steal form them all they had gathered. This resulted to weak colonies without the necessary material support. Ancient Trade Trade started under the leadership of Newport who took some men on an expedition in Peninsula. Newport had one goal in mind to find mineral resources and to open up trade with the natives in the land.

Normally, the trade involved was barter trade that included exchange of goods for other goods. At first, it was neither possible to convince the natives to trade with them, nor find the goods that the team had targeted to collect from the inhabitants. The natives had prior knowledge of attacks from previous colonies, which made them hide their corn. Trust between traders did not exist those days that would enable flow of goods form one colony to another or form one place to another. Previous colonies that visited the inhabitants had done more harm than good, which made the inhabitants targeted to trade with withdraw and refuse to trade (Lankford 18).

Poor means of transport hindered trade in this era. When Newport and his men arrived Jamestown, they were half-sick, complaining, tired with toil, and hungry. This describes the poor means of transport that made them spend thousand of hours travelling to their destinations. Additionally, the types of goods described for barter exchange include logs, corn, tar, pitch, soap ashes, cheese, far, and animals. Poor transport hindered progress in trade and encouraged colonies to war. In addition, ancient trade lacked professionalism.

Nations who refused to trade with another had to be threatened or made pay in another manner to comply. For instance, after president returned from amongst the woods and discovered that the ship laid idle with no goods for trade, he opted to threaten the community to a revenge mission of his imprisonment. The nation complied by making peace through giving of their corn, fish, and fowl. The leaders of trade crews seemed knowledgeable and were willing to go an extra mile to ensure that their ships were loaded on their way back.

However, this type of trade in these ancient times was not sustainable because it included trading of animals,