Establishing the First Permanent English Colony and Massacre in Jamestown - Case Study Example

Massacre in Jamestown Was Not Justified For the Virginians Who Tried To Establish the First Permanent English Colony in 1607 Grade Name Date Introduction The Virginias moved to Jamestown to establish businesses, look for fertile lands for farming and a better life. They were also escaping bad family circumstances and high crime rates that dominated their lands1. The founding of America as the first permanent English colony was marked by a series of cultural and environmental encounters. The Virginian’s hoped to introduce Christianity including Anglican religion among the Ancient Indians. They also had a mission of conquering and colonizing the Indians in an attempt to expand their European nation. They settled along James River since it was in a good defensive position and had a deep water anchorage. Their timing was awful. Virginia massacre cost the lives of approximately 350 settlers since they were faced with harsh climatic conditions, which comprised of prolonged drought that led to great famine and killed approximately six hundred people. This drought also introduced cannibalism in Jamestown villages2. Apart from cannibalism, the colonists also ate rats and dogs in the region. Massacre in Jamestown was not justified for the Virginians who tried to establish the first permanent English colony in 1607. A summary of the attacks from the native tribes, which include diseases such as typhoid, malnutrition and dysentery, cost the lives of most people especially the elderly. Most of them were also burnt alive while being tied on posts. The native people shot the Virginians dead to eliminate them from their land. Vampires rose from the nearby rivers and swamps ate them and also brought diseases to the Virginians. Civil unrest from the rulers contributed to a majority of the deaths among the Virginians. They also had a strained relationship with the Indians3. The above challenges led to the collapse of the company of Virginias in London. Harsh Climatic Conditions Jamestown was located where seasonal extremes of continental climate of North America were experienced. The colonists were not used to very cold weather and more snow during winter. Summers were exceedingly hot4. The water levels in streams fluctuated often and swelled after snow melted in winter and spring. The forests consisted of many species and lacked the common homogeneous stands of Europe. This was different from American precipitation, which would reduce towards the tropics. This in fact increased at a high speed. Americans were slow to learn the accelerating bad conditions of Jamestown, but instead they were amused by the estuary at James River. Drought and Diseases The Virginians were faced with political struggles whereby the colonists believed that President Percy held food meant for colonists to be eaten by presidents. As Carville indicates5, this was because President Wingfield was not pleased with the colonists’ selection of Jamestown over Archer’s Hope site. From this time, the colonists started feeding on fish from James River that contributed to 90 percent requirement of thiamine vitamin. Food was, however, unavailable, and most people suffered from beriberi. There was prolonged periods of drought caused by great famine among the Virginians. This led to diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and salt poisoning. The swellings were associated with dysentery, which resulted from intoxication from salty water obtained from the river. Typhoid accelerated from a bacterium, salmonella typhi. Typhoid bacteria killed after three weeks, which was enough time for the bacteria to spread from the bowel to the lymphatic glands and then to the blood stream6. The researchers explain that dysentery was caused by amoebic parasites. These were produced by the body flux. The dangerous Endamoeba histolytica caused massive haemorrhage in the blood stream and the body organs. This disease often attacked a population that suffered from other diseases. The high mortality rates were as a result of some people who died from dysentery and typhoid. Majority of these diseases were spread through urine, feaces and intake of contaminated water. Contaminated water resulting from high precipitation, low evaporation rate and long periods of runoff water flushed the disease causing microorganisms in Jamestown River from which the Virginias were taking water. This caused many diseases such as swellings, flixes, and burning fevers. The data obtained from tree rings indicate that the highest mortality rate that occurred at Jamestown covered seven years7. These were the driest years in Jamestown history. The tree rings data also indicate that the colonists’ arrival in April 1607 was a bad luck. This was the driest 7-year period in 770 years. Malnutrition was the leading cause of massive deaths at Jamestown. This correlates with the tree rings. This led to drying of crops and led to starvation. The colonists were, therefore, poor timers, bad planners and were not able to solve indifferences among them8. Cannibalism Man eating in Jamestown became common as drought increased. This happened during winter of 1609-10; President George Percy commented that the English people were reduced to meat. The survivors of the drought ate the dead. Sire from Virginia notes that they dug up those people who died fighting and ate them. Other people who had escaped with a swallow told a story of a man who ate his wife. He did this by secretly cutting her into pieces and afterwards hid her in the inner rooms of his house. This was discovered by people who suspected that the wife was missing. Upon searching his house, the archaeologists found parts of her body that were eaten in his house. The man confessed to having eaten the wife daily9. Another group of survivors confessed to have eaten dogs, rats, hogs and horses that were available from the region. In addition, they also ate mice, snakes, toad stools, and anything that could be consumed to fill the stomach. They also consumed human excretes. Other individuals also excavated bodies of people who had been buried for about three days and ate their meat. Men killed their wives while asleep, cut them in pieces, salted them and fed on them. Those who flew to the woods for their safety died in the forests and were also eaten by others who went looking for them. In addition to the above cannibalism styles, the author suggests that most pregnant mothers were ripped off their children from their wombs and the fetuses were thrown into the river. The women bodies were then chopped, salted and eaten. People who tried to escape using their boats were thrown into the river by their counterparts, after two days they were chopped off with their knives and their blood was drunk as the rest was sprinkled into the sea to attract rain10. Norwood, their leader, confessed that people practiced cannibalism as he agreed that most men fed on the dead. Many Native Americans, English women and English men actually died from cannibalism11. The archeologist state that the excavated human skulls had crude jaw bones and cheek bones. Excavated human skeletons also contained bullets in the legs, which was clear evidence that most of the colonists were shot by native communities. Archeologists argue that this may have been a major cause of death among the colonist who tried to establish themselves in Jamestown. Burning The Virginians were also tied on posts and burnt alive by the native communities’ majority of who were Indians. This was done to completely eliminate them from their lands. Trade Archaeologists seem to have gathered enough information about the history of Jamestown. Kelso12 comments that the colonists had many survival tactics such as smelting iron in the fort, making glass, among others. This practice, however, did not bring success in the lives of the colonists. The scientists discovered pieces of glass beads, copper and other trade items. Copper was occasionally traded for food. This discovery clearly reveals that the colonists were not lazy. They used all their efforts to obtain food. The hunters could also not adapt to the hunting skills used by the native Indians despite the scarce meat that was available in the land. Their houses were changed from mud to posts and bark constructions to match that of the Natives. The survivors could eat sturgeon and turtle13. Trade was common in Western Europe which was evidenced by objects that were made in England, Holland and Spain. More than 500,000 artifacts have been collected from the site where the Colony was situated. These included silver ear pick, a Cabasset helmet ad breast plate. This also indicates that the colonists were also prepared for war. There were also armor pieces, glass and copper beads and ornaments, ceramics, tools, coins, jewelry and other personal items. Flower Dew plantation contained pounds of tobacco. These were produced together with corn, fish and livestock. The Virginias could obtain one hundred and twenty pounds from tobacco. This happened before the civil unrest, which was conducted by a veteran soldier who ruled with dictatorship. Civil Unrest The war among the Virginias resulted from civil unrest. The leaders thought of fighting with the colonists since they did not want to be colonized. The colonists shot the Virginias with their guns. Kelso, an archaeologist, suggests that the bullet wounds might have been as a result of civil unrest. There were also pipe bowls and buttons, and helmets. There were also loaded firearms. The bullets were fired from musket or pistols14. The Virginians also wanted to get rich quickly but they died young. More graves were discovered along the river banks. The archaeologist Kelso suggests that 1607 bodies were buried there. Conclusion America was founded from many challenges, such as, harsh climatic conditions, diseases among others. Civil unrest from most politicians in India raised the unstable state of the Virginias. Although the Virginians had raised their hopes of doing business, colonizing the Indians and spreading Christianity, this was impossible since the Native tribes were very hostile towards them. The above information was obtained from the archaeologists who excavated the human skulls and conducted autospy to gather information. The colonists were not badly off since they could practice farming of tobacco and trade, which earned them money for survival. Prolonged periods of drought that came with scorching sun dried their crops and left them to only depend on fish. Fish meat was not to last since the big fish ate them and reduced fish populace in the lakes. Overconsumption of these fish led to beriberi, a vitamin deficiency that led to swelling of their bodies and hence leading to death. Cannibalism was the only option left for the strong men. Men could chop the bodies of their wives, salt them and then eat them. Some other survivors from the disasters, who managed to escape using a boat, explained that people excavated human bodies that were fleshly buried. The archaeologists recorded that excavated human skulls showed evidences of devoured jaw bones and cheeks. From the above, it is evident that America has a challenging history. Bibliography Carville, Earle. "Environment, Disease, and Mortality in Early Virginia." Journal of Historical Geography 5 (1979): 365-366. Kelso,Williamson. “Discoveries Shed New Light on Traditional Jamestown Story.” APVA Jamestown rediscovery fact sheet, 2005): 1-2. Montgomery, Dennis. “Such A Dish As Powdered Wife I Never Heard Of.” Colonial Williamsburg Journal, (2007), accessed February 28, 2015, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter07/jamestownside.cfm Stahle, David W., Cleaveland, Malcolm K., Blanton, Dennis B., Therrell, Matthew D., and Gay, David A. “The Lost Colony And Jamestown Droughts.” Journal of Science 280, no.5363 (1998):564-567. Vaughan, Alden. “Expulsion of the salvages: English Policy and the Virginia Massacre of 1622.” The William and Mary Quarterly Third Series 35, No. 1 (1978): 57-84 Read More