Self-inflicted Detriment of Early Jamestown
The discovery of Jamestown for the second time was by the English colonists on May 13, 1607. This land had already been discovered by the Native American Indians who had been to the town before. This is one of the reasons why for the tensions that made the Jamestown the historical icon it is today. This research paper will consider the discovery of this town and the days after. It will also consider the critical thinking questions to help enhance our understanding of the self-inflicted detriment of early Jamestown. We will look at this topic from the colonialist’s perspective and also consider the Native American Indians and the effects of this discovery of Jamestown. This paper will also look at the importance of information and the downsides without proper communication. Last it will explain why the self-inflicted detriment of early Jameson is an important part of history that should not be forgotten.
The story begins with a deadly storm which occurred in the winter of 1609 and left only thirty eight people as survivors. This was followed by a series of other misfortunes including the arrival of the colonialists in 1609. Some of the misfortunes that the people of Jameson suffered include diseases, hunger, and cruelty from Indian tribes known as Algonquian that terrorized most of the residents. This dark time of struggle was nicknamed the ‘‘starving time’’ due to the very many troubles that were facing these residents. All the survivors who survived these tough times witnessed the death of the colonists, and wondered whether they would be the next to die. Many other colonists were publicly executed for stealing food supplies. This is just but a series of problems that the colonists and Native American Indians went through during these dark times and how it affected their lives.
The colonists suffered from countless problems such as agricultural setbacks, relational tensions with the Natives, sanitation and waste, tensions among the settlers, and the improper planning of personnel with essential skills best suited for self-sustainability. Did the colonists ever consider the Native American feelings and culture traditions? Sadly during this time there was not a cultural anthropologist that could have intervened and helped these two cultures learn how to communicate. Detriment of early Jamestown was regarded by Native Americans Indians colonists fault mainly due to the fact that these problems began as soon as they settled in this place. The other problem facing these two cultures was the lack of effective communication between them thus limiting their interactions and this led to the crumble of the foundation and detriment of early Jamestown.
Life in the Jamestown settlement was a major struggle for the early colonists as they had constant wrangles with the Powhatan Indians. These Powhatan Indians felt that this land was rightly theirs since their ancestors had occupied the region for centuries. There was struggle among them as they could not live harmoniously due to their diverse cultural and social differences. They also struggled to fit in the unfamiliar environment that was characterized by starvation and several social evils. The main reason for this was the expansion of the English colony as more colonists including women were brought to strengthen the settlement and make it permanent. But had the ship not arrived in time to save the colonists, Jamestown would probably have been a second failure by the English to gain a colony in the Americas after losing the colony of Roanoke in the 1580s.
Social issues that greatly affected the residents of Jamestown as witnessed before during the earlier years continued to affect early inhabitants who had migrated from Europe. In the year 1608 a devastating fire destroyed the fort where the colonists had settled and destroyed all their food supplies and homes. The colonists were forced to become dependent on the Indians for food and shelter. This led to negotiations between them leading to a better understanding of their languages and cultures and paved way for further negotiations in the future. This would place the colonists in a position where they could increase their dominion over the indigenous civilizations and continue to bring social differences.
The Jamestown colonists were always in constant conflict with the local Paspahegh tribe as well as the larger Powhatan confederation. These conflicts were brought about by the fact that when the colonists arrived several deadly attacks happened between them and the natives. The Algonquian Indians in the region played a significant role in starving these colonialists because their leader ordered the slaughter of their livestock. The natives also killed colonists who left the settlement for no logical reasons. Some could ask themselves why these Natives acted this way, was it because of treatment and tensions that caused the Native American Indians to react this way.
After several negotiations between these colonists and the Chief of the Native Americans these attacks were stopped and after sometimes the Native American tribes known as the Paspahegh tribe called for peaceful coexistence. When Captain John Smith was captured in December, the paramount chief wanted the invaders to leave the Jamestown area and even suggested that they move to a local village where they could receive food in exchange for metal tools they would make for the natives. John Smith who was negotiating for the colonists lied and agreed to the deal. This tricked the Powhatan, and instead of them resuming hostilities against the weakened invaders they bought food to the fort and saved the lives of the colonists.
During the winter the colonists lacked food but received little from Pocahontas’s father who later became worried after seeing the English practicing military drills during the spring. This made the Native Americans think that they were only taking advantage of them by cleverly buying enough time before they could get ready to start fighting again. The local Paspahegh tribe decided to start trouble against the colonists but they would retaliate in full force. Tis war culminated to a series of kidnappings between these two warring communities. When the colonists lacked food the Native Americans did not offer any help to them. Since most of the Paspahegh residents had left their villages and fled away due to the constant fights, the few left behind were forced at gunpoint to sell whatever they had to the colonists. The tension worsened when Captain John captured the local chief of the Paspahegh and held him captive. The Native Americans saw the colonists as people only interested in destroying them so they decided to avoid any form of friendship with them again. The natives took an issue with the fact that instead of the colonists seeking to hold peaceful negotiations they preferred to use their military power to force the natives into providing them with what they needed for instance food supplies.
Distinctive and differing social norms between the Natives and the English promoted division and confusion that led to continuous setbacks to their relationships. Gender roles differed significantly between the two groups and causing them to have negative views about each other. Within the Native’s construction of gender-based work roles men were responsible for hunting, fishing, protection, and security of the household. Women on the other hand were responsible for agriculture and fieldwork in addition to all housekeeping duties. This was contrary to the English of gender-based work roles that defined women responsibilities as household upkeep and children rearing, while the men were responsible for hunting, fishing, agriculture, fieldwork, protection, and security. The Natives were proud of their strength that resulted from performing agricultural work in the fields. Ironically, the English were ignorant of the extensive work it took the Natives to perform their duties and viewed them as lazy for their lack of creative effort in their fieldwork. The negative views created a viewpoint that each side was superior to the other.
John Smith who was the colonists’ leader played a major role in the loss of agricultural practice in the early Jamestown settlement. This was due to the fact that he ordered laborers to plant crops and build shelters while practicing strict leadership. There was a huge setback in the agricultural practice because of rapid expansion that affected the land that could have been used for agriculture. In addition bad weather affected agriculture leading to very little food production thus increasing starvation. Similarly, the rapid expansion was accompanied by costs that brought setbacks in agriculture because the colonists could not afford better methods of agriculture. The death rates also posed a setback to agriculture because there were very few people left to continue practicing agriculture.
Further the crop diversification and introduction of new industries proved less profitable than expected because the money that was to be used in purchasing these new machines was used to feed starving colonists. The presence of many dangerous wild animals in the land prevented the colonists from going to the farms. The bad weather also did not do any favors as it made agriculture more difficult. The lack of proper planning of the correct individual roles and skill needed to make the Jamestown settlement a true success become a setback. The problem became worse because the colonists started worrying about starvation without making good plans on how to solve the problem.
The land that surrounded Jamestown during 1607-1609 was lying barren since most of it was infertile. The small portion that was fertile was thick and full of wolves, bears, and beasts among others. The gender responsibilities of men were somehow not easy to achieve and so making most of them idle. The idleness came about as women and children were making mats, baskets, pots, preparing bread and planting corn among others in addition to performing most of the household chores.
In 1608 after these colonists had survived their first winter in Jamestown their population nearly doubled when a British fleet carrying people and a few supplies arrived. When an extra 400 colonists arrived in 1609 their population greatly increased proving an unbearable load for the thriving colony. Shortage of food was experienced since the colonists already there were not prepared to support the extra settlers who arrived without enough supplies. This worsened the state of things leading to another starvation during the winter of 1609. This period became so severe that the settlers ate dogs, cats, horses, rats and the leather of their shoes and boots. When this proved inadequate they turned to cannibalism leading to them eating the corpses of their fellow colonists.
These colonists also faced a problem of leadership with several leaders bringing conflicting leadership styles due to their different principles and beliefs. This led to some colonists to rebel against these leaders since they thought the leaders were not hard enough on the Native Americans. The early Jamestown settlement suffered from these leadership problems since the leaders did not help the colonists with their main objective of surviving the harsh living conditions. The leaders more often made the colonists life even more difficult for example when captain Newport left and Captain Gosnold died the leadership in the Jamestown shattered, and the men started fighting among themselves instead of finding ways to unite and solve the problem facing them collectively. Their leaders were corrupt and they mistreated farmworkers among other evils.
This led to the loss of precious time fixing the damage brought about by this unnecessary rebellion. The setbacks were contributed by the leaders who focused on making a better living for their families instead of standing for the rights of their colonist subjects. The original settlers who were plagued with dissent, jealousy, and competition from the start contributed the leadership issue. The fact that early settlers depended on continued support from financiers in England made the colonists political figures fight for powerful posts to exploit this opportunity. This brought about leadership obstacles because the leadership failed to experience the investment that their sponsors believed was worthwhile.
Conclusion
Regardless of the different causes of conflict such as harsh environmental condition, most of these problems at Jamestown including the early establishments among other contributing causes such as conflict with Native Americans and leadership issues were self-inflicted. The colonists contributed to their injury because they started fighting among themselves instead of proving lasting solutions to the setbacks they were experiencing. Their inability to come to a common understanding with the Natives also made it much worse for them to achieve peace among them. These events have proved to be very important part of history both to Jamestown and the whole country.
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