Jamestown DBQ: Why Did So Many Colonists Die?

Document Analysis Questions

Document A

1. What is brackish water?

Brackish water us non-drinkable dirty water.

2. What twice-daily event would cause water levels around Jamestown to rise and cause wells and
freshwater streams to become brackish? (hint: the moon)
The tide would cause the water levels to rise and fall

3. According to Carville Earle, what happened to human waste that got dumped into the river?
Waste that got dumped into the river tended to fester rather than flush away.

4. What inference can you make about the effect of tides on health in Jamestown?
The tides didn’t help the health on Jamestown at all. It made living there so bad.

5. Consider the last paragraph. What time of the year do you think starvation was most likely to
happen?
Starvation was most likely to happen in the winter and fall because it said fish are present
but only in summer and spring.

Document B

1. What is indicated by a sharp spike below the 0 line? What were the dates of the first five years
of settlement in Jamestown? (See Background Essay)
Drought. The first 5 years were from 1607-1612

2. Look at the years 1580 to 1640. During which period did Jamestown suffer its longest
unbroken period of drought?
During its first 5 years from 1607-1612

3. In the winter of 1609-1610, Jamestown experienced what settlers called the “starving time.”
Based on this document, what inference can you make about the cause of this “starving time”?
There wasn’t any rainfall in 1609 for along time meaning crops couldn’t get watered and
grow. Streams also probably dried out.

4. How might lack of rain might strain English relations with the Powhatan? Explain.
The English might be speaking the Powhatan’s food and the Powhatans might be annoyed
that they are there just talking up their land dying.
 Document C

1. How many settlers arrived in May 1607? 1608? How many had known occupations?
110 arrived in 1607 and 120 arrived in 1608. 151 had know occupations.

2. How many of the settlers from either group were female?

0 settlers were female they didn’t take any women.

3. What is a “gentleman”?
A gentleman was a person of wealth who wasn’t used to working with his hands

4. Of the 110 settlers who arrived in May 1607, nearly 70 were dead by December. Is there
anything in the ship lists that helps explain why?
I don’t think they brought the right people. They shouldn’t have brought 47 gentlemen
who weren’t gonna do anything. They should have brought more laborers and brick
layers to get houses built and started then brought people to live in them.

Document D

1. Is this a primary source or a secondary source?

This is a secondary source.

2. Why did Francis West sail up the Chesapeake?

He wanted to try and trade for corn with the Patawomeke Indians.

3. Is there any evidence that the English forced the Native Americans to trade their grain?
Yes the English killed them leaving no one to defend their food and the English just took
it for themselves

4. What eventually happened to the shipload of grain?

It ended up returning to Jamestown with the English.

5. In what ways can you use this document to help answer the question: Why did so many settlers
die?
So many settlers died because there wasn’t enough food to go around. Even though they
got food it wasn’t enough.
 Document E

1. What is the total number of colonists to arrive at Jamestown by the summer of 1609?
294 people arrived at Jamestown by summer of 1609

2. In 1607 and 1608, how many settlers died from disease? How many killed by Native
Americans?
70 died from disease and 5 died from native Americans.

3. What generalization can you make about the numbers and causes of settler death in 1609?
A lot of people died from diseases and I don’t they are because they just kept bring people
over and letting them die.

4. What can you infer about settler-Native American relations from 1607-1609?
They didn’t really get along. The natives didn’t want them there either.