Early Jamestown Settlers

It can definitely be said that the original purpose of the Virginia was to claim land for England, however, the settlers barely survived the massive starvation rates and when John Rolfe brought over tobacco, it flourished and made a large sum of money for the colonists and england, therefore the purpose of the Virginia Colony was tobacco growing. Before John Rolfe arrived at the town of Jamestown, located in present day Virginia, the settlers had a rough start, a very rough start. The very first settlers of Jamestown arrived in three ship The Susan Constant, The Godspeed and The Discovery. In the winter of 1609 around 104 men and boys arrived in what would become Jamestown, Virginia. When they arrived the settlers made a few foolish
errors. Instead of building strong, hardy, and durable shelters needed and collecting the food they needed to survive on, they hunted for gold as a Jamestown settler wrote home, “By reason of my sicknesse & weaknesse I was not able to travell up and downe the hills and dales of these countries but doo nowe intend every daye to walke up and downe the hills for good Mineralls here is both golde silver and copper to be had.”1 As the settler stated, there was much sickness because of the lack of preparation for winter. Even with the sicknesses that ran absolutely rampant throughout the colony and killed most of the original settlers, the main concern of the very greedy and ambitious Jamestown settlers was gold. Because of this, the settlers barely scraped by both trading, being helped by, and stealing from the natives.2 These dealings with native population caused for a less than shaky relationship between the settlers of Jamestown and the local natives in the area. The starvation rates and sickness levels began to go down in 1610, when John Rolfe first landed in Jamestown, Virginia, bringing with him a large amount of settlers, supplies, women, which were not brought in the first voyage to Jamestown, which was a mistake because the expedition lacked the common sense that a woman has.
John Rolfe also brought the ever famous tobacco seeds, and it is quite baffling how he managed to obtain these seeds, especially since The Spanish Government had a monopoly on the growth, care, harvest, distribution, marketing, and sale of all tobacco products and the tobacco industry in general. Therefore, it would have been nearly impossible for John Rolfe to obtain the tobacco seeds that he did. Nevertheless, he got the seeds and brought them, them being the tobacco seeds, to the New World. By some miracle, the tobacco seeds sprouted and flourished. The Virginia soil, which was very poor for growing the crops that the settlers brought with them from England, turned out to be absolutely perfect in every way for the growth of tobacco. From then on things changed in the tiny little settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. Because it BOOMED. Everybody flocked to Jamestown from England. John Rolfe helped out even more by marrying Pocahontas, the daughter of the local native chief. John Rolfe married Pocahontas to bring peace to the native and the settlers. Pocahontas was later baptized and renamed Rebecca, she also caused what is referred to as “The Peace Of
Pocahontas.” The Peace of Pocahontas caused a temporary lull in the conflicts that happened between the settlers and the natives. Pocahontas was also brought to England to serve as an example that “Savages” could be civilized. John Rolfe bringing tobacco to Jamestown, Virginia brought a major source of income to the colonies, which had never happened before. However, with every bit of good, there is a bit of bad. The tobacco farms had an increase in the need for labor and so the very first slaves were brought to America, which will spread and a couple of hundred year later, will cause a Civil War more bloody than and battle we have ever fought in.