Jamestown Colony. Goes into detail about the near failure of the colony as well as how it overcame hardship
Jamestown was a a near failure for many reasons.Of these production was a direct cause.
Production depends on three factors: land, labor, and capital. In essence, the London
company stole a good bit of land from the Native American Indians-more than enough
acreage to have sustained the original hundred colonists. What the London Company had
in mind for the colonist to produce on the land they acquired were three primary
commodities: gold, grapes, and sugar. A modern company would have ascertained that
these commodities could be produced in any facility it created or land it selected. But the
London Company made no such analysis. The result was that the colony was not
realistically equipped for the area in which it was established. There was no gold in the
whole of Virginia or anywhere within a thousand miles of it. And the climate was wrong
for both grapes and sugar as crops. Another major drawback under the category "land"
was the site of the colony itself. Jamestown was established in a marshy area that
happened to be infested with malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Almost half of the colonists who
died in the first two years died of malaria.
Between 1607 and 1609, some 900 persons went to the Jamestown colony. That
certainly was enough people in terms of numbers alone. But labor as a factor of
production refers not so much to body count as to whether the persons have the
knowledge and skills to produce the product. A number of the colonists who went to
Jamestown were sons of landed English gentry. At that particular time, England had little
to offer later-born sons of nobles, who would inherit neither titles nor lands. These
gentlemen brought household servants with them as though they were going to be able to
re-establish the lifestyles they had in England in the New World. Neither the gentlemen
nor their butlers and footmen had any idea how to build houses, how to plant and cultivate
crops, etc. Meanwhile, there were not nearly enough people
Production depends on three factors: land, labor, and capital. In essence, the London
company stole a good bit of land from the Native American Indians-more than enough
acreage to have sustained the original hundred colonists. What the London Company had
in mind for the colonist to produce on the land they acquired were three primary
commodities: gold, grapes, and sugar. A modern company would have ascertained that
these commodities could be produced in any facility it created or land it selected. But the
London Company made no such analysis. The result was that the colony was not
realistically equipped for the area in which it was established. There was no gold in the
whole of Virginia or anywhere within a thousand miles of it. And the climate was wrong
for both grapes and sugar as crops. Another major drawback under the category "land"
was the site of the colony itself. Jamestown was established in a marshy area that
happened to be infested with malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Almost half of the colonists who
died in the first two years died of malaria.
Between 1607 and 1609, some 900 persons went to the Jamestown colony. That
certainly was enough people in terms of numbers alone. But labor as a factor of
production refers not so much to body count as to whether the persons have the
knowledge and skills to produce the product. A number of the colonists who went to
Jamestown were sons of landed English gentry. At that particular time, England had little
to offer later-born sons of nobles, who would inherit neither titles nor lands. These
gentlemen brought household servants with them as though they were going to be able to
re-establish the lifestyles they had in England in the New World. Neither the gentlemen
nor their butlers and footmen had any idea how to build houses, how to plant and cultivate
crops, etc. Meanwhile, there were not nearly enough people