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Image above: Artist's concept of a future moon base. Not unlike the conditions confronted by the Jamestown settlers, the initial challenges faced by would-be, off-world colonists will be many.
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This base would be the first settlement in the beginning of an interplanetary migration that will eventually take explorers and settlers throughout the Solar System. NASA plans to return to the moon and eventually build a base there. Food supplies ran very low and many of the settlers starved to death during the winter of 1609-10, called, "The Starving Time." The colony's survivors were saved only by the arrival of ships from England with fresh supplies. This drought contributed to poor water quality and difficult growing seasons.Īlthough the Jamestown settlers had been instructed to try farming on a small scale, the sandy soil did not hold moisture well and the drought killed what crops they did manage to plant. Evidence found in the rings of ancient, living bald cypress trees near present-day Jamestown Island, supports the theory that a drought occurred there from 1606-1612. The harsh conditions were compounded by the fact that they also had to endure one of the worst droughts in nearly 800 years.ĭendrochronology is the scientific study of tree rings. And winters, as the settlers soon discovered, were as cold as the summers were hot.Įvidence from archeological digs shows that 1607 fell within a cool period in North America and western Europe that historians call the "Little Ice Age." The heat of summer did not last the colonists were greeted by a severe winter in 1607-1608. Summer in Jamestown, with tropical humidity and oppressively high temperatures, bred mosquitoes and biting flies. Summer in England had little humidity and few bugs. Credit: National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park.īy mid-May 1607, the early Jamestown settlers realized that weather in their new land was very different than weather in England, their homeland. Image above: Jamestown colonists endured a severe winter in 1607-1608. Their villages were built in areas with easy access to fresh water. One of Powhatan's sons described the area around Jamestown as "waste ground" because the Powhatan Indians knew it was difficult to find fresh water there. Both Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas became important to the Jamestown settlers. Wahunsenacawh, or better known to history as Powhatan, was the paramount chief of a powerful chiefdom of Virginia Indians who lived throughout the coastal plain of present-day Virginia, where the Englishmen had chosen to build their new settlement. On first impression, however, the area appeared to be exactly what the settlers needed to build their new fort. Wave action would eventually turn the peninsula into an island. Some contemporary studies indicate that the shoreline was eroding rapidly even during the time of the English colonization, at rates as high as five to six feet (1.52 to 1.83 meters) each year. Jamestown Island was originally a peninsula during the time of the early settlers, but the waters around it were, and remain, restless, eating away the land. The sea level, however, was about 3 feet (0.91 meter) lower than now, exposing more land. In 1607, Jamestown's tidal wetlands looked much like the tidal wetlands of today. Walnut, beech, oak and hickory trees covered the low-lying land. The forests were filled mostly by hardwood trees. About 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) upriver from the Chesapeake Bay, the area was also easily accessible for overseas trade. The Jamestown site was a peninsula, connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and protected on three sides by the James River, Back River and Sandy Bay.ĭirected by the Virginia Company to find "the true, most wholesome and fertile place" to settle, the Jamestown site was defensible with a deep harbor close to shore. Credit: National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park.įor almost five months, these men had traveled from England, sent by the Virginia Company of London. Image above: James Fort construction, May-June 1607. Once the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery docked, 104 weary colonists trudged from their cramped quarters onto swampy marshland. That was a fact unknown to the English voyagers who landed on the shoreline of what would become known as Jamestown. Based on recent discoveries at Jamestown, anthropologists believe native peoples began to use Jamestown Island's natural resources over 10,000 years ago. The area has remained continuously populated since that time, but native peoples were the earliest to arrive. On May 13, 2007, Jamestown marks its 400th anniversary as the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America.