SETTLING NORTH AMERICA 1497 1732
THE SETTLEMENT OF JAMESTOWN COLONY
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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A poor choice? It was a great choice!
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The land was flooded with water.
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The land was wet, fully of disease-carrying mosquitoes and foul water.
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -The peninsula was basically a swamp, which meant that disease-spreading mosquitoes were irrepressible and the fishing wasn’t great. Even the water wasn’t safe for drinking because the river was brackish and full of salt from the ocean.
Detailed explanation-2: -Famine, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first two years brought Jamestown to the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies in 1610.
Detailed explanation-3: -Hunger and disease plagued the colonists, dramatically raising the death toll. The Englishmen, inexperienced in surviving in this new wilderness, fell ill with terrible diseases often caused by their poor water supply. Many experienced salt poisoning, dysentery, typhoid, or even a mixture of these.
Detailed explanation-4: -The scientists are finding that the Jamestown aquifer water contains high, but varying, levels of arsenic. But arsenic may be far down on a list of problems that include high salinity, various metals and fecal contamination from the colonists’ latrines.