When English settlers arrived in Jamestown and Plymouth in the early 1600s, they had very different reasons for coming—and they faced very different challenges. But both groups shared one important reality: surviving in a new land was far harder than they expected.
Jamestown: Searching for Wealth, Fighting to Survive
The settlers who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 came mostly to make money. Backed by a company of investors in England, these colonists, who were mostly men, hoped to find gold and get rich, just like the Spanish had in South America. But instead of riches, they found a swampy, mosquito-filled environment with little clean water and poor soil for farming.
Many of the colonists spent too much time looking for treasure and not enough time planting crops. Disease and starvation spread quickly. In just the first year, only 38 of the original 144 survived.
Captain John Smith stepped up as a leader. He demanded that colonists work or they would not eat. This helped improve farming, but conditions were still rough. During the winter of 1609–1610—later known as the "Starving Time"—hundreds more settlers died. Supplies ran out, and some colonists even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. The colony barely survived until help arrived.
Eventually, Jamestown improved thanks to the arrival of more people, including women, and the growth of tobacco as a cash crop. But the colony never made a profit for its investors. In 1624, the king took control and made Virginia a royal colony.
Plymouth: Faith, Skills, and Survival
The settlers who arrived in Plymouth in 1620 had a very different goal. These passengers—many of them families—were religious Separatists, later called Pilgrims. They wanted to build a new life where they could worship freely. Their journey was difficult, and their ship, the Mayflower, was blown off course. Instead of landing near Virginia, they arrived far north in Massachusetts, just before winter. Unlike Jamestown, many of the passengers were skilled tradespeople—farmers, tailors, weavers, carpenters, and shoemakers. Some were servants, and others were children. They brought tools and a strong sense of purpose, but the conditions were brutal. They had little food, no shelter, and no knowledge of how to survive a New England winter. More than half of the settlers died in the first few months.