Challenges Facing The Colonist In The New World Essay

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean in hope to find a route to China and India. He commanded a fleet of three ships named the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. His voyages lead to a profound event that changed the world. Several explores began expeditions discovering new land across the western hemisphere. The Europeans were looking for new land due to their significant population increase, the bubonic plague, and establishment for new governments. These new colonists that were established in the New world faced many challenges in life. Some of the greatest challenges facing the colonist in the New world for survival included starvation, hostile Indians, and diseases. Colonists faced starvation in the New World. One of the first English settlements was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. They established a colony along the marsh rivers and were unsuccessful in growing food in this type of soil. Colonists were more interested in finding gold than …show more content…
In March of 1622, an attack occurred in Virginia when “tribesmen called on the white settlements as if to offer goods for sale; then they suddenly attacked” (text 29). These hostile Indians did not stop the attack until “347 whites of both sexes and all ages lay dead” (text 29). As the Colonists hunger grew for increasing amounts of land, “a conflict known as the Pequot War” emerged in 1637 (text 38). These local Indians tribes were trying to prevent the Colonists settling in the Connecticut Valley. Another war broke out against the Indians and the Colonists in 1675 known as “King Philip’s War” (text 38). This war is known as the “bloodiest and most prolonged” (text 38). Over a span of three years, Indians “inflicted terror on a string of Massachusetts towns, killing over a thousand people” (text 38). Battles with the hostile Indians were crucial and devastating for the Colonists to survive in the New