Chesapeake And West Indies Essay

Even though English settlers traveled across the Atlantic to the Chesapeake Bay area, the West Indies, and the area that became New England all around the same time, they formed very different kinds of society. This makes it obvious that the determining factor in the way colonial societies grow is dependent on more than just the lifestyle its settlers had in their homeland. In addition to the reasons for settlement in each area, one might also explore the obstacle settlers faced in colonization, and the practices that took root as they lived in these areas. One of the most influential factors in how a colonial society grew is the reasons for which the colony is founded. For the colonies in the Chesapeake Bay and the West Indies, profit was the major reason for their founding. England wanted to make profit from the colonies in the Chesapeake Bay area and the West Indies. These colonies set up economies unique from the economy in England, and had to find new ways to make profit. This is in contrast the reasons for colonizing the New England area, the chief reason for which being religious freedom. Instead of new ways to make money, New England colonists had to …show more content…
In Chesapeake, the colony of Jamestown faced many hardships; life there quickly became more about survival than profit. The growth and sale of tobacco became the saving grace of this area, making both survival and profit more possible. The main difficulty colonies in the West Indies faced was lack of space. These colonies maximized profit by growing sugar, which became significantly more valuable than tobacco. Rather than economic difficulties, the New England colonies faced difficulties in deciding how to run themselves. They first had to decide how they were going to worship, and whether they would be tolerant of other ways of worship. They then had to come up with ways to enforce their