The initial steps in colonisation

[Cutlass]

Does this perhaps have something to do with the demographics they drew on? I may be wrong, but I'm told that nonconformism was most common among urban populations, particularly the artisan stratum, most of whom had limited if any experience in agriculture.

For the Pilgrims, you have to recall that they were a particular religious sect that had the main goal of not compromising their principles. To do that they moved several times in search of a place where they could live in semi-isolation so that they could avoid those compromises. Now while they segregated themselves, that means that they did not have the skills of the people who were not part of their sect. Even when those skills really would have been of benefit as colonists. Such as farmers, fishermen, boat builders, hunters, and other groups involved in food production.

So the Pilgrims were not a group that was drawn from those segments of the population that were best prepared to feed themselves based on their own labor. They had skill sets that were just not the needed ones as colonists.

For Jamestown, that was a business, and the people recruited to move there thought they were getting in on the ground floor of a great opportunity. Jamestown also needed farmers and fishermen. Not "gentlemen" and the other fools that they got.

 

[Winner]

For Jamestown, that was a business, and the people recruited to move there thought they were getting in on the ground floor of a great opportunity. Jamestown also needed farmers and fishermen. Not "gentlemen" and the other fools that they got.

Didn't these "fools" basically believe they were going to get gold and loot, sort of like the conquistadors of the previous era? That explains why they were so totally unprepared to actually live there.

 

[Cutlass]

Didn't these "fools" basically believe they were going to get gold and loot, sort of like the conquistadors of the previous era? That explains why they were so totally unprepared to actually live there.

They believed a lot of things. That gold was just there for the taking. That a route to Asia was hidden there somewhere, and you just needed the right river to get to the Pacific. The investors in England that got all these people to go sold them all sorts of tales. And then berated the colonists that did not deliver on the stories the investors made up. In the early years of Jamestown, the death rate may have been some 70-80%. There really was remarkable foolishness in expectations on everyone's parts.

 

[aronnax]

In the early years of Jamestown, the death rate may have been some 70-80%. There really was remarkable foolishness in expectations on everyone's parts.

Probably the first ever of lolAmericans.

 

[Cutlass]

And they were reduced to cannibalism at one point. Which is generally not the sign of a successful venture.

 

[Winner]

And they were reduced to cannibalism at one point. Which is generally not the sign of a successful venture.

Love that understatement.

 

[Traitorfish]

And they were reduced to cannibalism at one point. Which is generally not the sign of a successful venture.

Or a very successful venture, depending on what your intentions were.

 

[Masada]

Maori powah!