In may of 1607 King James I ordered three English ships of over 100 men to sail into the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on the coast of Virginia, for riches, Native tribes to be taught the ways of Jesus Christ, and a possible trade route to China. The settlers arrived and made a fort along the James river called Jamestown. More and more colonists had arrived from England. Out of a total of 524 colonists 270 died. Why did so many colonists die in Early Jamestown? They lacked key skills, poor relations with the Powhatan tribe, and they had bad water conditions. The first reason Jamestown colonists died was that they lacked key skills. According to Document C, 79 colonists did not have occupations, and there was 0 apothecaries until 1608, even then there was only 2. Furthermore, they did not have access to any medicine. They also were unable to build shelter because they didn't have any trained carpenters. This evidence helps explain why so many colonists in early Jamestown died because without medicine they can easily get sick, and they had a hard time building shelter, The second reason early Jamestown colonists died was they had poor relations with the Native Americans. According to Document…show more content… In Document B there was a long drought from about 1605 to 1613. The drought caused dehydration among the colonists. the drought also caused the the crops to wilt from a lack of water, so the colonists did not have enough food to survive. The colonists also were not very smart about how they handled their waste,” ...Filth introduced into the river tended to fester rather than flush away.” Document A. They dumped all of their waste into the river that they used for drinking, swimming and watering crops. This caused 84 colonists in 1607 and 1608 to die from disease. This evidence helps explain why so many colonists died because, the drought brought many problems, and they were not smart on how they handled their