Rethinking Jamestown

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Rethinking Jamestown
The article tries to find out the truth behind the assumptions that Jamestown’s fall was as a result of the colonist’s incompetence. From the text, the colonists were very well prepared for the stay, but their expectations were not met (Sheler 49). The motive of settling in Jamestown was to develop a close relationship with the Indians which would give them easier access to their natural resources. The plan was excellent and would see them succeed but the Indians foresaw their motives and made their lives harder by capturing their leaders and torturing them to death. The establishment of the settlement was all driven by greed and flaws in the conducting of the settlement. Leaders concentrated more on obtaining wealth rather than venturing into the woods to hunt or go fishing to gather food for the cold season. Despite that, the author tries to develop many conflicting conclusions as to why the first American colonialists failed.
My reaction to the article was a cynical observation. It tries to oppose the fact that the colonists failed due to their greed. The bottom line is that England was trying to compete with Spain which led them to start the settlement which was controlled by Leaders from abroad and not the settlers themselves. Spain had experienced great success from gold mining which England coveted and drove them to try their luck by blindly venturing in without conducting a study but relying on theorists’ instructions (Sheler 53).

The theorists remained in England but gave directions to the operations of the gold search. The article is well written from the development of its conflicting Ideas. It’s also educative as it provides excellent insights by looking at the already unearthed artifacts that might eventually develop a better conclusion than the one that we currently have.
Work Cited
Sheler, Jeffrey L. “Rethinking Jamestown.” Smithsonian 35 (2005): 48-55.