http://www.apva.org/history/

I chose this article to study as i found it interesting due to its talk on the struggle of the first settlers into James town. The article talks about first settler Captain John Smith and his crew and how they managed to form a colony in James town despite the rivalry between them and the already colonised Algnquian Indians.

'Almost immediately after landing, the colonists were under attack from what amounted to the on-again off-again enemy, the Algonquian natives.' This struck me as i wasnt aware that there was such majour conflict between the two, a state of war almost, telling me of the clear passion and pride the Native Americans must of had in their land. 'While disease, famine and continuing attacks of neighboring Algonquians took a tremendous toll on the population, there were times when the Powhatan Indian trade revived the colony with food for copper and iron implements.' This comment also struck me as it shows again the tremendous struggle the first European (Spanish) settlers must have had when they first arrived and by pushing through the struggle how determined they were to claim the land as theres and revel in their discovery. However as this extrect goes on it talks about how they were partners in trade, suggesting there must have been some sort of understanding and unity between the two settlers at some point.

'It appears that eventual structured leadership of Captain John Smith kept the colony from dissolving. The "starving time" winter followed Smith's departure in 1609 during which only 60 of the original 214 settlers at Jamestown survived.' This interested me as i had never heard of the 'Starving time' before and it gives a better insight into what life must have been like for settlers, lack of food and how there must have been a definate struggle to establish a strong supply of food which ultimatly has shaped the population of today.