Compare And Contrast Jamestown And John Smith

Jamestown

From the very beginning Jamestown was not an easy colony to be apart of, some of the hardships they happened to face were unimaginable. The colonist’s dealt with many things such as, “disease, famine, and continuing attacks of the neighboring Algonquians took a tremendous toll on the population”(5). During the first years of Jamestown being established they were fighting everyday to stay alive. With minimal food sources the colonists were weak and very susceptible to disease. They also were at constant battle with Native Americans who were also living on the land around the colony. The Natives were not as inviting as the settlers had hoped causing many disputes among the groups. Another issue in Jamestown was they had many people

Smith was captured by the Native Americans and in the time of his captivity is when he met Pocahontas, “Captain Smith and his men are attacked, and Smith is taken prisoner”(3). Smith was taken captive by Native Americans while out with his men. The story is told that he was going to be executed but before they could do it Pocahontas saved his life, this very well could have been misinterpreted by Smith in his journals. Smith remained a prisoner of the Natives for weeks, so long that the men back at Jamestown believed he was dead. By the time he was rescued from captivity he had spent plenty of time around the Natives and they had taken a liking to him but by all means that did not stop the battles between Jamestown and the Indians. He did make sharing the land easier because John Smith was a negotiator, he knew how to read and write, and spent time around the Native Americans (6). John Smith after spending time around the Native Americans found that he had become the person who had to negotiate with them if a trade was being conducted. He also wrote a journal in which gave people a lot of insight into how life in Jamestown was and what struggles they had to undergo to become what they were. John Smith was a legendary piece of the expedition but he was not always the leader and role-model he was made out

Many people believed Pocahontas was romantically involved with John Smith but, “there is little to suggest a romantic link between John Smith and Pocahontas” (4). With the most popular knowledge of Pocahontas out there being from the Disney movie most of it was made up or exaggerated. Considering the little evidence that shows the two were romantically involved it was proven that due to the large age gap between the two they were most likely not involved. Pocahontas was also known as a Disney princess, and usually princess means next in line to become queen but not for Pocahontas. “She was a princess but not in the sense of inheriting political station” (4). In the tribe the title had more meanings than the common one we know today. She was known as her Father’s favorite of his many children, but she would never grow up to become chief. Pocahontas while a major historical figure was turned into a character with little background history being remembered