The colonists of Jamestown endured many hardships in their colony due to their location, lack of planning and poor leadership. After the failure of Roanoke, colonists set up another colony in present day Virginia about 30 miles up the James River from the Atlantic Coast in 1607. The location only set Jamestown into a pit of despair when they figured out it was a horrible spot. The land was swampy, making the land ill-suited for growing crops, not to mention it was plagued by mosquitoes that carried diseases such as Malaria that killed most of the colonists, and the brackish tidal water was unsuitable for drinking. Furthermore, there was lack of planning in the process. The colonists relied on the Powhatan redundant amounts of times for food.