I'm reading a history of New England, and I'm curious about how the Puritans got their start, but I'm broadly curious about all New World colonies.
Surely there must have been enormous amounts of labor poured into clearing land and erecting structures, while at the same time obtaining enough food to survive. How did this work in the first few years of a settlement? Once self-sufficient from a food standpoint it is easier for me to wrap my head around, but I don't know how they got there.
Let's just say there was a reason why the Virginia company went bankrupt. The difference between the puritan's and the people of the Virginia company lie simply in their own personal investment or "sweat equity" to use a more modern terminology. Puritan's were looking to a long term solution to their problem and they were willing to accept the hard times that came with establishing oneself in a foreign land. However people moving to the Virginia colony were looking to get rich and come back to their homeland after several years. This difference in mind set strained the Virginia colony forcing it to be turned over to the crown after the bankruptcy, a company simply could not support developing it's own territory. Now one can not overlook the fact that the Virginia company assumed there would be greater riches in the colony but regardless this different mindset was an early issue.