I was recently reading a little about Jamestown, and its history as England's first colony in the Americas. Wikipedia states that 80% of its population died within the first 3 years - with it taking many more years for infrastructure to be established and population resettled.
What I was wondering was, what was the point of it all? What was so valuable to England that they pushed on with the settlement even after an 80% mortality rate? Was it resources? Was it land? It's seems an awful lot of effort, wealth, and lives to be throwing away - especially considering that it wasn't the first failed attempt - with the lost colony of Roanoke preceeding it.
Now that I'm asking it, I suppose the question is also valid as to why North America was colonised in the first place? The most valuable resources lay in the Caribbean Islands and in the Amazon Rainforests. There must be something I'm not aware of, because it seems like Britain's rewards in the region did not make up for the resources they spent to get the colony going.
There must have been some good long-term planning involved. :\
Thanks for the answers. :D
They’re effectively transnational corporations in the same way that we today have transnational corporations. Yes, all the settlers, sailors, and their employers would have respect for royal authority, but that doesn’t mean the crown had day to day control over the settlements.
New colonists would have enforced English and Christian rules and norms to the best of their ability (cannibalism is wrong, the sabbath is Sunday, don’t take the lords name in vain, don’t steal property, etc.)
Distance did mean a bit of freedom from European control, which is why the infamous pilgrims made their big move to Massachussets.
It might help to stop thinking about the colonies as ‘Britain’s colonies’ and start thinking of them as privately owned capitalist enterprises
Many of the failed and barely-succeeded-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth settlements you’re thinking of were not sent by any single government, but were sent by groups of investors looking for profits. These British venture capitalists hired settlers to go colonize in hopes of gold, furs, and other valuable returns on investments.
The risk to reward ratio for the investors was very different than for the settlers themselves, who you can More or less think of as employees with long term contracts and shitty working conditions.
So why keep investing in these types of ventures after the first couple fail? Rich brits were excited about the idea and had relatively little to lose. Many of the same investors were had money pouring in from other, more successful endeavors, so it’s not so crazy if you think of it from their perspective.