Nino that year. While the effects of the phenomenon are not altogether clear in the Mid-Atlantic region, it is not unreasonable to believe some of the extremes like cold and drought were aggravated by this event. Looking back now we can understand how the environment of Jamestown Island has changed under the effects of both long-term and short-term natural shifts. The conditions we observe there today are only remotely suggestive of the scene that met the first inhabitants many thousands of years ago. On the whole, there is much about the earliest conditions that made the island-to-be more attractive for the people who occupied it. Gradually, it became a challenging place to live and by the time the English arrived, the Indians made use of it only sporadically. Outright bad luck also plagued the first colonists who arrived in the midst of short-term but extreme climatic events like drought and unusual winter cold. There is a lesson here valuable today, as through the Jamestown story alone all of us are reminded of the intimate link between culture and environment, and how a some respect for the limitations it places on our actions can make a difference in quality of life. Suggested Readings: Blanton, Dennis B. "Drought as a Factor in the Jamestown Colony, 1607-1612." Historical Archaeology, 34(2000):74-81. Bradley, Raymond S. and Philip D. Jones, eds. Climate Since A.D. 1500. New York and London: Routledge, 1992. Earle, Carville V. "Environment, Disease, and Mortality in Early Virginia." In The Chesapeake in the Seventeenth Century: Essays on Anglo-American Society, eds. Thad W. Tate and David L. Ammerman, pp. 96-125. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1979. Fagan, Brian M. Floods, Famines and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Fagan, Brian M. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Lamb, H. H. Climate, History and the Modern World, 2nd edition. New York and London: Routledge, 1995. Stahle, David W., Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Dennis B. Blanton, Matthew D. Therrell, and David A. Gay. "The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts." Science (1998) 280:564-567. End Notes:
Nino that year. While the effects of the phenomenon are not altogether clear in the Mid-Atlantic region, it is not unreasonable to believe some of the extremes like cold and drought were aggravated by this event. Looking back now we can understand how the environment of Jamestown Island has changed under the effects of both long-term and short-term natural shifts. The conditions we observe there today are only remotely suggestive of the scene that met the first inhabitants many thousands of years ago. On the whole, there is much about the earliest conditions that made the island-to-be more attractive for the people who occupied it. Gradually, it became a challenging place to live and by the time the English arrived, the Indians made use of it only sporadically. Outright bad luck also plagued the first colonists who arrived in the midst of short-term but extreme climatic events like drought and unusual winter cold. There is a lesson here valuable today, as through the Jamestown story alone all of us are reminded of the intimate link between culture and environment, and how a some respect for the limitations it places on our actions can make a difference in quality of life. Suggested Readings: Blanton, Dennis B. "Drought as a Factor in the Jamestown Colony, 1607-1612." Historical Archaeology, 34(2000):74-81. Bradley, Raymond S. and Philip D. Jones, eds. Climate Since A.D. 1500. New York and London: Routledge, 1992. Earle, Carville V. "Environment, Disease, and Mortality in Early Virginia." In The Chesapeake in the Seventeenth Century: Essays on Anglo-American Society, eds. Thad W. Tate and David L. Ammerman, pp. 96-125. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1979. Fagan, Brian M. Floods, Famines and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Fagan, Brian M. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Lamb, H. H. Climate, History and the Modern World, 2nd edition. New York and London: Routledge, 1995. Stahle, David W., Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Dennis B. Blanton, Matthew D. Therrell, and David A. Gay. "The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts." Science (1998) 280:564-567. End Notes: