The first English colonists in Jamestown turned to cannibalism during the starving time

A reconstruction of the face of Jane, a 19 year old who left Plymouth, England, in June 1609 as part of the largest fleet yet to sail for Jamestown. A hurricane scattered the fleet, and her ship limped into Jamestown in early August. Less than a year later, she was dead.

A reconstruction of the face of Jane, a 19 year old who left Plymouth, England, in June 1609 as part of the largest fleet yet to sail for Jamestown. A hurricane scattered the fleet, and her ship limped into Jamestown in early August. Less than a year later, she was dead.

Jamestown was founded in 1607 by English colonists. The starving time was a period two years later in which 80% of the colonists died. Besieged by Powhatan Indians in their wooden fort, the settlers had been joined by new colonists late that summer, among them women and children, whose main supply ship had disappeared in a storm, leaving them without food. Only 60 of 300 people survived the winter.

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