The Unhealthy Chesapeake (17th Century Chesapeake Colonies)

Notes describe the Chesapeake region's unhealthy early settlement, with high mortality, skewed sex ratios, disease impact, and growing regional differences, including the rise of slave labor in the South and the easing of Puritan rigidity.

What was the life expectancy pattern for people born in early Virginia and Maryland?

Half did not survive to age 20; few of the remaining lived to age 40 or 50, and women were especially likely to die young.

What was the typical profile of Chesapeake immigrants in the 17th century?

Mostly single men in their late teens and early twenties; many perished soon after arrival.

What were the male-to-female ratios in the Chesapeake around 1650 and by the end of the century?

1650: surviving males outnumbered females nearly 6 to 1; by the end of the century, the ratio was about 3 to 2 in favor of men.

What impact did disease have on Chesapeake settlements in the 17th century?

Disease ravaged settlements and slowed growth; most immigrants died or were slow to establish a stable population.

How did marriage prospects for women look in the Chesapeake?

Eligible women were scarce, surviving men competed for them, and women did not remain single for long.

What regional difference emerged in the colonies regarding labor?

Increasing importance of slave labor to the southern way of life.

How were the colonies connected to England and the broader economy?

All colonies remained tied to England and were stitched into an Atlantic economy.

What happened to Puritanism in America according to the notes?

Its rigid doctrines softened somewhat in response to life in America.