Without tobacco, the Virginia colony would never have survived. Make a case for this thesis.

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 The Jamestown Colony and Survival : The Role of Tobacco

This will argue that the cultivation of tobacco was central in the Jamestown colony 's survival during its most difficult years , the first third of the 17th century . Bad weather , laziness , Indian raids poor leadership and disease would have eliminated the colony had not Spanish tobacco , transplanted to Virginia , become so profitable in English markets . Tobacco gave the struggling colony a new lease on life a focus from which high profits and political power derived

In North

America after King James 's decision of 1605 to colonize Virginia , a newly transplanted crop was to play a central role in the economy of this centrally important , rich area . Tobacco was the means by which the early colonists , ravaged by plage , division , raiding and disease , was to create a true home out of a wilderness most uninviting to the early settlers . As the official Jamestown Preservation Society reports , the Spanish saw the Indians cultivating this plant , and brought it back to Europe , a fateful decision , since it was to become the lifeblood of the Jamestown colony (ABVA , np , also Crawford , 1853 : 46

Many of the early settlers in Virginia were adventurers , many not used to a days hard work , and who had moved to Jamestown on rumors of wealth and plenty . Unfortunately , this meant that the colony was filled with men who were used to a very different sort of life than that of a full time...