The brutal wilderness that made up the Chesapeake region prompted a slow start for the early settlers. Diseases, such as Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid, ran rampant among the early colonists, cutting ten years off of the life expectancy of new colonists. For the reason that most settlers were single men, families were scarce. Of the few families many were destroyed by the death of a spouse and hardly any children reached adulthood because of brutal living conditions. A few generations later, the native born settlers began to develop immunities to the devastating diseases and as more women colonists arrived the region began to grow based on birth rates. …show more content…
It was said that New England added 10 years to your life. New England colonists migrated, mostly, in families making growth in the colonies simple. Traditional families, in the religious sense, were abundant in New England and 14 children became average for most families. There were very few divorces and for this reason women did not have many rights on their own. Religion was very important in New England and families were very strong, even grandparents helped raise children. Due to the traditional household, colonial growth skyrocketed. Despite their social and environmental differences, the Chesapeake colonists and the New England settlers both achieved large colonial growth.
A similarity shared by both communities was the treatment of Indians. By using large portions of land for tobacco growth, the Chesapeake colonists took up land in Indian territory. The New England colonists did the same by using land for livestock. This led to poor Indian colonial relationships in both