Starving Time

The "Starving Time" refers to a brutal winter in 1609-1610 when the Jamestown Colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America, faced extreme food shortages. The indigenous Powhatan tribes, under Chief Powhatan, stopped trading food and attacked English parties seeking supplies, leading to a severe famine.1

Of the 500 colonists in Jamestown in the autumn of 1609, fewer than 100 survived by March 1610. The settlers resorted to eating animals, rats, mice, and even shoe leather, with some instances of cannibalism occurring. The famine was exacerbated by the colony's reliance on Native American trade for food and mismanagement by colonial leaders. The arrival of Governor Thomas West, 12th Baron De La Warr, with supplies in June 1610 helped alleviate the crisis, but the period remains a stark example of the early challenges faced by British colonists in North America.1