English Settlers of the Chesapeake Region and New England Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. As English settlements in North America began to progress, social, economical, and religious ideas divided the English immigrants. The settlers journeyed to North America to meet their individual needs and beliefs. Whether they were fleeing to become wealthy or to escape religious pressures; all of these settlers came attempting to improve theirlifestyles. The Chesapeake region and New England settlements proved how two English settlements could have differing societies. English origins seemed to be their only common trait. Life for the earliest Chesapeake settlers was brutal and deadly. Diseases such as malaria, dysentery and typhoid shortened life expectancy, while nearly half of the Virginia and Maryland settlers didn’t live to see their twentieth birthday. This frailChesapeake region continued a slow growth primarily because a majority of the settlers were “single men in their late teens to early twenties”(Document C). Because of the overpopulation of men and the scarcity of women, families became sparse. However, despite the harsh beginnings of its society, the Chesapeake region continued to endeavor by acquiring an immunity to diseases and increasing birthrates. The Chesapeake region also held its own economic standards. When 120 men arrived in Jamestown on May 14th,1607 they relied on the hopes of discovering gold. Most of the settlers’ time was devoted to searches for gold instead of the stabilization of their new settlement with farms or resources. They figured with the discovery of gold, a rapid and prosperous future awaited them. “ Captain John Smith commented: The worst (among us were the gold seekers who) with their golden promises made all men their slaves i...
