The James River, 1608
"Now the arrival of this first supply so overjoyed us that we could not devise too much to please the mariners. We gave them liberty to truck or trade at their pleasure [with the Indians]. But in a short time it followed, that could not be had for a pound of copper, which before was sold us for an ounce: thus ambition and sufferance cut the throat of our trade."
- Captain John Smith, 1612
Jamestown in 1608 occupied a few acres of land in a vast forested landscape. Despite the natural bounty of the Chesapeake and John Smith's successful efforts to acquire food from the Powhatan Indians, the settlers at Jamestown experienced repeated food shortages. They remained dependent on ships from England for survival during the first years of the colony.
The key trade material was copper, a substance greatly valued by the Chesapeake Indians. Initially, Smith and the other settlers were able to control the supply of copper and get large quantities of corn and deer meat in exchange for small amounts of the metal. However, sailors from the supply ships, who were not controlled by the colony's leaders, flooded the market with copper with their own exchanges. This further reduced the colonist's ability to get adequate food through trade.