Beginning in 1607, the colonisation of America posed many problems for its new settlers. The harsh winter was one of the most serious and pressing and the settlers developed a number of methods to cope in this new world, amid food shortages and cold weather:
- Settlers traded with local native tribes to get extra food, principally fur, guns and other weapons. The settlers also relied on food supplies brought to the New World by European ships who brought more people to the colonies.
- Settlers ate whatever food they could find: according to George Percy, one of the first governors of the Jamestown colony, this included rats, dogs and cats and any other animals that were available.
- Some colonists resorted to cannibalism to survive the winter. New research on the Starving Time of 1609, for example, has found human teeth and skull remains in refuse piles.
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