The passage is MOST likely referring to indentured servants. It discusses the high mortality rates among immigrants who arrived in the Chesapeake colonies during the seventeenth century, particularly those who underwent the process of "seasoning." Indentured servants were individuals who agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for passage to the New World, and many of them faced difficult and dangerous conditions upon arrival. The mention of not living to complete their terms aligns closely with the experiences of indentured servants during this time.
What group of people is passage MOST likely referring to?
Demographic conditions also shaped Chesapeake society during the seventeenth century. For one thing, life was short. A substantial number of immigrants died soon after they arrived, victims of a now vague complex of diseases that contemporaries called "seasoning." How many failed to live through the first year is unknown, but the figure was high enough to provoke frequent comment. And, although the chances of survival increased as the seventeenth century progressed, the Chesapeake colonies were considered dangerous to new arrivals as late as 1700, particularly during late summer. Many... who survived seasoning, furthermore, did not live to complete their terms.• Representatives in the House of Burgesses• Indentured servants• Plantation owners• Enslaved Africans
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