Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled by people of English origin, by 1700 the redions had evolved into 2 distinct societies. Why did this difference in development occur?
...had developed differently and the disease that the Chesapeake settlers encountered had drastically altered their society. For families that consisted of 3 generations were very uncommon, because diseases like malaria and small pox, had devastated the population and most people would not live past what we would consider to be middle age. Also women of that time would have to wed and bare children at an earlier stage in their life. Mostly they would be pregnant before they married, and had as many children possible. Contrary to Chesapeake, New England English settlers did not have any killer disease that devastated their society as did the Chesapeake region. Women of the New England settlers did not have to marry and bare children at a faster rate than their Chesapeake counter parts. Instead they were usually married in their twenties, and gave birth about every two years up until menopause. With big families and longer life expectancy rates, New England was very prosperous. It took the Chesapeake region many years to “catch up” to where New England had first started. However, the Chesapeake made up for this loss in population quickly, for they settled upon a very fertile land that was just right for tobacco cultivation. Tobacco was the big “money maker” of its time, it was in such demand that the Chesapeake settlers were in need of more people to help with the cultivation. Servants were perfect for the job, ...