On May 13, 1607, about 100 English men and boys arrived at a swampy peninsula in what is now Virginia. They named their settlement Jamestown after King James I. The spot seemed like a good choice because ships could dock close to shore and the water channel made it easy to defend. But the settlers had made a serious mistake. The swampy ground bred mosquitoes that carried disease. The nearby river water was too salty to drink safely. Worst of all, many of the settlers were gentlemen who had never farmed, hunted, or built anything with their hands. They expected to find gold and get rich quickly. Instead, they found wilderness. During the first winter, more than half the settlers died from disease and starvation. Captain John Smith took charge and created a rule: "He who does not work shall not eat." The nearby Powhatan people, led by Chief Wahunsenacah, traded corn and taught the settlers how to grow crops. Without this help, survival would have been impossible. Jamestown eventually succeeded when the settlers began growing tobacco, a crop that Europeans were willing to pay high prices for. The colony became profitable, but at an enormous human cost.