Final answer:
The event resulting in Jamestown's devastation and socio-economic changes was the Starving Time, not the Salem Witch Trials. This period was marked by severe struggles, and the survivors' dependency on trade with the natives and the eventual adoption of tobacco farming led to significant shifts in labor practices, including the move towards race-based enslavement.
Step-by-step explanation:
The event that led to Jamestown being burned to the ground, the decline of indentured servants, and the start of race-based enslavement was not the Salem Witch Trials. It was the Starving Time and subsequent events in Jamestown that collectively contributed to these outcomes. During the Starving Time in the winter of 1609-1610, the Jamestown settlers faced extreme hardship due to bad weather, starvation, disease, and conflicts with the local Powhatan tribe. The situation was dire, with a vast majority of the colonists perishing and the colony verging on complete failure.
It was after this period that the fortunes of the colony slightly improved, partly due to the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop and the arrival of a Dutch ship in 1619 carrying slaves from Angola. Initially, these Africans were treated as indentured servants but would ultimately become a part of the transition towards race-based enslavement. Jamestown's reliance on tobacco cultivation eventually necessitated a labor force that could not be met by indentured servitude alone, paving the way for the institution of slavery to become entrenched in the colony.