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Pocahontas
For more than two centuries since the death of the Indian princess Pocahontas, legends and stories of romance have been imbedded into our minds, but her dramatic life was more important to the creation of a segment of American history than legend.
Around the year of 1595, Pocahontas was born to chief Powhatan, the powerful chief of a federation of Algonquian Indian tribes who lived in the tidewater region of Virginia (Sahlman). She was but one of the many children of Powhatan, who ruled more than 25 tribes. Her real name was Matoaka, a name used only within the tribe (Sahlman). Her tribe, the Powhatans, believed that harm would come to them if outsiders learned of their tribal name (Jamestown). Therefore, she went by Pocahontas, a nickname given to her meaning “little wanton” for she was a playful, frolicsome little girl (Sahlman).
The settlers believed it to mean “bright stream between two hills.”
The Powhatans were not savages, as John Smith would later claim in his The General History of Virginia. Instead, they were a ceremonious people who greeted important visitors in a formal manner with a large feast and festive dancing (Sahlman). Although they did occasionally put prisoners to death in a public ceremony, it was no more savage than the English customs of public disembowelment of thieves and the burning of women accused of being witches (Sahlman).
In May of 1607, English colonists arrived on the Virginia shoreline with hopes of great ric...
Breen, T. H., and Stephen Innes. Myne Owne Ground: Race and Freedom on Virginia 's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. 25th anniversary ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 142 pages (kindle edition).
Simon Van De Pasee was a young Dutch Artist who painted the famous painting of Pocahontas, the only painting of her when she was alive. Pasee portrayed Pocahontas as a aristocrat. He did not try to make her an Anglicize Pocahontas; she is still recognized as a Native American in his Painting. During this time Pocahontas was a daughter of a powerful Indian leader in the New World, whom married an Englishmen named John Rolfe and moved to England. Looking closely at the portrait, it seems as if Pocahontas appeared grave, her cheeks are sunken and her hand is skeletal. (Horwitz p 3) It seems as if Simon Va De Pasee wanted people to see Pocahontas before she became deathly ill, which with his painting he did give a brief history of her. Before Pocahontas met John Rolfe, Jamestown was going through a period of starving. Pocahontas would give the English food and warned them attacks her father was planning on the English. In 1614, Pocahontas would convert to Christianity, changed her name to Rebecca and have the...
The seventeenth century marked the start of great colonization and immigration to the New World that was North America. Mainly in on the eastern coast of what is now the United States, England established colonies on this new land to thrive socially and economically. The English government readily sent its citizens to America to exploit its abundant source of raw materials and the English people exponentially came to the colonies to start a new life for themselves and to thrive socially. In Virginia during the seventeenth century, the geographical attributes in this region allowed the establishment of the cash crop tobacco to rapidly transform the colony socially and economically. Particularly in the Chesapeake Bay, the goal of social and economical development was achieved.
In King James I’s The First Charter of Virginia; April 10, 1606, he wrote “And they shall and may begin their said first Plantation and Habitation, at any Place upon the said-Coast of Virginia or America, where they shall think fit and convenient” “And shall and may inhabit and remain there.” He guaranteed the soon-to-be
Virginia in 1676 was a colony in turmoil. For a number of years the popularity of Governor Sir William Berkeley had suffered, especially among smaller farmers and those living on the edge of the frontier. Issues of complaint included land ownership, requirements on voting rights, high taxes, low tobacco prices, restrictive Navigation Acts, and, most importantly, lack of protection from attacks waged by Native Americans. Berkeley’s attempts to negotiate peace with the Native Americans caused him to avoid confronting violations of treaty obligations for fear of making the situation worse. As a result, as a greater percentage of the white population began to infiltrate Indian lands, more and more Virginians, especially unemployed colonists who had formerly been indent...
Summary: This book starts well before Roanoke was founded. It detailed how, at the time, England was not a superpower. Spain and France were the most dominant of the European countries, but internal conflicts in France made it weak, while Spain was getting extremely wealthy off of Indians and the Aztecs. England saw this as an opportunity to expand into the New World, and had Walter Raleigh head the trip. The main goals of the colony were to expanding their efforts of privateering, with a sustainable colony as an after thought. It was initial devised as a way to intercept merchant ships more effectively from other countries (mainly Spain) and be a short-term base of operations. Most if not all of the men brought over had only military experience, so they struggled with building proper housing, getting clean water, and growing crops. Ultimately, conflict erupted when the Indians grew weary of giving such a large amount of supplies to the colonists, and many high ranking officials died on the Indian side. The settlement was abandoned due to lack of supplies. After this unsuccessful attempt, John White lead another group intended to be a permanent settlement to Roanoke, and the prototype of plantations he u...
Stick, David. Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1983. Print.
but goes by Pocahontas which means, playful one. Her father, Wahunsunacock also known as Powhatan sent Pocahontas and her mother to her village so she can take care of her.
When the English colonists arrived in 1607, Powhatan indians were living in the Virginia area that the colonists wanted to settle. The Powhatan indians had a population of about 14,000 and organized themselves in about 32 tribes. They were very adapted to their area, and had very valuable skills like farming and fishing. Unlike the powhatans, the colonists had no skills and had a hard time adapting. Powhatans shared their skills and taught them how to survive.
Powhatan was a powerful chief who had many wives, of them he had a favorite daughter named Matoaka which means the playful one. She was born around 1595 into the Algonkian Tribe as a princess. The name Matoaka could only be used within her own clan, so that is where then name Pocahontas came from, which means mischievous. Powhatan was in control of many tribes which gave his children a somewhat easy lifestyle. Pocahontas was a curious person with an interest in the English language, and would visit the colonist often. During this time Pocahontas met and befriended John Smith, they would teach each other their language and customs. Pocahontas saw how the colonist were suffering with low food supplies and urged her people to help them. Powhatan
Correspondingly, Allen’s argument that Pocahontas’s contributions were overlooked can be backed up by many other writings by knowledgeable scholars. One of those writings is “Living with Europeans” by Daniel Richter. In it he states “...writings of at least fourteen seventeenth-century English chroniclers… their works reveal that Pocahontas was a nickname…”(Richter 307). This demonstrates just how much she was overlooked; they gave her a nickname instead of calling her by her birth name. By doing this they showed just how much they didn’t respect her. Moreover, it ties into “saying I was a simple wanton, a savage maid” (Allen 322) in Allen’s poem. Coupled together with “Letter to Queen Anne of Great Britain” by Captain John Smith, Allen’s argument is backed up even further. In it, John writes all about how Pocahontas saved his life and occasionally helped feed the Europeans. This is a major understatement. In Allen’s poem she said “And indeed I did rescue you- not once but a thousand times… you slept, a foolish child” (Allen 322). Pocahontas saved both his and his men’s lives, and was their saving grace. Given that she taught them how to tend the land and grow tobacco; without her they would have
Pocahontas was born in 1597 to Powhatan and her mother. When she was born, she was given the names Amounte, but this was a name only her mother and father knew. As she grew older, she was more of a, “mischievous, little playful person” (14) which is why they started calling her Pocahontas. In the book, Pocahontas tells people that her real name is Makoaka the day that she gets married. Townsend says that Pocahontas most likely helped her mother with the children, and also helped the women of the tribe picking
While this makes a wonderful opening for a movie – we view a great scene of the English working hard to establish a settlement – it is not how they met at all. In his book Pocahontas and Her World, Philip L. Barbour offers a more accurate account of the two’s first meeting. He explains that John Smith was the one who was adventuring, not Pocahontas (as Disney depicts). He says that "on or about December 29, 1607" , Smith was led into the chief’s hut as a "prisoner" by Indian braves.
When Pocahontas was about ten year old, the English colonists came to her area. She lived in Werowocomoco with her father, the Powhatan chief. In the Powhatan tribe, there was a clear division of children. Children were allowed to be barefoot and naked, and the adults were expected to be proper. The Powhatan nation was also a mix of six tribes; they had alliance with other tribes to keep each other safe. When the English arrived, the Powhatans attempted to build an alliance with them as well. Powhatan people were extremely kind to the English, and they supported them throughout the winter with food and such. The reason for their attempt of an alliance was because the Powhatans deeply disliked the Spanish. While
Pocahontas was a “ shadow of the forest” made into something larger by the ethnocentric imaginations of European culture. They created this woman to portray an idealistic native, a peacemaker between the two civilizations of European settlers and Indians, and a light for the future of Caucasian influence in the new world. There are stories that are truthful and reflect the welcoming of Natives, however there was not just one woman who created peace between the Indian civilization and Europeans. The English created Pocahontas to promote settlement in the New World. Every Native who aided the English settlers were nothing more than shadows of the forest, but together they all impacted the future of the New World. Without the creation of Pocahontas,