Pocahontas

Pocahontas (c. 1595-21 March, 1617)[[image:Pocahontas1.png width="306" height="350" align="right" caption="Pocahontas (www.wikipedia.com)" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas"]]
Pocahontas is believed to have been born sometime around 1595, somewhere in the Tidewater regions of Virginia. She was influential in assisting the colonies and strengthening ties between the Indians and the Colonies. She was the daughter of Wahunsunacawh (also known as Chief Powhatan), a primary ruler of the Powhatan confederacy (a collection tribes, numbering about 14,000-21,000 people). Although she is known as Pocahontas, that was not her formal name. Her formal names were Mataoka and Amonute. Pocahontas was just a childhood nickname. In the Powhatan language, it meant "little wanton". When the colonial settlers began arriving in Virginia in 1607, Pocahontas was between 12 and 14 years of age. During this time, the colonist, Captain John Smith was captured by Powhatan hunters and brought to Werowocomoco (a Powhatan village). According to Captain Smith, he was about to be killed when Pocahontas rushed in and saved him. John Smith did not recount this experience until almost 10 years later, after he had returned to England, in a letter to Queen Anne, urging her to treat Pocahontas with dignity. Pocahontas befriended John Smith and the Jamestown Colony. In 1609, John Smith was burned in a gun powder accident and was sent to England for medical help. The settlers told the natives that he had died. According to historians, Pocahontas married a warrior name Kocoum sometime around 1612. In March of 1613, Pocahontas was living in Passapatanzy, a village of the Patawomecks (another tribe which did some trading with the Powhatans), under the care of the chief, Japazaws. Two English settlers who were trading with the tribe discovered Pocahontas and with the help of Japazaws, lured Pocahontas onto their ship and kidnapped her, to be held as ransom for English prisoners, weapons, and food. Powhatan sent part of the ransom after some time and asked that his daughter be treated well. During the year-long standoff between the Indians and the English, Pocahontas lived at Henricus (modern-day Chesterfield County, Virginia) where she was taught about Christianity by a minister, Alexander Whitaker. He also helped her to improve her English. She was baptized and renamed Rebecca. Perhaps it was during this time that she met the wealthy tobacco farmer, John Rolfe. The two fell in love and after much deliberation on Rolfe's part, were married with the blessing of both her father and the Virginia Governor, Sir Thomas Dale. Their marriage created a sense of peace and goodwill between the English and the Indians, such as not had been experience since John Smith. The couple's first and only child, Thomas, was born on Varina Farms (Rolfe's tobacco farm). In 1616, when Sir Thomas Dale traveled to England in order to obtain more financial support, he brought the Rolfe's and several other natives to create interest in the Virginia colony. Pocahontas was received as visiting royalty. It was in London that she met with John Smith again after years of absence, and learned that he was not dead as the English settlers had said. According to John Smith, she was too overcome with emotions to speak to him at first sight. After seven months in England, the Rolfe's decided to return to the colony, and set sail in March 1617. It was soon apparent that she would not survive the journey. She was taken ashore, where she died at the age of 22. The cause is believed to be pneumonia or tuberculosis. She is buried in the cemetery at in Gravesend, England.