83-567: John Rolfe ( c. 1585 – March 1622) was an English explorer, farmer and merchant. He is best known for being the husband of Pocahontas and the first settler in the colony of Virginia to successfully cultivate a tobacco crop for export. He played a crucial role in the Virginia Colony's early economy by introducing a sweeter strain of tobacco from Trinidad , which became a profitable cash crop. Rolfe married Pocahontas, daughter of Native American leader Powhatan , and they had
166-527: A Patuxet man from New England . Pocahontas became a celebrity, was elegantly fêted, and attended a masque at Whitehall Palace . In 1617, the Rolfes intended to sail for Virginia, but Pocahontas died at Gravesend , Kent , England, of unknown causes, aged 20 or 21. She was buried in St George's Church , Gravesend; her grave's exact location is unknown because the church was rebuilt after being destroyed by
249-562: A fire. Numerous places, landmarks, and products in the United States have been named after Pocahontas. Her story has been romanticized over the years, many aspects of which are fictional. Many of the stories told about her by the English explorer John Smith have been contested by her documented descendants. She is a subject of art, literature, and film. Many famous people have claimed to be among her descendants, including members of
332-527: A holy man named Tomocomo . John Smith was living in London at the time while Pocahontas was in Plymouth, and she learned that he was still alive. Smith did not meet Pocahontas, but he wrote to Queen Anne urging that Pocahontas be treated with respect as a royal visitor. He suggested that, if she were treated badly, her "present love to us and Christianity might turn to... scorn and fury", and England might lose
415-471: A long letter to the governor requesting permission to wed her, he expressed his love for Pocahontas and his belief that he would be saving her soul. He wrote that he was: motivated not by the unbridled desire of carnal affection, but for the good of this plantation, for the honor of our country, for the Glory of God, for my own salvation... namely Pocahontas, to whom my hearty and best thoughts are, and have been
498-703: A long time so entangled, and enthralled in so intricate a labyrinth that I was even a-wearied to unwind myself thereout. The couple were married on April 5, 1614, by chaplain Richard Buck , probably at Jamestown. For two years they lived at Varina Farms, across the James River from Henricus. Their son, Thomas , was born in January 1615. The marriage created a climate of peace between the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan's tribes; it endured for eight years as
581-572: A relief fleet in July ;1610, commanded by Lord Delaware , enabled the colony to survive and avoided the abandonment of Jamestown. Somers returned to Bermuda in the Patience to collect more food (such as feral hogs), but he became ill on the journey. He died in Bermuda on November 9, 1610, at age 56. It is likely that George Somers died from exhaustion or an overexertion-related illness. It
664-646: A ship to return to Virginia, but they had sailed only as far as Gravesend on the River Thames when Pocahontas became gravely ill. She was taken ashore, where she died from unknown causes, aged approximately 21 and "much lamented". According to Rolfe, she declared that "all must die"; for her, it was enough that her child lived. Speculated causes of her death include pneumonia , smallpox , tuberculosis , hemorrhagic dysentery ("the Bloody flux") and poisoning. Pocahontas's funeral took place on March 21, 1617, in
747-530: A son named Thomas. Rolfe and Pocahontas traveled to England in 1616 to promote colonization and investment in Virginia. After Pocahontas died, Rolfe returned to Virginia and continued working with tobacco. The tobacco strain cultivated by Rolfe laid the foundation for Virginia's thriving tobacco industry. The birthplace of John Rolfe, born c. 1585, remains unproven. At that time, the Spanish Empire held
830-497: A son, John Bolling , in 1676. Jane Rolfe died shortly after giving birth. John Bolling married Mary Kennon, daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham of Conjurer's Neck. The couple had six surviving children, each of whom married and had surviving children. Pocahontas Pocahontas ( US : / ˌ p oʊ k ə ˈ h ɒ n t ə s / , UK : / ˌ p ɒ k -/ ; born Amonute , also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe ; c. 1596 – March 1617)
913-518: A son, Thomas Rolfe , born in January 1615. Thomas and his wife, Jane Poythress, had a daughter, Jane Rolfe , who was born in Varina, in present-day Henrico County, Virginia , on October 10, 1650. Jane married Robert Bolling of present-day Prince George County, Virginia . Their son, John Bolling , was born in 1676. John Bolling married Mary Kennon and had six surviving children, each of whom married and had surviving children. In 1907, Pocahontas
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#1732773156670996-568: A three-day-long storm, thought to have been a severe hurricane. The ships of the fleet became separated. The Sea Venture was taking on water faster than it could be bailed. The Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers , took the helm and the ship was deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda to prevent its foundering. All aboard, 150 passengers and crew, and one dog, survived. Most remained for ten months in Bermuda, (also known as The Somers Isles), while they built two small ships to continue
1079-472: A total of 500–600 colonists bound for Jamestown. On 25 July, the fleet ran into a strong storm, probably a hurricane , and the ships were separated. The Sea Venture fought the storm for three days. Comparably-sized ships had survived such weather, but the Sea Venture had a critical flaw; she had recently been constructed and her timbers had not set. The caulking was forced from between them, and
1162-462: A violent confrontation between hundreds of colonists and Powhatan men on the Pamunkey River , and the colonists encountered a group of senior Native leaders at Powhatan's capital of Matchcot. The colonists allowed Pocahontas to talk to her tribe when Powhatan arrived, and she reportedly rebuked him for valuing her "less than old swords, pieces, or axes". She said that she preferred to live with
1245-594: A virtual monopoly on the lucrative tobacco trade. Most Spanish colonies in the Americas were located in South America and the West Indies , which were more favorable to tobacco growth than their English counterparts (founded in the early 17th century, notably Jamestown in 1607). As the consumption of tobacco had increased, the balance of trade between England and Spain began to be seriously affected. Rolfe
1328-492: A well-set countenance": Were you not afraid to come into my father's country and caused fear in him and all his people (but me) and fear you here I should call you "father"? I tell you then I will, and you shall call me child, and so I will be for ever and ever your countryman. Finally, Pocahontas told Smith that she and her tribe had thought him dead, but her father had told Tomocomo to seek him "because your countrymen will lie much". In March 1617, Rolfe and Pocahontas boarded
1411-486: Is fragmentary and enigmatic. She reminded him of the "courtesies she had done," saying, "you did promise Powhatan what was yours would be his, and he the like to you." She then discomfited him by calling him "father," explaining that Smith had called Powhatan "father" when he was a stranger in Virginia, "and by the same reason so must I do you". Smith did not accept this form of address because, he wrote, Pocahontas outranked him as "a King's daughter". Pocahontas then said, "with
1494-453: The Disney tradition of familiar animals. In so doing, they are rendered as cartoons, certainly less realistic than Pocahontas and John Smith; In this way, Indians remain marginal and invisible, thereby ironically being 'strangers in their own lands' – the shadow Indians. They fight desperately on the silver screen in defense of their asserted rights, but die trying to kill the white hero or save
1577-508: The First Families of Virginia , First Lady Edith Wilson , American actor Glenn Strange , and astronomer Percival Lowell . Pocahontas's birth year is unknown, but some historians estimate it to have been around 1596. In A True Relation of Virginia (1608), the English explorer John Smith described meeting Pocahontas in the spring of 1608 when she was "a child of ten years old". In a 1616 letter, Smith again described her as she
1660-654: The Flibcote , in company of three other vessels during the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War , on a raid to Spain; he brought home Spanish prizes worth more than £8,000. Somers then joined up with another seaman Amyas Preston who had fought against the Spanish Armada . Both agreed to take part in Walter Raleigh 's El Dorado expedition to Trinidad and Guiana in 1595 in search of the mythical city of gold, as well as to commit to amphibious descents throughout
1743-615: The Potomac River and were not always loyal to Powhatan, and living with them was Henry Spelman, a young English interpreter. In March 1613, Argall learned that Pocahontas was visiting the Patawomeck village of Passapatanzy and living under the protection of the weroance Iopassus (also known as Japazaws). With Spelman's help translating, Argall pressured Iopassus to assist in Pocahontas' capture by promising an alliance with
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#17327731566701826-577: The Powhatan people as an interpreter, and he noted that, when one of the paramount chief's many wives gave birth, she was returned to her place of origin and supported there by the paramount chief until she found another husband. However, little is known about Pocahontas's mother, and it has been theorized that she died in childbirth. The Mattaponi Reservation people are descendants of the Powhatans, and their oral tradition claims that Pocahontas's mother
1909-530: The Starving Time . Very few supplies from the Third Supply had arrived because the same hurricane that caught the Sea Venture badly affected the rest of the fleet. Only 60 settlers remained alive. It was only through the arrival of the two small ships from Bermuda, and the arrival of another relief fleet commanded by Lord De La Warr on 10 June 1610, that the abandonment of Jamestown was avoided and
1992-575: The "Peace of Pocahontas". In 1615, Ralph Hamor wrote, "Since the wedding we have had friendly commerce and trade not only with Powhatan but also with his subjects round about us." The marriage was controversial in the British court at the time because "a commoner" had "the audacity" to marry a "princess". One goal of the London Company was to convert Native Americans to Christianity, and they saw an opportunity to promote further investment with
2075-651: The 1580s up the Orinoco River in Guiana in search of the legendary City of Gold, El Dorado . The appeal of Orinoco tobacco was in its nicotine , and the conviviality of its use in social situations. In 1612, Rolfe established Varina Farms , a plantation along the James River about 30 miles (50 km) upstream from Jamestown and across the river from Sir Thomas Dale 's progressive development at Henricus . The first harvest of four barrels of tobacco leaf
2158-486: The Colony at Bermuda dates its settlement from 1609. Among those left buried in Bermuda were Bermuda Rolfe, the daughter of John. In May 1610, the two newly constructed ships set sail from Bermuda, with 142 castaways on board, including Rolfe, George Somers , Stephen Hopkins , and Sir Thomas Gates . On arrival at Jamestown, they found the Virginia Colony almost destroyed by famine and disease during what has become known as
2241-523: The English were so impressed, however. Helen C. Rountree claims that there is no contemporaneous evidence to suggest that Pocahontas was regarded in England "as anything like royalty," despite the writings of John Smith. Rather, she was considered to be something of a curiosity, according to Rountree, who suggests that she was merely "the Virginian woman" to most Englishmen. Pocahontas and Rolfe lived in
2324-586: The Indian woman.’" Films about Pocahontas include: George Somers Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London . He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston that plundered Caracas and Santa Ana de Coro in 1595, during
2407-465: The Kings dearest daughter, when no intreaty could prevaile, got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death." Karen Ordahl Kupperman suggests that Smith used such details to embroider his first account, thus producing a more dramatic second account of his encounter with Pocahontas as a heroine worthy of Queen Anne's audience. She argues that its later revision and publication
2490-481: The Powhatan Empire of Virginia". Many English at this time recognized Powhatan as the ruler of an empire, and presumably accorded to his daughter what they considered appropriate status. Smith's letter to Queen Anne refers to "Powhatan their chief King". Cleric and travel writer Samuel Purchas recalled meeting Pocahontas in London, noting that she impressed those whom she met because she "carried her selfe as
2573-602: The Spanish Main with them. However, after failing to meet, the Somers Expedition went on their own venture along the coast of the Spanish Province of Venezuela and captured the fort at La Guaira before they headed South inland. After making an arduous trek through the mountains of pico Naiguata the English led by Preston and Somers were able to outmanoeuvre the waiting Spanish force and captured
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2656-420: The absence of certain corroborating evidence. Early histories did establish that Pocahontas befriended Smith and the colonists. She often went to the settlement and played games with the boys there. When the colonists were starving, "every once in four or five days, Pocahontas with her attendants brought [Smith] so much provision that saved many of their lives that else for all this had starved with hunger." As
2739-485: The chance to "rightly have a Kingdom by her means". Pocahontas was entertained at various social gatherings. On January 5, 1617, she and Tomocomo were brought before King James at the old Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall at a performance of Ben Jonson 's masque The Vision of Delight . According to Smith, the king was so unprepossessing that neither Pocahontas nor Tomocomo realized whom they had met until it
2822-632: The colonial city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas . After the failure of a ransom they plundered and torched the city and then went to capture Santa Ana de Coro before they made a brief excursion to the Spanish West Indies . Despite the challenges they faced the expedition was a success for the English who were able to return unmolested with some profit having set out as only a supporting expedition. Between 1600 and 1602, Somers commanded several English ships, including HMS Vanguard , HMS Swiftsure and HMS Warspite . He
2905-505: The colonists "only after she had taken another religious – baptismal – name" of Rebecca. Pocahontas is frequently viewed as a princess in popular culture. In 1841, William Watson Waldron of Trinity College, Dublin , published Pocahontas, American Princess: and Other Poems , calling her "the beloved and only surviving daughter of the king". She was her father's "delight and darling", according to colonist Captain Ralph Hamor , but she
2988-565: The colonists "who loved her". Mattaponi tradition holds that Pocahontas' first husband was Kocoum, brother of the Patawomeck weroance Japazaws, and that Kocoum was killed by the colonists after his wife's capture in 1613. Today's Patawomecks believe that Pocahontas and Kocoum had a daughter named Ka-Okee who was raised by the Patawomecks after her father's death and her mother's abduction. Kocoum's identity, location, and very existence have been widely debated among scholars for centuries;
3071-425: The colonists against the Powhatans. Iopassus, with the help of his wives, tricked Pocahontas into boarding Argall's ship and held her for ransom , demanding the release of colonial prisoners held by her father and the return of various stolen weapons and tools. Powhatan returned the prisoners but failed to satisfy the colonists with the number of weapons and tools that he returned. A long standoff ensued, during which
3154-478: The colonists expanded their settlement, the Powhatans felt that their lands were threatened, and conflicts arose again. In late 1609, an injury from a gunpowder explosion forced Smith to return to England for medical care and the colonists told the Powhatans that he was dead. Pocahontas believed that account and stopped visiting Jamestown but learned that Smith was living in England when she traveled there with her husband John Rolfe . Pocahontas' capture occurred in
3237-578: The colonists kept Pocahontas captive. During the year-long wait, Pocahontas was held at the English settlement of Henricus in present-day Chesterfield County, Virginia . Little is known about her life there, although colonist Ralph Hamor wrote that she received "extraordinary courteous usage". Linwood "Little Bear" Custalow refers to an oral tradition which claims that Pocahontas was raped ; Helen Rountree counters that "other historians have disputed that such oral tradition survived and instead argue that any mistreatment of Pocahontas would have gone against
3320-549: The colony survived. After finally settling in Rolfe began his long-delayed work with tobacco. In competing with Spain for European markets, there was another problem beside the warmer climates the Spanish settlements enjoyed. The native tobacco from Virginia ( Nicotiana rustica ) was not liked by the English settlers, nor did it appeal to the market in England. However, Rolfe wanted to introduce sweeter strains from Trinidad , using
3403-610: The context of the First Anglo-Powhatan War , a conflict between the Jamestown settlers and the Natives which began late in the summer of 1609. In the first years of war, the colonists took control of the James River, both at its mouth and at the falls. In the meantime, Captain Samuel Argall pursued contacts with Native tribes in the northern portion of Powhatan's paramount chiefdom. The Patawomecks lived on
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3486-488: The conversion of Pocahontas and her marriage to Rolfe, all of which also helped end the First Anglo-Powhatan War. The company decided to bring Pocahontas to England as a symbol of the tamed New World "savage" and the success of the Virginia colony, and the Rolfes arrived at the port of Plymouth on June 12, 1616. The family journeyed to London by coach, accompanied by eleven other Powhatans including
3569-419: The daughter of a king". When he met her again in London, Smith referred to her deferentially as a "King's daughter". Pocahontas was apparently treated well in London. At the masque, her seats were described as "well placed" and, according to Purchas, London's Bishop John King "entertained her with festival state and pomp beyond what I have seen in his greate hospitalitie afforded to other ladies". Not all
3652-755: The deputy governor of the colony, Sir Thomas Dale , and 12 members of Pocahontas' tribe, including her brother-in-law Uttamatomakkin . They sailed aboard the Treasurer , commanded by Captain Samuel Argall , and arrived in England in June 1616. They helped promote the colony and investment in the Virginia Company increased. During their visit, John Rolfe wrote "A True Relation of the State of Virginia Lefte by Sir Thomas Dale Knight in May Last 1616" The manuscript
3735-681: The eldest sister, then to the rest: and after them to the heires male and female of the eldest sister; but never to the heires of the males. Pocahontas is most famously linked to colonist John Smith, who arrived in Virginia with 100 other settlers in April 1607. The colonists built a fort on a marshy peninsula on the James River , and had numerous encounters over the next several months with the people of Tsenacommacah – some of them friendly, some hostile. A hunting party led by Powhatan's close relative Opechancanough captured Smith in December 1607 while he
3818-471: The fort over". Historian William Stith claimed that "her real name, it seems, was originally Matoax, which the Native Americans carefully concealed from the English and changed it to Pocahontas, out of a superstitious fear, lest they, by the knowledge of her true name, should be enabled to do her some hurt." According to anthropologist Helen C. Rountree, Pocahontas revealed her secret name to
3901-540: The hard-to-obtain Spanish seeds he brought with him. In 1611, he was the first to commercially cultivate Nicotiana tabacum tobacco plants in North America; export of this sweeter tobacco beginning in 1612 helped turn the Virginia Colony into a profitable venture. He named his Virginia-grown strain of the tobacco "Orinoco", possibly in honour of tobacco popularizer Sir Walter Raleigh 's expeditions in
3984-517: The interests of the English in their negotiations with Powhatan. A truce had been called, the Indians still far outnumbered the English, and the colonists feared retaliation." At this time, Henricus minister Alexander Whitaker taught Pocahontas about Christianity and helped her improve her English. Upon her baptism, she took the Christian name "Rebecca." In March 1614, the stand-off escalated to
4067-589: The only mention of a "Kocoum" in any English document is a brief statement written about 1616 by William Strachey that Pocahontas had been living married to a "private captaine called Kocoum" for two years. Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614, and no other records even hint at any previous husband, so some have suggested that Strachey was mistakenly referring to Rolfe himself, with the reference being later misunderstood as one of Powhatan's officers. During her stay at Henricus, Pocahontas met John Rolfe . Rolfe's English-born wife Sarah Hacker and child Bermuda had died on
4150-411: The others had died in the storm, which had battered the relief fleet and damaged its supplies. Somers and his company remained in Bermuda for 10 months, living on food they could gather on the island and fish from the sea. Some commentators believe that this incident inspired William Shakespeare 's play The Tempest . During their time on the islands, the crew and passengers built a church and houses,
4233-519: The parish of St George's Church, Gravesend . Her grave is thought to be underneath the church's chancel , though that church was destroyed in a fire in 1727 and its exact site is unknown. Since 1958 she has been commemorated by a life-sized bronze statue in St. George's churchyard, a replica of the 1907 Jamestown sculpture by the American sculptor William Ordway Partridge . Pocahontas and John Rolfe had
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#17327731566704316-470: The settlement, they found it nearly destroyed by famine and disease of what has been called the Starving Time . Few of the supplies from the Supply Relief Fleet had arrived (the same tropical storm which caught the Sea Venture had damaged some of the rest of the fleet), and only 60 settlers survived. Only the food and help offered by those on the two small ships from Bermuda, followed by
4399-410: The ship began to leak rapidly. All hands were applied to bailing, but the water continued to rise in the hold. The ship's guns were reportedly jettisoned—though two were salvaged from the wreck in 1612, to arm Bermuda's first fort—to raise her buoyancy, but this only delayed the inevitable. Sir George Somers was at the helm through the storm. When the piloting Somers spied land on the morning of 28 July,
4482-653: The shipwreck of the Sea Venture along with John in 1609. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1620, who married John Milner of Nansemond, Virginia , and died in 1635. Rolfe died in 1622. He may have died in the Indian massacre of 1622 , but the evidence is uncertain. His widow Jane later married English Captain Roger Smith. The land given by Powhatan (now known as Smith's Fort Plantation, located in Surry County )
4565-464: The start of the Bermuda colony. Somers and Sir Thomas Gates oversaw the construction of two small ships, the Deliverance and the Patience. They were built from local timber ( Bermuda Cedar ) and the salvaged spars and rigging of the wrecked Sea Venture. In May 1610, the ships set sail for Jamestown, with the surviving 142 castaways on board taking food from the island. When they reached
4648-407: The suburb of Brentford , Middlesex , for some time, as well as at Rolfe's family home at Heacham , Norfolk . In early 1617, Smith met the couple at a social gathering and wrote that, when Pocahontas saw him, "without any words, she turned about, obscured her face, as not seeming well contented," and was left alone for two or three hours. Later, they spoke more; Smith's record of what she said to him
4731-502: The town of Capahosic, which was close to his capital at Werowocomoco, as he hoped to keep Smith and his men "nearby and better under control". In 1616, Smith wrote a letter to Queen Anne of Denmark , the wife of King James , in anticipation of Pocahontas' visit to England. In this new account, his capture included the threat of his own death: "at the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save mine; and not only that but so prevailed with her father, that I
4814-574: The undeclared Anglo-Spanish War . He is remembered today as the founder of the English colony of Bermuda , also known as the Somers Isles. Somers was born in Lyme Regis , Dorset , in 1554, the son of John Somers and his wife. From a young age he became a skilled and well-known seaman and owned at least one ship, the Julian , whose home port was Lyme Regis. Somers' first venture in command of
4897-438: The voyage to Jamestown. A number of passengers and crew, however, did not complete this journey. Some had died or been killed, lost at sea (the Sea Venture's long boat had been fitted with a sail, and several men sent to take word to Jamestown, and they were never heard from again), or left behind to maintain England's claim to Bermuda. Because of this, although the Virginia Company's charter was not extended to Bermuda until 1612,
4980-422: The water in the ship's hold had risen to 9 feet (2.7 m), and crew and passengers had been driven past the point of exhaustion. Somers (either deliberately or accidentally) drove the ship onto the reefs in order to prevent the Sea Venture foundering. This allowed all hands (150 people and a dog aboard) to reach shore safely using boats. Those in the flotilla who continued on to Virginia presumed that Somers and
5063-468: The way to Virginia after the wreck of the ship Sea Venture on the Summer Isles, now known as Bermuda . He established the Virginia plantation Varina Farms , where he cultivated a new strain of tobacco . Rolfe was a pious man and agonized over the potential moral repercussions of marrying a heathen, though in fact Pocahontas had accepted the Christian faith and taken the baptismal name Rebecca. In
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#17327731566705146-476: Was Smith's attempt to raise his own stock and reputation, as he had fallen from favor with the London Company which had funded the Jamestown enterprise. Anthropologist Frederic W. Gleach suggests that Smith's second account was substantially accurate but represents his misunderstanding of a three-stage ritual intended to adopt him into the confederacy, but not all writers are convinced, some suggesting
5229-588: Was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people , notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown , Virginia . She was the daughter of Powhatan , the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribes in the Tsenacommacah , encompassing the Tidewater region of what is today the U.S. state of Virginia . Pocahontas was captured and held for ransom by English colonists during hostilities in 1613. During her captivity, she
5312-422: Was baptized by Alexander Whitaker and chose "Rebecca" as her new baptismal name. Richard Buck officiated their wedding. Their son, Thomas Rolfe , was born in January 1615. John Rolfe and Pocahontas continued cultivating tobacco with success. In 1616 they were sent to England as guests of the Virginia Company to promote colonization and investment in Virginia. They were accompanied by baby Thomas as well as by
5395-711: Was dispatched in 1609, carrying hundreds of new settlers and supplies across the Atlantic . Heading the Third Supply fleet was the new flagship of the Virginia Company , the Sea Venture , carrying Rolfe and his wife, Sarah. The Third Supply fleet left England in May 1609 destined for Jamestown with seven large ships, towing two smaller pinnaces . In the southern region of the North Atlantic, they encountered
5478-462: Was encouraged to convert to Christianity and was baptized under the name Rebecca . She married the tobacco planter John Rolfe in April 1614 at the age of about 17 or 18, and she bore their son, Thomas Rolfe , in January 1615. In 1616, the Rolfes travelled to London , where Pocahontas was presented to English society as an example of the " civilized savage " in hopes of stimulating investment in Jamestown. On this trip she may have met Squanto ,
5561-475: Was explained to them afterward. Pocahontas was not a princess in Powhatan culture, but the London Company presented her as one to the English public because she was the daughter of an important chief. The inscription on a 1616 engraving of Pocahontas reads "MATOAKA ALS REBECCA FILIA POTENTISS : PRINC : POWHATANI IMP:VIRGINIÆ" , meaning "Matoaka, alias Rebecca, daughter of the most powerful prince of
5644-509: Was exploring on the Chickahominy River and brought him to Powhatan's capital at Werowocomoco . In his 1608 account, Smith describes a great feast followed by a long talk with Powhatan. He does not mention Pocahontas in relation to his capture, and claims that they first met some months later. Margaret Huber suggests that Powhatan was attempting to bring Smith and the other colonists under his own authority. He offered Smith rule of
5727-481: Was exported from Virginia to England in March 1614. Soon afterwards, Rolfe and others were exporting vast quantities of the new cash crop. New plantations began growing along the James River , where export shipments could use wharves along the river. Rolfe married Pocahontas , daughter of the local Native American leader Powhatan , on 5 April 1614. Earlier that same year, Pocahontas chose to convert to Christianity; she
5810-443: Was in 1608, but this time as "a child of twelve or thirteen years of age". Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan , paramount chief of Tsenacommacah , an alliance of about thirty Algonquian-speaking groups and petty chiefdoms in the Tidewater region of the present-day U.S. state of Virginia . Her mother's name and origin are unknown, but she was probably of lowly status. English adventurer Henry Spelman had lived among
5893-625: Was in John Davis' Travels in the United States of America (1803). Rayna Green has discussed the similar fetishization that Native and Asian women experience. Both groups are viewed as "exotic" and "submissive," which aids their dehumanization. Also, Green touches on how Native women had to either "keep their exotic distance or die," which is associated with the widespread image of Pocahontas trying to sacrifice her life for John Smith. Cornel Pewewardy writes, "In Pocahontas, Indian characters such as Grandmother Willow, Meeko, and Flit belong to
5976-600: Was knighted in 1603, and became Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis in March ;1604. In 1609, Somers was appointed as admiral of the Virginia Company 's Third Supply relief fleet, organized to provide relief to the Jamestown colony settled in North America two years before. On 2 June 1609, he set sail from Plymouth on the Sea Venture , the flagship of the seven-ship fleet, (towing two additional pinnaces ) destined for Jamestown, Virginia. The fleet carried
6059-581: Was not in line to inherit a position as a weroance , sub-chief, or mamanatowick (paramount chief). Instead, Powhatan's brothers and sisters and his sisters' children all stood in line to succeed him. In his A Map of Virginia , John Smith explained how matrilineal inheritance worked among the Powhatans: His kingdom descendeth not to his sonnes nor children: but first to his brethren, whereof he hath three namely Opitchapan, Opechanncanough, and Catataugh; and after their decease to his sisters. First to
6142-469: Was one of a number of businessmen who saw the opportunity to undercut Spanish imports by growing tobacco in England's new colony in Virginia. He had somehow obtained seeds to take with him from a special popular strain, then being grown in Trinidad , South America, even though Spain had declared a penalty of death to anyone selling such seeds to a non-Spaniard. At one point in time it was believed that John
6225-460: Was published in 1617 and further touted the viability of the colony in Virginia. After nine months in England, the party prepared to return to Virginia but was delayed by bad weather. Finally setting sail in March 1617, the party had to make port in Gravesend because Pocahontas was gravely ill. Pocahontas died and was buried at St George's Church, Gravesend on 21 March 1617. Their small son Thomas
6308-433: Was safely conducted to Jamestown." He expanded on this in his 1624 Generall Historie , published seven years after the death of Pocahontas. He explained that he was captured and taken to the paramount chief where "two great stones were brought before Powhatan: then as many as could layd hands on him [Smith], dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs, to beate out his braines, Pocahontas
6391-528: Was sent to England and in 1618 an additional 40,000 pounds were sent. Rolfe's letters to England in 1620 include the earliest mention of the first arrival of enslaved Africans to Virginia, who were brought by a Dutch man-of-war in August 1619 and were traded to the colony's governor for supplies. About 1619, Rolfe married Jane Pierce, daughter of English colonist Captain William Pierce, who had survived
6474-639: Was sick as well, it was determined he was too ill to survive a voyage. Pressured to return to Virginia, John Rolfe appointed Sir Lewis Stukley as temporary guardian to his son and returned to Virginia with Uttamatomakkin. Stukley had custody of Thomas Rolfe until his uncle Henry Rolfe could take over his care. It was intended that Thomas would return to Virginia once he recovered his health. Unfortunately, John Rolfe would never see his son again. Thomas did recover his health but remained in England until reaching adulthood. Rolfe returned to Virginia and resumed his work with tobacco. In 1617 20,000 pounds of Orinoco tobacco
6557-849: Was the first Native American to be honored on a U.S. stamp. She was a member of the inaugural class of Virginia Women in History in 2000. In July 2015, the Pamunkey Native tribe became the first federally recognized tribe in the state of Virginia; they are descendants of the Powhatan chiefdom, of which Pocahontas was a member. Pocahontas is the twelfth great-grandmother of the American actor Edward Norton . After her death, increasingly fanciful and romanticized representations were produced about Pocahontas, in which she and Smith are frequently portrayed as romantically involved. Contemporaneous sources substantiate claims of their friendship but not romance. The first claim of their romantic involvement
6640-552: Was the first wife of Powhatan and that Pocahontas was named after her. According to colonist William Strachey , "Pocahontas" was a childhood nickname meaning "little wanton". Some interpret the meaning as "playful one". In his account, Strachey describes Pocahontas as a child visiting the fort at Jamestown and playing with the young boys; she would "get the boys forth with her into the marketplace and make them wheel, falling on their hands, turning up their heels upwards, whom she would follow and wheel so herself, naked as she was, all
6723-418: Was the son of John Rolfe and his wife Dorothy Mason. However, historians have now determined that this relationship is incorrect. One major inconsistency that shows they are not his parents is that John is known to have had a brother named Henry. After John's death, his brother Henry Rolfe petitioned the Virginia Company for funds from John's Virginia estate, to help pay for the care of John's son Thomas Rolfe who
6806-638: Was then in Henry's care. Dorothy Mason and her husband John Rolfe are not known to have had a son named Henry.{William Thorndale, "Two Rolfe Negatives," in The Virginia Genealogist, 34(1990):209-210} A project of the proprietary Virginia Company of London , Jamestown had been established by an initial group of settlers on 14 May 1607. This colony proved as troubled as earlier English settlements. Two return trips with supplies by Christopher Newport arrived in 1608, while another large relief fleet
6889-429: Was willed to Thomas Rolfe , who in 1640 sold at least a portion of it to Thomas Warren. Smith's Fort was a secondary Fort to Jamestown, begun in 1609 by John Smith. Thomas Rolfe, who had grown up in England, returned to Virginia as an adult and married Jane Poythress. Poythress's English parents were Francis Poythress and Alice Payton. Thomas and Jane Rolfe had one child, Jane Rolfe , who married Robert Bolling and had
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