Powhatan
This article's lead section may be too long. (April 2024) |
Total population | |
---|---|
3,850[citation needed] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Eastern Virginia | |
Languages | |
Historically Powhatan, currently English | |
Religion | |
Indigenous religion, Christianity | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Pamlico, Nanticoke, Lenape, Massachusett, and other Algonquian peoples |
The Powhatan people (
Their Powhatan language is an Eastern Algonquian language, also known as Virginia Algonquian. In 1607, an estimated 14,000 to 21,000 Powhatan people lived in eastern Virginia when English colonists established Jamestown.[3]
The term Powhatan is also a title among the Powhatan people. English colonial historians often used this meaning of the term.[4]
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a mamanatowick (paramount chief) named Wahunsenacawh forged a political confederacy by uniting 30 tributary tribes, whose territory included much of eastern Virginia. Their territory was called Tsenacommacah ("densely inhabited Land"). English colonists called Wahunsenacawh The Powhatan.[5][6] Each of the tribes within the confederacy was led by a weroance (leader, commander), all of whom paid tribute to the Powhatan.[4]
After Wahunsenacawh died in 1618, hostilities with colonists escalated under the chiefdom of his brother,
By the mid-17th century, English colonist were desperate for labor to develop the land. Almost half of the European immigrants to Virginia arrived as indentured servants. As settlement continued, the colonists imported growing numbers of enslaved Africans for labor. By 1700, the colonies had about 6,000 enslaved Africans, one-twelfth of the population. Enslaved people would at times escape and join the surrounding Powhatan. Some white indentured servants were also known to have fled and joined the Indigenous peoples. African slaves and indentured European servants often worked and lived together, and while marriage was not always legal, some Native people lived, worked, and had children with them. After Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, the colony enslaved Indians for control. In 1691, the House of Burgesses abolished the enslavement of Native peoples; however, many Powhatans were held in servitude well into the 18th century.[9]
English and Powhatan people often married, with the best-known being Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Their son was Thomas Rolfe, who has more than an estimated 100,000 descendants today.[10] Many of the First Families of Virginia have both English and Virginia Algonquian ancestry.[2]
Virginia
Today many descendants of the Powhatan Confederacy are enrolled in six
- Chickahominy Indian Tribe
- Chickahominy Indian Tribe–Eastern Division
- Nansemond Indian Nation
- Pamunkey Indian Tribe
- Rappahannock Tribe, Inc.
- Upper Mattaponi Tribe.[12]
Naming and terminology
The name "Powhatan" (also transcribed by Strachey as Paqwachowng), also spelled Powatan, is the name of the Native American village or town of Wahunsenacawh. The title Chief or King Powhatan, used by English colonists, is believed to have been derived from the name of this site. Although the specific site of his home village is unknown, in modern times the Powhatan Hill neighborhood in the East End portion of the modern-day city of Richmond, Virginia is thought by many to be in the general vicinity of the original village. Tree Hill Farm in Henrico County is also a possible site.
"Powhatan" was also the name used by the Natives to refer to the river where the town sat at the
Although portions of Virginia's longest river upstream from
Powhatan County and its county seat at Powhatan, Virginia were honorific names established years later, in locations west of the area populated by the Powhatan peoples. The county was formed in March 1777.
Early history
Complex paramount chiefdom
Various tribes each held some individual powers locally, and each had a chief known as a weroance (male) or, more rarely, a weroansqua (female), meaning "commander".[13]
As early as the era of John Smith, the individual tribes of this grouping were recognized by English colonists as falling under the greater authority of the centralized power led by the chiefdom of Powhatan (c. 1545 – c. 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh or (in 17th century English spelling) Wahunsunacock.[2]
In 1607, when the first permanent English colonial settlement in North America was founded at
Powhatan (and his several successors) ruled what is called a
Powhatan builds his chiefdom
Wahunsenacawh had inherited control over six tribes but dominated more than 30 by 1607 when the English settlers established their
He added the
In his
English settlers in the land of the Powhatan
The Powhatan Confederacy was where English colonists established their first permanent settlement in North America. Conflicts began immediately between the Powhatan people and English colonists; the colonists fired shots as soon as they arrived (due to a bad experience they had with the Spanish before their arrival). Within two weeks of the arrival of English colonists at Jamestown, deaths had occurred.
The settlers had hoped for friendly relations and had planned to trade with the Virginia Indians for food. Captain Christopher Newport led the first colonial exploration party up the James River in 1607 when he met Parahunt, weroance of the Powhatan proper. English colonists initially mistook him for the paramount Powhatan (mamanatowick), his father Wahunsenacawh, who ruled the confederacy. Settlers coming into the region needed to befriend as many Native Americans as possible due to the unfamiliarity with the land. Not too long after settling down, they realized the huge potential for tobacco. To grow more and more tobacco, they had to impede on Native territory. There were immediate issues that result in 14 years of warfare.[16]
On a hunting and trade mission on the Chickahominy River in December 1607, Captain John Smith wrote that he fought a small battle between the Opechancanough, and during this battle, he tied his Indigenous guide to his body and used him as a human shield. Although Smith was wounded in the leg and also had many arrows in his clothing he was not deathly injured, soon after he was captured by the Opechancanough. After Smith was captured the Natives had him ready for execution until he gave them a compass which they saw as a sign of friendliness so they did not kill him, instead took him to a more popular chief, followed by a ceremony. Smith first was introduced to Powhatan's brother, which was a chief under Powhatan to run a smaller portion of the tribe. Later Smith was introduced to Powhatan himself.[17] Smith was captured by Opechancanough, the younger brother of Wahunsenacawh. Smith became the first English colonist to meet the paramount chief Powhatan. According to Smith's account, Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's daughter, prevented her father from executing Smith.
Some researchers have asserted that a mock execution of Smith was a ritual intended to adopt Smith into the tribe, but other modern writers dispute this interpretation, noting that many of Smith's stories do not line up with the known facts. They point out that nothing is known of 17th-century Powhatan adoption ceremonies and that an execution ritual is different from known rites of passage. Other historians, such as Helen Rountree, have questioned whether there was any risk of execution. They note that Smith failed to mention it in his 1608 and 1612 accounts, and only added it to his 1624 memoir after Pocahontas had become famous.
In 1608, Captain Newport realized that Powhatan's friendship was crucial to the survival of the small Jamestown colony. In the summer of that year, he tried to "crown" the paramount Chief, with a ceremonial crown, to transform him into a "vassal".[18] They also gave Powhatan many European gifts, such as a pitcher, feather mattress, bed frame, and clothes. The coronation went badly because they asked Powhatan to kneel to receive the crown, which he refused to do. As a powerful leader, Powhatan followed two rules: "he who keeps his head higher than others ranks higher," and "he who puts other people in a vulnerable position, without altering his own stance, ranks higher." To finish the "coronation", several English colonists had to lean on Powhatan's shoulders to get him low enough to place the crown on his head, as he was a tall man. Afterward, the English colonists might have thought that Powhatan had submitted to King James, whereas Powhatan likely thought nothing of the sort.[19]
After John Smith became president of the colony, he sent a force under Captain Martin to occupy an island in Nansemond territory and drive the inhabitants away. At the same time, he sent another force with Francis West to build a fort at the James River Falls. He purchased the nearby fortified Powhatan village (present site of Richmond, Virginia) from Parahunt for some copper and an English colonist named Henry Spelman, who wrote a rare firsthand account of the Powhatan ways of life. Smith then renamed the village "Nonsuch", and tried to get West's men to live in it. Both these attempts at settling beyond Jamestown soon failed, due to Powhatan resistance. Smith left Virginia for England in October 1609, never to return, because of an injury sustained in a gunpowder accident. Soon afterward, English colonists established a second fort, Fort Algernon, in Kecoughtan territory.
Anglo-Powhatan Wars and treaties
In November 1609, Captain John Ratcliffe was invited to Orapakes, Powhatan's new capital. After he had sailed up the Pamunkey River to trade there, a fight broke out between the colonists and the Powhatan. All of the English colonists ashore were killed, including Ratcliffe, who was tortured by the women of the tribe. Those aboard the pinnace escaped and told the tale at Jamestown.
During that next year, the tribe attacked and killed many Jamestown residents. The residents fought back, but only killed twenty. However, the arrival at Jamestown of a new Governor,
After Wahunsenacawh's death, his younger brother, Opitchapam, briefly became chief, followed by their younger brother
The Treaty of 1646 marked the effective dissolution of the United Confederacy, as white colonists were granted an exclusive enclave between the York and Blackwater Rivers. This physically separated the Nansemonds, Weyanokes, and Appomattox, who retreated southward, from the other Powhatan tribes then occupying the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck. While the southern frontier demarcated in 1646 was respected for the remainder of the 17th century, the House of Burgesses lifted the northern one on September 1, 1649. Waves of new immigrants quickly flooded the peninsular region, then known as Chickacoan, and restricted the dwindling tribes to lesser tracts of land that became some of the earliest Indian reservations.
In 1665, the House of Burgesses passed stringent laws requiring the Powhatan to accept chiefs appointed by the governor. After the
Changing society and English expansion
Educational programs established through the creation of the Indian School at the College of William and Mary in 1691 were a driving force behind cultural change. The College provided Powhatan boys with skills considered to be of little use by their people, however, literacy was generally viewed as a benefit of this Western education, and Powhatan boys who had received education at William and Mary sent their sons to the school. The increasing marriage of Powhatans to non-Indigenous people in the 17th century is also believed to have contributed to cultural change.
The Powhatans had begun gambling, smoking tobacco, and consuming alcohol recreationally by the end of the 17th century.[21]
Culture and lifeways
The Powhatan lived east of the Fall Line in Tidewater Virginia. They built their houses, called yehakins, by bending saplings and placing woven mats or bark over top of the saplings. They supported themselves primarily by growing crops, especially maize, but they also fished and hunted in the great forest in their area. Villages consisted of many related families organized in tribes led by a chief (weroance/werowance or weroansqua if female). They paid tribute to the paramount chief (mamanatowick), Powhatan.[5]
The region occupied by the Powhatan was bounded approximately by the Potomac River to the north, the Fall Line to the west, the Virginia-North Carolina border to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Generally peaceful interactions with the Pamlicos and Chowanocs occurred along the southern boundary, while the western and northern boundaries were more contested. Conflicts occurred with Monacans and Mannahoacs along the western boundary and Massawomecks along the northern boundary.[21]
The Powhatans primarily used fires to heat their sleeping rooms. As a result, less bedding was needed, and bedding materials could be easily stored during daytime hours. Couples typically slept head to foot.[22]
According to research by the National Park Service, Powhatan "men were warriors and hunters, while women were gardeners and gatherers. English colonial accounts described the men, who ran and walked extensively through the woods in pursuit of enemies or game, as tall and lean and possessed of handsome physiques. The women were shorter, and strong because of the hours they spent tending crops, pounding corn into meals, gathering nuts, and performing other domestic chores. When the men undertook extended hunts, the women went ahead of them to construct hunting camps. The Powhatan domestic economy depended on the labor of both sexes."[23] Powhatan women would form work parties to accomplish tasks more efficiently. Women were also believed to serve as barbers, decorate homes, and produce decorative clothing. Overall, Powhatan women maintained a significant measure of autonomy in both their work lives and sexual lives.[22] After a long day, the Powhatan people would celebrate and burn off any last energy they had by dancing and singing. This also allowed them to release any tensions they had from working with others.[24]
All of Virginia's Native peoples practiced
Powhatans made offerings and prayed at sunrise.[22] Although, they also prayed and made offerings to specific gods, who were believed to be in control of the harvest.[26] They used the land differently, and their religion was a Native one. Significantly, one of the major duties of Powhatan priests was controlling the weather.[27]
Tribes of the paramount chiefdom and their territories
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2023) |
The number of tribes listed and the number of warriors are based on estimates or reports which mostly go back to Captain John Smith (1580 - 1631) and William Strachey (1572 - 1621). Usually, only the number of the warriors of the individual tribes is known, the stem number will therefore be determined with a ratio of 1: 3, 1: 3,3, or the last 1: 4, and the studies of Christian Feest are decisive.[28] The last-mentioned figures refer to the first mention as well as the last mention of the respective tribes - e.g. 1585/1627 for the Chesapeake (Source: Handbook of North American Indians).
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20th-century history
After Virginia passed stringent racial segregation laws in the early 20th century, and ultimately the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which mandated every person who had any African heritage be deemed "black", Walter Plecker, the head of the vital Statistics office, directed all state and local registration offices to use only the terms "white" or "colored" to denote race on official documents. This eliminated all traceable records of Virginia Indians. All state documents, including birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, tax forms, and land deeds, thus bear no record of Virginia Indians. Plecker oversaw the Vital Statistics office in the state for more than 30 years, beginning in the early 20th century, and took a personal interest in eliminating traces of Virginia Indians. Plecker surmised that no true Virginia Indians were remaining as years of intermarriage had "diluted the race". Over his years of service, he conducted a campaign to reclassify all biracial and multiracial individuals as Black, believing such persons were fraudulently attempting to claim their race to be Indian or white. The effect of his reclassification has been described by tribal members as "paper genocide".[47]
After the United States entered WWII many Powhatans volunteered to serve in the military. Powhatan men fought to be regarded separately from the Black community by the Selective Service. In 1954, Powhatans were given partial legal recognition by the General Assembly through a law stating that people with one-fourth or more Indian ancestry and one-sixteenth or less African ancestry were to be recognized as tribal Indians.[21]
Powhatan tribes today
State-recognized tribes
The Commonwealth of Virginia
Of these state-recognized tribes who identify as being Powhatan descendants, all but the
The Powhatan Renape Nation are a
Federally recognized tribes
There are six
- Chickahominy Indian Tribe
- Chickahominy Indian Tribe–Eastern Division
- Nansemond Indian Nation
- Pamunkey Indian Tribe
- Rappahannock Tribe, Inc.
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe was the first to gain federal recognition in 2016.[12] Then the other six were recognized by Congress through the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017.[12]
Two of these tribes, the Mattaponi and Pamunkey, still retain their reservations from the 17th century and are located in King William County, Virginia.[4]
Powhatan languages
The tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy spoke mutually intelligible Algonquian languages. The most common was likely Powhatan. Its use became dormant due to the widespread deaths and social disruption suffered by the people. Much of the vocabulary bank is forgotten. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the vocabulary of the language using sources such as word lists provided by Smith and by the 17th-century writer William Strachey.
Powhatan in films
The Powhatan people are featured in MGM's live-action film Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953) and the Disney animated musical film Pocahontas (1995). They also appeared in the straight-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998). Some of the current members of Powhatan-descended tribes complained about the Disney film. Roy Crazy Horse of the Powhatan Renape Nation said the Disney movie "distorts history beyond recognition".[52]
An attempt at a more historically accurate representation was the drama
Notable descendants
More than an estimated 100,000 people today descend from Pocahontas' son Thomas Rolfe.[10] Notable descendants include Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson,[53] and actor Edward Norton.[54]
See also
- Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands
- Black Indians in the United States
- Native Americans in the United States
- Tribe (Native American)
- One-drop rule
- Patawomeck
- Powhatan language
- Tsenacommacah
Notes
- ^ "Powhatan". Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ a b c "Writers' Guide" Archived 2012-02-24 at the Wayback Machine, Virginia Council on Indians, Commonwealth of Virginia, 2009
- ^ Keith Egloff and Deborah Woodward. First People: The Early Indians of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1992
- ^ a b c d Sandra F. Waugaman and Danielle Moretti-Langholtz. We're Still Here: Contemporary Virginia Indians Tell Their Stories. Richmond: Palari Publishing, 2006 (revised edition).
- ^ a b Wood, Karenne. The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail, 2007.
- ^ Capossela, Julie Ann (February 2, 2006). "Jamestown from a Non-Western Perspective". NIAHD Journals. National Institute of American History & Democracy. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008.
- ISBN 978-1-5416-0003-4.
- ^ "1700: Virginia Native peoples succumb to smallpox". Native Voices. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ Rountree 1990
- ^ a b Gruenke, Jonathan (March 22, 2019). "New project to identify descendants of Pocahontas underway". Daily Press. Virginia Gazette. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ "Matchut". www.virginiaplaces.org. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hilleary, Cecily (January 31, 2018). "US Recognizes 6 Virginia Native American Tribes". Voice of America. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ "Chronology of Powhatan Indian Activity", National Park Service
- S2CID 240337595.
- ^ Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826Archived 2013-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ISSN 0098-7484.
- ^ "Smith, Generall Historie of Virginia, 1624". history.hanover.edu. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ^ Rountree, Helen C. and E. Randolph Turner III. Before and After Jamestown: Virginia's Powhatans and Their Predecessors. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2002.
- ^ Rountree, Helen C. Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005
- ISBN 978-1-85109-637-4.
- ^ OCLC 44957641.
- ^ JSTOR 483170.
- ^ ""The Chesapeake Bay Region and its People in 1607"" (PDF). Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- JSTOR 483170.
- ^ Brown, Hutch (Summer 2000). "Wildland Burning by American Indians in Virginia". Fire Management Today. 60 (3). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 30–33.
- ^ "Gale General OneFile - Document - Pocahontas celebrates: a Powhatan harvest festival". go.gale.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- JSTOR 1185294. Retrieved August 28, 2020 – via Gale.
- ^ "Seventeenth Century Virginia Algonquian Population Estimates (1973)". Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail - James River Basin - Indian Towns & Natural Resources They Relied On" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "WE HAVE A STORY TO TELL - Native Peoples of Chesapeake Region" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "VDOE :: Virginia's First People Past & Present - Nansemond". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Chesapeake Bay - Native Americans - The Mariners' Museum". www.marinersmuseum.org. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ The term Nottoway may derive from ″Nadawa″ or ″Nadowessioux″ (widely translated as "poisonous snake"), an Algonquian-language term which speakers used to refer to members of competing language families, specifically the Iroquoian- or Siouan-speaking tribes. Because the Algonquian occupied the coastal areas, they were the first tribes met by the English colonists, who often adopted the use of such Algonquian ethnonyms, names for other tribes, not realizing at first that these differed from the tribes' autonyms or names for themselves. The Nottoway called themselves in their tongue Nottaway (Dar-sun-ke) Cheroenhaka - "People at the Fork of the Stream" (because they lived in the region of the Nottaway, Blackwater River, and Chowan River - all Blackwater rivers), but the meaning of the name Cheroenhaka is uncertain and still disputed.
- ^ "GNIS Detail - Pamunkey River". geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail - York River Basin - Indian Towns & Natural Resources They Relied On" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "VDOE :: Virginia's First People Past & Present - Pamunkey". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Pampatike Farm - From Opechancanough to Col Thomas Carter". www.pampatike.org. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ not to be confused with the small chieftain, also referred to as Mattapanient along the Patuxent River in northern Calvert and eastern Prince George's Counties of Maryland, which was under the Suzerainty of the Patuxent or the mighty Piscataway (Conoy)
- ^ The information on the number of warriors (and hereby the population) for the additional tribes listed by Strachey – the Cantauncack,'Menapacunt, Pataunck, Ochahannauke, Kaposecock(e), Pamareke, Shamapa, Orapaks, Chepeco and the Paraconos – far exceed the usual populations for the Powhatan tribes. According to Feest Strachey's population numbers for the York and Mattaponi Rivers are to prefer over those of Smith (especially with regard to the mighty Mattaponie) – but are probably too high for the tribes along the Pamunkey River (the given 400 warriors or 1,300 tribal members for the Pamareke and Kaposecock(s) are questionable – since both tribes are often regarded as subgroups of the mighty Pamunkey – which according to Smith & Strachey could raise itself about 300 warriors or 1,000 Tribal members counted).
- ^ "VDOE :: Virginia's First People Past & Present - Mattaponi". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "VDOE :: Virginia's First People Past & Present - Upper Mattaponi". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail - Rappahannock River Basin - Indian Towns & Natural Resources They Relied On" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Christopher Steadman: The Powhatan Chiefdom: 1606, Old Dominion University, Model United Nations Society, 2015" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "VDOE :: Virginia's First People Past & Present - Rappahannock". www.doe.virginia.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Wolfe, Brendan (February 17, 2021). "Patawomeck Tribe". Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
- ^ "Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail – Lower Eastern Shore – Indian Towns & Natural Resources They Relied On" (PDF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Fiske, Warren. "The Black-and-White World of Walter Ashby Plecker", The Virginian-Pilot, August 18, 2004
- ^ a b c "Virginia Indians". Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Gee. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ "Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia". Cause IQ. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ a b c Indian Affairs Bureau (January 12, 2023). "Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs". Federal Register. 88: 2112–16. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
- ^ Walsh, Jim (March 18, 2019). "State affirms status of Powhatan Renape, Ramapough Lenape tribes". Courier Post. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
- ^ The Pocahontas Myth Archived July 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine by Roy Crazy Horse, Powhatan Renape Nation website, accessed November 28, 2009
- ^ Hatch, p. 42; Waldrup, p. 186; For a genealogy of Pocahontas' elite slave-holding settler descendants, see Wyndham Robertson, Pocahontas: Alias Matoaka, and Her Descendants through Her Marriage at Jamestown, Virginia, in April 1614, with John Rolph, Gentleman (J W Randolph & English, Richmond, VA, 1887).
- ^ Halpert, Madeline (January 5, 2023). "How actor Edward Norton is related to Pocahontas". BBC News. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
Further reading
- Sakas, Karliana. "The indigenous authorship of the narratives of the Spanish Jesuit mission of Ajacan (1570-1572)." EHumanista, vol. 19, 2011, p. 511+. Gale Academic Onefile, Accessed 14 Nov. 2019.
- Gleach, Frederic W. (1997) Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultures. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Gleach, Frederic W. (2006) "Pocahontas: An Exercise in Mythmaking and Marketing", In New Perspectives on Native North America: Cultures, Histories, and Representations, ed. by Sergei A. Kan and Pauline Turner Strong, pp. 433–455. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Karen Kupperman, Settling With the Indians: The Meeting of English and Indian Cultures in America, 1580–1640, 1980
- A. Bryant Nichols Jr., Captain Christopher Newport: Admiral of Virginia, Sea Venture, 2007
- James Rice, Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson, 2009.
- Helen C. Rountree, Pocahontas's People: The Powhatan Indians of Virginia Through Four Centuries, 1990
External links
Media related to Powhatan at Wikimedia Commons
- Chronology of Powhatan Indian Activity, National Park Service
- The Anglo-Powhatan Wars
- A Study of Virginia Indians and Jamestown: The First Century
- "American in 1607", National Geographic
- UNC Charlotte linguist Blair Rudes restores lost language, culture for 'The New World'
- How a linguist revived 'New World' language
- The Indigenous Maps and Mapping of North American Indians