Powhatan
|
Chief Powhatan in a longhouse at Werowocomoco (detail of John Smith map, 1612) |
The
Powhatan (also spelled
Powatan and
Powhaten), or
Powhatan Renape (literally, the "Powhatan Human Beings"), is the name of a
Native American tribe, and also the name of a powerful
confederacy of tribes that they dominated. They spoke an
Algonquian language, and lived in what is now
Virginia at the time of the first English-Native encounters. (The word "Renape", which means human [
1], is very similar to the word
Lenape, used by the (also Algonquian-speaking) Delaware Indians of what is now New Jersey and Pennsylvania.)
Powhatan was also the original name of the town that Wahunsunacock (the
Chief Powhatan) came from (today the site of
Richmond, Virginia), as well as the name of the river where it sat (today called the
James River). According to the
Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Powhatan is an Algonquin word meaning "at the waterfalls"; the settlement of Powhatan was at the falls of the James river. See also [
2]
When Wahunsunacock created a powerful empire by conquering much of Virginia, he called his lands
Tenakomakah and himself the
Powhatan. Besides the town of Powhatan, another capital of this confederacy was called
Werowocomoco.
The original six constituent tribes in Wahunsunacock's Powhatan confederacy were: the
Powhatans proper, the
Arrohatecks, the
Appamattucks, the
Pamunkeys, the
Mattaponis, and the
Chiskiacks. He added the Kecoughtans to his fold by 1598. Another closely related tribe in the midst of these others, all speaking the same language, was the Chickahominy, who managed to preserve their autonomy from the confederacy.
In
1607, when
English soldier and pioneer
John Smith arrived, he was captured by
Opchanacanough, the younger brother of Chief Powhatan. According to Smith's account (which in the late 1800s was considered to be fabricated, but is still believed by some to be mostly accurate—although several highly romanticized popular versions cloud the matter),
Pocahontas, Powhatan's daughter, prevented her father from executing Smith. It is believed that this was a ritual intended to adopt Smith into the tribe.
After Smith left Virginia for England in 1609 because of an injury sustained in a gunpowder accident (never to return), the nervous tribe attacked and killed many
Jamestown residents. The residents fought back, but only killed twenty.
However, within a few years both the Chief and Pocahontas were dead from disease. The Chief died in Virginia, but Pocahontas died in England, having been captured and willingly married to the tobacco planter
John Rolfe. Meanwhile, the English continued to encroach on Powhatan territory. After Wahunsunacock's death, his younger brother Opitchapam became chief, followed by their younger brother Opechancanough, who in
1622 and
1644 attempted to force the English from their territories. These attempts invited strong reprisals from the English, ultimately resulting in the near destruction of the tribe.
The Powhatan lived east of the fall line in
Tidewater Virginia. Their houses were made of poles, rushes, and bark, and they supported themselves primarily by growing crops, especially
maize, but also by some fishing and hunting. Villages consisted of a number of related families organised in tribes that were led by a king or queen, who was a client of the Emperor and a member of his council.
Approximately 3,000 Powahatan people remain in Virginia. Some of them live today on two tiny reservations,
Mattaponi and
Pamunkey, found in King William County, Virginia. However, the Powhatan language is now extinct. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the vocabulary of the language; the only sources are word lists provided by Smith and by
William Strachey.
The American entertainer
Wayne Newton (b. 1942 in Norfolk, Virginia) is of mixed Powhatan, Cherokee, Irish, and German ancestry.
Powhatan County was named in honor of the Chief and his tribe, although located about 60 miles to the west of lands ever under their control. In the independent
City of Richmond, Powhatan Hill is traditionally believed to be located near the village Chief Powhatan was originally from, although the specific location of the site is unknown.
The Powhatan people are featured in the
Disney animated film
Pocahontas (1995). An attempt at a more historically accurate representation of them appears in
The New World (
2005).
*
The Anglo-Powhatan Wars*
Powhatan Renape Nation â€" Rankokus American Indian Reservation
*
UNC Charlotte linguist Blair Rudes restores lost language, culture for 'The New World'*
How a linguist revived 'New World' language
