Summary Of Chief Powhatan
Summary
In the beginning of American history, we were a mighty people numbering close to 21,000 Powhatan Indians in the Chesapeake Bay and numbered almost 200 villages (Weiser, 2012.We were a proud people not relying on anyone other than ourselves for food, shelter and any of our basic needs. We depended on the land to provide us our food and nature to help in growing this food. We depended on the land and nature to get us through. Our peope worshipped those things which may bring us harm, such as: “fire, water, lightning and thunder (Weiser, 2012). We continued to live in the area, even once strange people began to come to our lands. We were leery of these visitors, but decided to give them a chance. Chief Powhatan (Wahunsunacawh) was our …show more content…
They felt they were the original people of the land and anyone else were outsider. The author used very few written resources during the time she speaks of the Indian people, she states she uses interviews of the descendants of the Powhatan tribe. The author uses the stories that have been passed down through generations as the Indian population at the time of these events were unable to read or write and their stories had not been documented. The author uses a quote from a book written by John Smith in regards to the Indian people and his understanding of how the live. He states derogatorily, “he does not understand how anyone can live from hand to mouth” (p.21). Basically, he did not understand how they can go from one season to the next and get only enough food to get by. The Indians are referred to as “savages” (pp. 15,115). The English seen the Indians as walking around naked and hunting as being untrained. The author uses references from other books she has written, John Smith’s journals or books and other primary sources.
Several chapters address the Powhatan environment, culture, traditions and beliefs allowing the reader to understand what the people of this time were exposed to. This serves to support the author’s thesis in developing the importance of the Powhatan culture and in-grained belief system. The author states that even John Smith who the Powhatan came to trust was not able to get accurate information regarding the Chief’s lineage (p. 33). Whether this was due to the lack of trust of these “strangers” or the inability of the Indian people to write their own stories is not
In the beginning of American history, we were a mighty people numbering close to 21,000 Powhatan Indians in the Chesapeake Bay and numbered almost 200 villages (Weiser, 2012.We were a proud people not relying on anyone other than ourselves for food, shelter and any of our basic needs. We depended on the land to provide us our food and nature to help in growing this food. We depended on the land and nature to get us through. Our peope worshipped those things which may bring us harm, such as: “fire, water, lightning and thunder (Weiser, 2012). We continued to live in the area, even once strange people began to come to our lands. We were leery of these visitors, but decided to give them a chance. Chief Powhatan (Wahunsunacawh) was our …show more content…
They felt they were the original people of the land and anyone else were outsider. The author used very few written resources during the time she speaks of the Indian people, she states she uses interviews of the descendants of the Powhatan tribe. The author uses the stories that have been passed down through generations as the Indian population at the time of these events were unable to read or write and their stories had not been documented. The author uses a quote from a book written by John Smith in regards to the Indian people and his understanding of how the live. He states derogatorily, “he does not understand how anyone can live from hand to mouth” (p.21). Basically, he did not understand how they can go from one season to the next and get only enough food to get by. The Indians are referred to as “savages” (pp. 15,115). The English seen the Indians as walking around naked and hunting as being untrained. The author uses references from other books she has written, John Smith’s journals or books and other primary sources.
Several chapters address the Powhatan environment, culture, traditions and beliefs allowing the reader to understand what the people of this time were exposed to. This serves to support the author’s thesis in developing the importance of the Powhatan culture and in-grained belief system. The author states that even John Smith who the Powhatan came to trust was not able to get accurate information regarding the Chief’s lineage (p. 33). Whether this was due to the lack of trust of these “strangers” or the inability of the Indian people to write their own stories is not