The Powhat Virginia Indian Tribe
Powhatan
The Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten), is the name of a Virginia Indian[1] tribe. It is also the name of a powerful group of tribes which they dominated. It is estimated that there were about 14,000-21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607.[2] They were also known as Virginia Algonquians, as they spoke an eastern-Algonquian language known as Powhatan.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a mamanatowick (paramount chief)[3] named Wahunsunacawh created a powerful organization by affiliating 30 tributary peoples, whose territory was much of eastern Virginia, called Tsenacommacah ("densely-inhabited Land"),[4] Wahunsunacawh came to be known by the English as "Chief Powhatan." Each of the tribes within this organization had its own weroance (chief), but all paid tribute to Chief Powhatan.[5]
After Chief Powhatan's death in 1618, hostilities with colonists escalated under the chiefdom of his brother, Opechancanough, who sought in vain to drive off the encroaching English. His large-scale attacks in 1622 and 1644 met …show more content…
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 servant 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, the English established a second fort, Fort Algernon, in Kecoughtan
The Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten), is the name of a Virginia Indian[1] tribe. It is also the name of a powerful group of tribes which they dominated. It is estimated that there were about 14,000-21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607.[2] They were also known as Virginia Algonquians, as they spoke an eastern-Algonquian language known as Powhatan.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a mamanatowick (paramount chief)[3] named Wahunsunacawh created a powerful organization by affiliating 30 tributary peoples, whose territory was much of eastern Virginia, called Tsenacommacah ("densely-inhabited Land"),[4] Wahunsunacawh came to be known by the English as "Chief Powhatan." Each of the tribes within this organization had its own weroance (chief), but all paid tribute to Chief Powhatan.[5]
After Chief Powhatan's death in 1618, hostilities with colonists escalated under the chiefdom of his brother, Opechancanough, who sought in vain to drive off the encroaching English. His large-scale attacks in 1622 and 1644 met …show more content…
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 servant 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, the English established a second fort, Fort Algernon, in Kecoughtan