...Pocahontas Pocahontas is a woman of myth and legend; she has mainly been depicted in fictitious movies such as the Disney version. She does have a small place in history as the one who saved John Smith, an Englishman. There was a copious amount of things that she did in the movies that did not really happen in real life. For one, she did not marry John Smith, but instead she married a man named John Rolfe, a tobacco planter. Pocahontas is a very strong woman with many traits that helps be in the elite ranks of women in the native American community. She put her life on the line to save a white settler so that is what she did that solidified herself in American history because it not only showed the courage of herself, but of her Native American Tribe. She was a brave girl who had quite the history growing up. The story of Pocahontas is an often-told tale. In the telling it has acquired mythological elements shared with other stories of encounters between Europeans and Indians, to such an extent that the original “facts” (if they are certain enough to be worthy of the name) have been distorted or obscured. In 1616 John Smith, one of the early English colonists in Virginia, recounted in a letter that ten years before he had been saved from certain death at the hand of the Powhatan Indians by a young teenage girl, named Pocahontas, who was the daughter of the chief of the Powhatans. Pocahontas grew to be on friendly terms with the colonists, but Smith made no suggestion that...
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...“Jamestown and triumphs” Julie Atkinson Reconstructive US History Professor Brumbaugh December 20,2014 Before the settlers landed in Jamestown, The Indians occupied the land and lived there for centuries. They were the first people to arrive in Jamestown. Some say there were 25,000 Indians; others say around 50,000 of the American natives, who lived on the land. There were about thirty different tribes whom the powhatan chiefdom took charge. However, each tribe had their own chief. In time there would be a change; King James 1 of England granted for another colony to be established under the Virginia Company of London which consisted of many wealthy Englishmen who wanted to invest their money into the company. They expected to open new lands for financial and patriotic explorations and use the resources of the new world. They wanted to establish English shipbuilding industries and to convert the Indians to Protestant Christianity. The Spanish were aggressive to convert the Indians to Roman Catholicism. Since there were already Spanish colonies in America, the English needed to develop new employment opportunities for the English. For this reason, English people wanted their own colonies. Around the time of 1607, there were three ships sailing from England: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery. They held around hundred and fifty English men, and boys who sailed four months before they reached Jamestown. During their voyage they encountered crowded conditions...
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...techniques could definitely have been worked on. He was a man who wanted things done and wanted them done quickly and efficiently even though that cant always be achieved. This also attests to his John smith’s reputation obviously precedes him and people often think of him as a hero and saint (not literally), Especially after his not so accurate portrayal in Disney’s Pocahontas. But the fact is this is not the real john smith. People don’t want to remember someone who is credited with helping start life in America as a criminal or a “bad person”. Even most historians talk mostly about his accomplishments. Unfortunately John Smith had a problem with getting himself into serious trouble. On the initial voyage to the Americas he was accused of attempted mutiny and was locked up. At first stop they planned on hanging him and even went as far as to build the gallows for him but ended up not doing it. That wouldn’t be the last time that his fellow settlers would make calls to have him hanged, banished or simply murdered. Eventually he would be thrown out of Virginia all together. All this with his own people and Pocahontas is said to have saved him from a group of Indian executioners. Its safe to say people didn’t like him, or at least had issues big enough to want him dead. On a more positive note he was actually a very productive member of the colonies. He played many roles. Not only was he a leader but he was a cartographer, geographer, solider, an admiral, a solider and other things...
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...first meeting with Chief Powhatan was quite eventful. Histories agree that he was to be killed but they are unsure whether his life was saved by the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, or not. Nevertheless he lived and Disney felt compelled to make, not one movie about them, but two. Smith’s relationship with Powhatan was rocky, as was the colonies with the tribe’s, which determined a lot of the successes and struggles in Jamestown. On September 10th, 1608 he became president of the colony. He implemented his new policy with rigid discipline, stronger defences, and encouraged farming. Another one of his policies is that everyone had to work or they would be starved out. He also forced citizens to dig the first well which later became a trash pit. The fort walls were also expanded and many builders were repaired. Captain Smith also led two expeditions to explore the Chesapeake Bay, he was almost killed on the first by a stingray. Smith’s rigid leadership helped the colony prosper in its early years, but he also gained many enemies inside and outside of the fort. His last meeting with chief Powhatan was in January of 1609 in the Powhatan capital of Werowocomoco. Each of the leaders plotted the death of their enemies death while conducting civil negotiations, ironically Chief Powhatan’s own daughter, Pocahontas, warned Captain Smith of the danger and her managed to escape. One night as he slept in a boat in a river a mysterious gunpowder explosion happened injuring him and he...
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...A Brief History of Jamestown The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States’ heritage today. The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors who hoped to profit from the venture. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and converting the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion. The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, carrying 105 passengers, one of whom died during the voyage, departed from England in December 1606 and reached the Virginia coast in late April 1607. The expedition was led by Captain Christopher Newport. On May 13, after two weeks of exploration, the ships arrived at a site on the James River selected for its deep water anchorage and good defensive position. The passengers came ashore the next day, and work began on the settlement. Initially, the colony was governed by a council of seven, with one member serving as president. Serious problems soon emerged in the small English outpost, which was located in the midst of a chiefdom of about 14,000...
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...e environment and atmosphere of the first colonies to settle in the new world was widely dissimilar, and some found success while others suffered harsh conditions. Virginia as labeled by Captain John Smith would fall into the last category. The colony of Jamestown came to the New World seeking land, assets and commerce, and settled in a coastal area, which did not provide the freshest water and proved to be abundant with disease. Jamestown was the first English settlement in America (1607). It had a stiff time at first and did not thrive until the colonists received their own land and the tobacco industry began flourishing due to Mr. Rolfe, the settlement took root. People continued to arrive and new settlements arose. As we can see with the article entitled “The Starving Times,” Jamestown suffered significantly when John Smith, their greatest capable leader, returned to England. Smith even records that he heard of a wife being murdered and cannibalized because of lack of food. This colony did eventually find some strength when it began to harvest tobacco, rice and indigo. Lord Baltimore received land from King Charles I to create a sanctuary for Catholics. His son, the second Lord Baltimore, personally possessed all the land and could use or sell it as he wished. In 1649, the Toleration Act was approved allowing all Christians to worship as they pleased. Maryland seemed to find more success in the New World thanks to its harvesting of tobacco, furs and flesh. Adjudicating by...
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...160 Ethnic Symbolism in Pocahontas In Walt Disney’s Pocahontas (1955), the adventures of a young Native Virginia Indian woman in her early twenties are portrayed as she roams the forest to search for what the meaning to her life truly is. She is a free spirit who lives with the nature of the world around her and is very attached to its beauty. Once the Englishmen invade the Indians’ territory in search of new land to conquer, things begin to change. There is a shift of tone from innocence to savagery as they come looking for gold and are willing to do anything to get their hands on it. Through this clash of two different civilizations, the filmmakers adequately display the mixing of two opposing peoples and how their relationship ultimately affects the outcome of their situations. Early in the film, Pocahontas is very lonely and often spends most of her time away from her village. When she first meets John Smith, she doesn’t approach him directly, but instead, her raccoon meeko sneaks up to Smith and eats a cookie from him. This is a common way of introducing two characters because there is often anther person or object that will initiate the conversation or make the first move. It also indicates that the Indians are modest and unaware of what is about to happen to them. When John Smith meets Pocahontas, he is at first as prejudice as all the other men and ignorant to the Powhatan tribe as being a friendly people. Nonetheless after Pocahontas shows him the land and convinces...
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...Women, Families, and Communities Chapter Review Chapter 1- Jamestown: Pocahontas, Powhatan, and the Struggles for Virginia When you here the name Pocahontas they think of the movie but she was real and she was a symbol of peaceful co-existence of American Indians and European settlers in North America. Powhatan was a powerful chief who ruled thirteen thousand Indians. In December 1607 some of the warriors captured three men and that is where you meet John Smith. He was about to be executed but at last minute Pocahontas rush out and saved him. They say that she was only about ten years old when she saved him. Powhatan was the one who sent her to rescue him as a gesture of mercy because women traditionally had the right to determine the fate of captives. Camilla Townsend follows Pocahontas and Powhatan on their negotiation with John Smith and the English Settlers. She tries to capture moments like when the English still had only a loose hold in America. She also reveals the role that the Indian women played. She eventually married John Rolfe who took her to England for their honeymoon in 1617 where she caught a fever and died. Rolfe returned and became a leader in development of tobacco in to a cash crop. He also transformed the lives of both Indian and English men and women for generations to come. Camilla Townsend wrote about the trading that went on between the Indians and the English and also making promises to each other about weapons. Then later on some of the...
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...Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma This fascinating book is a true story that gives us details about the life of Pocahontas and the events that took place during that period. It also helps to distinguish important facts from mythology bordering this amazing yet vibrant woman. Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief Powhatan was able to cross the boundary between the English invaders and the Native American culture. Her life’s history tells us just as much about this strong woman as it does about the two tribes she lived in. John Smith’s rescue from Pocahontas still arise questions and has a lot of misinformation. In this book Camilla does not tell put the misinformation to rest, but she succeeds in a rescue of her own; namely that of the Indian girl from the hands of the other character Pocahontas. This story aims to recall the humanity that the myth of the Pocahontas stole from the real Indian girl. Camilla argues that the Algonquian girl was overthrown into the mythical Pocahontas to assist the needs of the settlers and supporters of Jamestown journey as well as interested spectators within the government and general community of England. Since that time, the love poets, advocates of American exceptionalism, and Hollywood tycoons have continued to twist the reality that the real Pocahontas is no longer in existence. According to Camilla, she “was as brave as all her people – but a real and complicated woman with her own plans, goals and ideas. After the affirmation of this...
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...Puritan and Powhatan Dilemmas In the story of John Winthrop by Edmund Morgan and Pocahontas by Camilla Townsend, the word dilemma is thrust at the center and is the driving force for these biographies. Using the word dilemma suggests there is a conflict and one must make decisions and/or choose a particular side. This most certainly is the case for both John Winthrop’s Puritans and Powhatan. Edmund Morgan uses the title The Puritan Dilemma because the whole idea of the Puritans establishing themselves in America is itself a dilemma. Dilemma is used in Camilla Townsend’s title Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma because the situation that Pocahontas’s people, the Powhatan, are forced into is very much so a dilemma. The word was chosen with a purpose and the reasons for why both authors use dilemma in their biography titles is explored individually and then compared. The dilemma of John Winthrop and the Puritans is depicted throughout the biography. It is clear that the dilemma they faced was surrounded by their religious views. Winthrop and the Puritans embraced religion so much as to move to New England and create the “kind of society that God demanded of all His servants but that none had yet given Him (Morgan, 42).” Morgan puts a lot of effort to show the reader that the Puritan view of religion was plagued with the idea and question of what responsibility does a religious person owe to society. Morgan argues that this question and dilemma that Winthrop and the...
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...The Struggles of Jamestown On May 14, 1607 three ships sailed for the new colony known as Jamestown Virginia. The boats were packed with one hundred and four men and boys who left England on a cold December day. King James I had granted the Virginia Company its first charter which stated the right to establish colonies in Virginia. Any Englishmen that wanted to had the rights as colonists in the new settlement. The King had his eyes on Gold ore that had been found there by the Spanish and looked at this opportunity as an economic one for England. Little did they all know about the hardships that they would encounter in “the new world”. Life at Jamestown is the story of brave people with a fierce determination to survive which laid the foundation for our country today. The first mistake the colonists made was the location. The goal was to find a place on a river so the colonists could search for a northwest passage, and that would be a key defensive position in case of attacks from the Natives and Spanish. The Location of Jamestown was in a swampy area and was isolated from most game which needed more space to inhabit. Almost all game on the tiny peninsula was killed and hunted immediately which left the settlers with little to eat. Not only was the location bad for hunting but the low, surrounding land was marshy and filled with mosquitos which carried and led to several diseases. Along with little food, and disease filled bugs, the river that Jamestown was located by...
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...use the parts that they needed, and throw out the rest. By that time the Europeans were very high in knowledge and technology, and only some Native American groups in the North had the same tools as the Europeans had. The settlers had guns and metal tools that made life a bit easier. Oh, a bit about the lands that the Native Americans and new settlers shared, the native Americans protected their land, they didn’t cut down many trees. For, their religion taught them to care for nature and they might have a better afterlife. Whereas the Europeans of Jamestown; they had religions of Christianity but they didn’t practice their faith (in my eyes) towards nature and the Native Americans. Pocahontas: We all know the Disney version of what happened to Pocahontas… But what really happened??? ‘Pocahontas’ was her childhood nickname and it’s translated to ‘little wanton’ meaning she was playful and outgoing and hard to control. When she was born she had stayed with her mother, until she was of school age did she go to live with her father. When she was about 10 she heard of this colony. She went to visit and brought plenty of food with her. But when she heard of John Smith being dead, she stopped visiting them with food… That time was known as the starving time… But the fact of the matter was that John wasn’t dead, his leg was just badly burned in a gunpowder explosion so he had been taken back to England for recovery. Several years had past with no sign of her… Ralph Hamor had heard...
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...John Rolfe (1585 - 1622) was a member of a group of settlers who journeyed to Jamestown in 1609. Rolfe’s infant daughter died on the journey to Virginia. His wife died shortly after arriving at the colony. Rolfe served as recorder for the colony from 1614 to 1619. He married Princess Pocahontas, the daughter of the Native American chief Powhatan, in 1614, and they had one son, Thomas Rolfe. In 1616, John Rolfe returned to England with his wife Pocahontas. Rolfe returned to Jamestown after Pocahontas’ death on March 21, 1617. Rolfe became a landowner and married Jane Peirce before his death in 1622. Jamestown Settlement, 1607-1625 In 1606, the London Company received a royal charter from King James I to organize an expedition and establish colonies in North America. The Plymouth Company would establish the short-lived colony in Maine (see AJ-042). The Virginia Company set up England’s first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. Their primary goal was profit; investors hoped settlers would find valuable natural resources, such as lumber, herbs, pitch, and even gold, to send back to England. However, the English government also wanted to resist the Spanish colonization of North America (see AJ-077 for the report of a Spaniard on the Jamestown colony.) One hundred and four men and boys came ashore in May 1607-no women arrived until the following year. Over the next three years almost eight hundred settlers would arrive to colonize the Virginia coasts-six hundred of them...
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...hopes which was denied to them in the Old World. Europeans writers wrote an enormous amount of documents about America aimed during the early periods of settlement. Europeans composed portrayals of the nation, its abundant vegetation and aquatic life. They also “wrote of trading with the Indians” as numerous tribes established a peaceful exchange relation with the new settlers during the early phases of European settlement (Perkins 4). John Smith composed for future settlers when settlement started to grow. He also drew the maps for those settlers and gave them dreams that made them come to America even more. What created the drive for new settlers to come to America even more, was his adventure as “he told the story of his rescue by Pocahontas” (Smith 31). Through these stories, the readers could see the issues of Virginias settlement and throughout his letters he would make promises of a great future for New England, as he said “I would rather live here than anywhere” (Smith 31). Of the considerable number of colonies, the Middle Colonies appreciated the best geographical area, as stated “the easiest access to the great inland waterways and stored natural resources of the continent, and the finest balance of...
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...Intermarriage Pocahontas was the age of eleven when she met John Smith.Though,in the film she is of the age of fourteen years old,the relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas was portrayed in accuracy as there was a a strong bond between them in real life.However,the true fact is that they were not real lovers.It is stated that they had love for each other,but Pocahontas was not in love with him as much as he was in love with her.She eventually married a man named John Rolfe,who was the pioneer of English tobacco cultivation in Virginia.By them intermarrying it helped to make an alliance between the English and the Powhatan nation.Intermarriage back then was a legitimate stragtey that was used to obtain Indian lands.White men would intermarry with Indian daughters so they could allow for certain lands to be passed down...
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