The Powhatan tribe was a misinterpreted powerful group of Indians who persevered by staying together despite their disadvantages in their battles with the new English settlers, and their different way of living life. The Powhatan tribe stayed together throughout most of the 1600s. The English settlers did not have respect for these people and they simply could not understand the Powhatan culture. Sure the Powhatan tribe brutally killed its enemies through torture, but the cruel punishment kept their community together. Throughout the essay, there will be background information on the Powhatans’, as well as the new white settlers, and insight specifically tied to the Powhatan tribe.
The Powhatan tribe had some disadvantages that the English were well aware of. The first disadvantage being that all of the Powhatan people were illiterate, and did not know many words in their own language. Also as muskets began being used by the English settlers, the demand for trade to get ahold of these guns (also gun powder) became increasingly high. The people had to obey their God Powhatan no matter how much they might disagree with his wishes. If they chose to disobey him one of their …show more content…
They wanted the Powhatans’ to convert religiously to Christianity. They also willingly traded with the Powhatans’ not only for the sole purpose of keeping the peace, but to make the Powhatans’ realize that they needed the English settlers for at least the present time. They demanded respect from the Powhatans’, and when they were threatened on the way to get their property back they took action by going “… ashore, and burned in that very place some forty houses, and of the things we found therein, made freeboot and pillage; ….”.(Hamor 2) The English people generally wanted peace with the Powhatans’ but they were not afraid to get bloody if the time became necessary to fight like the example