Pocahontas's birth year is unknown, but some historians estimate it to have been around 1596. The real name of Pocahontas was Matoaka. As a child, she was called Pocahontas, meaning "playful one," and the name stuck. Her father was Powhatan, chief of a confederation of Algonquian tribes that bore his name.
Pocahontas probably received training in whatever was considered to be women’s work, including foraging for food and firewood, and farming.
In 1607 English colonists sent by the Virginia Company founded Jamestown. Pocahontas often played at the fort. In 1608, according to a story of debated authenticity, she saved the life of Capt. John Smith, who had been captured by Powhatan's warriors and was to be clubbed to death. The salvation of John Smith was the salvation of Jamestown colony.
Relations between the Native Americans and the colonists were not smooth in Virginia, however. In 1613, while Pocahontas was visiting the village of the Potomac Indians, Capt. Samuel Argall of the vessel Treasurer took her prisoner as security for Englishmen in Indian hands and for tools and supplies which the Indians had stolen. She was taken to Jamestown as a hostage. There she was treated with courtesy by the governor, Sir Thomas Dale, who was touched by her gentility and intelligence.
John Rolfe, a gentleman at Jamestown, fell in love with her and asked Dale for permission to marry her. Dale readily agreed in order to win the friendship of the Indians, although Pocahontas may have been married earlier to a chief named Kocoum. Powhatan also consented. Both Native Americans and Englishmen apparently considered this a bond between them, and it brought 8 years of peaceful relations in Virginia.
In 1616 the Virginia Company wished Pocahontas to visit England, thinking that it would aid the company in securing investments from British financiers. Rolfe, Pocahontas, her brother-in-law Tomocomo, and several Indian girls sailed to England. Pocahontas was received as a princess, entertained by the bishop of London, and presented to King James I and Queen Anne. Early in 1617 Pocahontas and her party prepared to return to Virginia, but at Gravesend she developed a case of smallpox and died.
Pocahontas was famous for her association with English colonists during their first years in Virginia. She assisted the colonists in establishing the settlement and also played a major role in mediating peaceful relations between the English settlers and her own tribesmen, the Powhatan Native Americans.
Her memory is honored with a life-size bronze statue at St. George's Church by William Ordway Partridge. Numerous places and landmarks were named after Pocahontas, and several films about her were also made.
After instruction in the Christian religion, she was baptized and took the name Rebecca.
Quotations:
"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew."
"My world has changed, and so have I. I have learned to choose and I have learned to say goodbye."
"Listen with your heart, you will understand."
Pocahontas married a Pamunkey man named Kocoum, and they settled in the Potomac region in 1610. This marriage was probably dissolved when she was abducted by the English.
During her captivity, Pocahontas became acquainted with John Rolfe, a tobacco farmer who proposed marriage to her. She agreed and the couple was married on 5 April 1614. Their marriage created a climate of peace between the English colonists and Powhatan's tribes for several years. The couple had a son called Thomas. He was educated in England, and he returned to Virginia to leave many descendants bearing the name Rolfe.
