John Smith was born in the family of a simple English craftsman somewhere in the late seventies of the 16th century. He left school at the age of ten. At fifteen, he already had his first troubles with girls from the best families who openly showed sympathy for the precocious guy. At the age of sixteen, at the insistence of many fathers of noble daughters, he was forced to leave for Holland, from there, as a servant of a young British knight, he went to France. In Paris, he perfected the art of the heartthrob, so it is not surprising that troubles recurred when he returned to England a few years later.
Smith had to urgently leave England again. This time fate brought him to Hungary. The Hungarian king Rudolph II (his residence was most often Prague Castle) waged war with Muslim Turkey, and John Smith joins the king's army. And in battles, the young adventurer managed to distinguish himself and even earned a reward for the liberation of the Hungarian town captured by the Turks. Then he was promoted to the rank of captain.
Smith achieved the title of nobility in a truly hussar way. The Turkish garrison of a Hungarian city, surrounded by Rudolf's troops, proposed to decide the fate of the city by a "knight's" tournament between representatives of the two armies. Captain Smith volunteered to fight first. His spear was more accurate, it fell into the slot of the visor, and the Turkish pasha fell lifeless. Then a servant of the pasha flew out to the platform on an Arabian horse, determined to avenge the death of his master. And Smith won this fight. The soldiers of Rudolf's army bowed their heads in front of the two defeated and greeted the winner. The news of the double victory of the brave captain spread throughout all the allied forces waging war against the Turks. Sigmund Batory knighted the brave captain and approved his coat of arms, which depicted two severed heads of the Turks.
But luck is changeable, and the captain in one of the skirmishes falls into Turkish captivity, where he is sold into service in one of the most luxurious Tsargrad palaces. However, the beloved wife of the local pasha liked him so much that she begged the owner not to force Smith to work as a commoner.
Once the pasha went to the Crimea, to Bakhchisaray, and took Smith with him. There, in the absence of a patroness, Smith was used in the most difficult jobs. Once, during a threshing, he accidentally stayed in the yard alone with a Turk. Suddenly, Smith swung his flail and killed the unsuspecting pasha with a few blows. Then he put on his dress and left Bakhchisaray on his horse. For several years he was in the territory controlled by the Russians, then returned to England.
He returned on time. Plymouth society was just looking for such brave men, not afraid of wandering, to conquer North America. Smith became one of the founders of the first settlement in British North America - the legendary Jamestown.
The territory where Captain Smith and his companions laid the first British fort, which became the epicenter of the expansion of the English colonies in America, was part of the lands of the so-called Powhatan confederation. The confederation already at that time included 24 tribes of Indians. At the head of a powerful union was the leader Povhatan.
The inhabitants of Jamestown, from the whole vast region of the confederation, knew only their town and its immediate surroundings, and of the Indians, only the inhabitants of the nearest camps, from where food was delivered to them. Therefore, Captain Smith plans to make a sortie inland. But there was another reason: Spain raked tons of silver and gold out of its American colonies. Therefore, the Plymouth Society insisted that the settlers from Jamestown also go to look for gold in the hinterland of British America.
Smith equips a small boat and in December 1607, along with twelve whites and two Indian guides, sails up the Chickahomi River. A few days later, the plains of Virginia were left behind. The narrowed river bed led into thick jungle. Here Smith left part of his men, and he himself, with two brave rowers from Jamestown and two Indians, went on in a fragile boat.
Before sailing, the crew swore under no circumstances to leave the boat on the river and not to land in unfamiliar places. But hunger forced them to break their oath soon after. They got out to hunt on dry land. The river was surrounded by dense and seemingly uninhabited forest, and Smith did not suspect that their voyage was under the scrutiny of Pamunka lookouts.
Pamunki were part of the confederation. Their leader, Opechankamug, was even the brother of "King" Powhatan and his first deputy in the alliance, but they disagreed on how to deal with intruders. Opechankamug disagreed with his brother, the Paramount Chief, who took the line of friendly humility. Opechankamoog called for the combined forces of all twenty-four tribes to force the settlers out of America. Even the firearms of the palefaces could not dissuade Opechankamug.
But the confederation could start hostilities against the white settlers only on the orders and under the leadership of the supreme leader. However, unwritten laws also apply to the lands of the Indian Union. As soon as Captain Smith landed in the Pamunca's domain, the Indians ambushed the Pamunks.
Skillful Smith fought back for a long time. He used a technique that he had learned in Hungary in battles with the Turks: under the cover of an Indian guide, defending himself with a heroic sword, he moved step by step to the boat. But the Indian guide managed to put his foot on him, and the English knight was nevertheless captured.
The first white captive became a sensation not only for the Pamunka tribe, but also for all neighboring tribes. By order of Opechankamug, he was taken to Indian settlements and paraded, as captive Indians were then put up for the amusement of Europeans. This is how the Indians and the whites got to know each other. Smith tried to adapt to his jailers, earned their respect by his ability to handle a compass, a pistol, a shell. Indian shamans spent several days studying an amazing creature called a pale-faced, protected by an iron shell. It seemed to them a mistake of nature. But a good mistake or a bad one? They regaled their prisoner with the most delicious dishes, which, according to Smith, would be enough for twenty people. Smith was tormented by the fear that they wanted to fatten him up quickly and then eat him.
Soon the Indians brought the prisoner to the "capital" of the confederation, Verovoka-moku, and there he finally appeared before the supreme leader. Powhatan sat on an elevated place, dressed in a leather cape. Around the "throne" were members of the council of the confederation. At the feet of the supreme leader sat an Indian girl in a magnificent outfit. Smith, during his life in Jamestown and in captivity, saw many Indian women, but had not yet met such a beauty. She was the thirteen-year-old Princess Pocahontas, daughter and favorite of the formidable leader, who honored her with a place of honor, usually traditionally occupied by the eldest son.
A large fire was burning in front of the “throne”, and warriors lined up in rows around the fire. Powhatan stood up and importantly asked the knight why he had come to the land of the redskins. The knight blamed the Spaniards for everything, who allegedly circled the coast and pursued the British. And he, they say, had to save himself and seek refuge in the land of the Indians. It was evident that the leader did not believe a single word and was angry. It was forbidden to spoil friendly relations with the settlers who settled in Jamestown, on the very outskirts of the confederation. But members of the council of tribes were present here, and the leader did not spare the prisoner, giving the right to the council to decide his fate. The majority, led by the resolute Opechankamug, demanded the immediate death of the prisoner at the ritual fire.
Pocahontas - daughter of the chief
Powhatan approved the death sentence for the discoverer of Indian North America. But the life of this minion of Happy Chance was saved, as happened more than once, again by a woman. The beautiful Pocahontas looked at him, at his shell, at his luxurious mustache with undisguised adoration. The first - real, but hopeless - love sparkled in the young heart of Pocahontas.
When the sentence was pronounced, the captain was tied to a post driven into the ground, and two strong Indians prepared stone axes to crush his head at the order of the leader. The executioners had already raised their terrible weapons, but the fragile Pocahontas rushed to the post. She shielded the stranger and shouted: “Better kill me!”
Powhatan could not inflict suffering on his beloved daughter. He pardoned the knight and soon released him from custody. But Pocahontas was forbidden to meet him. Some time later, apparently in order to prevent such a meeting, Powhatan, guarded by twelve Indians, sent the captain to Jamestown.
The first and oldest settlement in British America, to which Smith returned after a forced stay in the "capital" of Powhatan, was a wretched sight. The settlers lived only at the expense of handouts from neighboring Indian sites, there were no laws in the town, there was no work. And Smith, who expressed dissatisfaction with such a living arrangement, was forced to get out of Jamestown and again set sail on the rivers of Indian America. He traveled along the Potomac to what is now Washington.
Smith later re-established himself in Jamestown. But not for long. When a local gunpowder depot exploded, he was seriously wounded and went to England for treatment.
Jamestown, meanwhile, was living its last days. In addition, a plague broke out, and when the wave of the epidemic subsided, the settlers found that Jamestown had become a city of the dead. Of the five hundred settlers, 59 survived. The Indians stopped visiting the settlement, where the Black Death ruled. So the products stopped coming in. The inhabitants of Jamestown lost the habit of agricultural work, and famine began in the settlement. In the end, the last inhabitants of the dying Jamestown, whom even extreme circumstances did not force them to take up the plow and the seeder, became cannibals.
Information about the tragic end of the first settlement in Indian America reached the Plymouth trading society. It sent a schooner with the new leadership of Jamestown and a few dozen new colonists, with food and weapons. The ship, however, was caught in a storm off Bermuda, and the new colonists who were supposed to save Jamestown from starvation were themselves starving to death on one of the uninhabited islands.
The Indians had the opportunity to do away with the only European settlement with one blow. Most of the leaders of the twenty-four allied Indian tribes were eager to fight. But Pocahontas, still remembering the English knight, begged her father for peace. Povhatan this time went on about his daughter and did not proclaim: "War." He said, "Peace and generosity."
The settlers in Jamestown also behaved strangely. In an unfriendly environment of thousands of Indian tribes, hungry and weak, they only thought about how to get the Indians to feed them. The sailor Argall, a desperate adventurer, got on a ship to the capital of the Indian confederation and tricked the Indian princess Pocahontas into the ship, who, it seems, spread her love for the English knight to all the English. Argall tied the princess and brought her to Jamestown, and Powhatan was told that he would return his beloved daughter only in exchange for a huge amount of corn. Povhatan rejected this impudent offer, but again did not give the order to his people to go to the settlement.
Pocahontas becomes a lady
The capture of the beautiful Pocahontas, surprisingly, even led to peace between Indians and whites. And that's what happened. Pocahontas, sighing in Jamestown prison for her British knight, fell in love with another gentleman. It must be admitted that the cavalier was one of the most worthy settlers of Jamestown.
Smith was far across the sea, and the unmarried Indian princess eventually accepted the offer of the Right Honorable Sir John Rolfe. After renouncing her former faith, taking the name Rebecca, she became the wife of a young Englishman.
Povhatan did not oppose the marriage of his daughter; on the contrary, he sent one of the brothers at the head of a large “delegation” from the confederation to the wedding. On the occasion of the wedding, the Indian chief gave the new mayor of the settlement his cape and moccasins. They are still on display in the Oxford Museum.
But back to our brave knight Smith. In the meantime, he swam in other seas and landed on other shores. Sometimes as a fisherman, sometimes as a pirate. But he never returned to Virginia. And yet their paths with the beautiful Pocahontas crossed again ...
Pocahontas-Rebecca Rolfe visited England with her husband in 1616. London received her - the daughter of a powerful American ruler - with extraordinary delight.
From those times there was a portrait of an Indian princess, which is now kept in the National Gallery in Washington. The Indian princess was even adopted in the court. And that's where Smith and Rebecca met. But much separated them now! The Indian princess became a real lady, had an eminent husband and son, and Smith, the founder of the English colonial empire in North America, remained a black sheep among the London court elite.
Death of Pocahontas
Fate turned out to be ruthless to the Indian beauty. Pocahontas contracted tuberculosis in London and soon died at the age of twenty-one. She was buried in Gravende Cemetery on English soil. Smith also never saw America again, he died at a fairly young age a few years later.
King James feared that the son of an Indian princess, Thomas Rolfe, would become the hereditary ruler of Virginia - an "American king" independent of the English monarch. In an effort to prevent such an undesirable development of events, which, in his opinion, directly threatened the interests of England, the king decided to urgently send several dozen brides from the so-called best families to Jamestown, which had grown by that time, so that the settlers would not look for wives among Indian women.
When the royal ship unloaded its precious cargo in Jamestown - 90 specially selected girls, they were immediately escorted to church so that during the solemn service each Settler could quietly choose a bride to his liking. The church was overcrowded as never before, although the settlers were not distinguished by religiosity. The next day, the first couples got married in the church. To compensate for travel expenses, a fixed fee was established: 120 pounds of Virginia tobacco per bride. Tobacco was the main currency of the first colony. And all this happened in 1621.
In the same year, the main defender of the settlement of Smita, the leader of the twenty-four Powhatan tribes, died. The empty throne was taken by his brother Opechankamug, the most ardent opponent of the penetration of whites into Virginia.
A few days after coming to power, Opechankamug called the leaders of all allied tribes to the ritual fire. The decision was unanimous - war! War before it's too late True, the balance of power by this time had changed dramatically not in favor of the Indians. Ten years ago, during the Black Death, a hundred demoralized Europeans eked out a miserable existence in the only white settlement in Jamestown. But in ten years, several dozen English settlements arose near Jamestown with more combat-ready and hardworking people. But Opechankamug was unshakable.
And on April 1, 1622, the Indian tribes of Virginia entered the warpath. Of the 81 small settlements at the plantations founded by the whites, the Indians defeated 73. Only in the first battles 350 settlers died. Powhatan and Pocahontas departed to another world, the romance about the love of an Indian princess for an English knight has already faded, and in North America on April 1, 1622, the flames of the first real Indian war soared ...
Reality.
Pocahontas existed. True, she was a representative of the tobacco industry, something like a living Indian "tobacco store" in a time when tobacco shops had not yet opened.
The young Indian princess Pocahontas (1595 - 1617) was kidnapped in 1613 by British settlers - this was done in order to conclude a more profitable world for the whites with the girl's father, the leader Powhatan. They hoped to trade Pocahontas for British prisoners. While she was in prison, his Reverend Father Whittaker studied English with the girl, introduced her to the Holy Scriptures, tried to "instill in her worthy manners" (Pocahontas was used to walking naked to the waist from childhood and often asked the boys "to build her a wagon so that she could ride it without clothes").
The girl showed good abilities - she grasped everything on the fly, learned quickly and quickly got used to a new life.
She was baptized with the name Rebecca and married to an English farmer, John Rolfe. It was John's tobacco plantations (the first in Virginia) that gave the state a chance to survive.
In 1616, John made a trip to England to show new designs of the goods, and Pocahontas was also one of the samples.
It should be noted that the English King James I hated tobacco, calling it "harmful to the eyes, disgusting to the nose and deadly to the brain."
When Pocahontas arrived in London with her husband and a dozen tribesmen, the Indians were presented to the court. Pocahontas was a success with Queen Anne. While all the Indians arrived in England in their usual dress, Pocahontas came to the palace dressed in the latest fashion - in a dress with a high English collar. Pocahontas has become everyone's favorite. And it was then that John Smith for the first time - 10 years after it happened - began to tell others the story of "how-she-saved-me-from-death." It should be noted here that back in 1608, John Smith wrote a book called "The Real Discovery of Virginia" - and so, in this book there was NOT A WORD about his miraculous salvation with the help of the Indian girl Pocahontas! It is also curious that after the departure of John, Pocahontas married a tribesman named Kokoum and, apparently, was his faithful wife until 1613, until the colonists stole her. And the whole love story was written by John Smith only in 1624. Maybe Smith was just trying to attract a little more attention to himself? In addition, no evidence has yet been found that Captain John Smith and Pocahontas actually met during her stay in England.
Half of the Indians who arrived in England with John Rolfe died of unknown diseases. Pocahontas also fell ill with smallpox and, after much suffering, died in March 1617 at the age of 22. She is buried there, on the banks of the Foggy Albion.
As for the mission of John Rolfe, it failed: the king did not reduce taxes. However, "Virginia" for the year doubled the export of tobacco - from 20 to 40 thousand pounds.
John Rolfe (1585 - 1625) married again - this time to an Englishwoman, but was killed a few years later - they say the Indians did it. And his legacy is still alive today - in the tobacco company of Joe Camel.
Four faces of Pocahontas.
Pocahontas: the underside of the legendChief's daughter
Pocahontas was born around 1594 or 1595 (the exact date is unknown), presumably in the Indian settlement of Verawocomoko (now Wicomico, Virginia), north of the Pamaunki (York River). Her generic, secret name was Matoaka ("Snow White Feather").
She was the daughter of a Powhatan tribal leader named Wahunsonacock. True, in the history of white people, he remained Powhatan - by the name of the union of tribes, which he headed. There were about 25 tribes under his rule. Pocahantas was the daughter of one of his many wives.
In the spring of 1607, English settlers landed at the mouth of the Pamaunka River. At the confluence of Pamaunki and Chikahimini, they founded a city called Jamestown (in honor of King James I (James I). By that time, the Powhatan Indians already knew about the existence of white people. In 1570-71 they had to deal with the Jesuit Spaniards, they heard and about the attempts of the pale-faced to establish English colonies in the Carolinas. English ships sailed to the mouth of the Pamaunca River. A few years before the founding of Jamestown, the British killed one of the leaders of Powhatan, and many Indians were captured and enslaved. It is not surprising that the new batch of colonists was Indians greeted unkindly: they attacked them, killed one and wounded several settlers.However, after two of the three ships weighed anchor and sailed back to England, the leader Powhatan offered the settlers to make peace and, as a proof of goodwill, sent a deer to the first governor of the colony, Wingfield. It was during this time that Matoaka met the pale-faced people who knew her as Pocahontas, which means "spoiled", "playful". It was then, presumably, that Pocahontas met John Smith, the man who, in many ways, thanks to whom her story survived the centuries and became a legend.
John Smith
John Smith was born around 1580 (that is, he was about 15 years older than Pocahontas). His life was full of adventures. Before arriving on the coast of the new continent, he managed to make war in Hungary against the Turks (in 1596-1606). Contemporaries called him "a rude, ambitious, boastful mercenary." According to eyewitnesses, he was short and wore a beard.
An experienced soldier, adventurer, explorer, Smith also possessed a lively pen and a rich imagination. It is he who owns the first known description of an English settlement in the New World through the eyes of an eyewitness - "A true narrative of noteworthy events in Virginia since the founding of this colony" (1608). In this book, however, Pocahontas is not mentioned. About how the Indian princess saved his life, Smith told only in 1616 in a letter to Queen Anne (Pocahontas had just arrived in England, but more on that below), and then repeated this story in his book "General Historie", published in 1624.
According to Smith, in December 1607 he left the fort at the head of a small detachment of colonists in search of food. The Indians, led by Uncle Pocahontas, Openchankanu, attacked the expedition, killed everyone except Smith, and he was taken to the capital of Powhatan, to the supreme leader. He ordered to kill Smith, and then the young Indian woman covered him with herself from the clubs of her fellow tribesmen.
Researchers and historians disagree about how true this story is. Smith could well have invented it - as already mentioned, his imagination always worked well. Doubts were aggravated by the fact that before Smith, according to him, the princess had already saved, but not an Indian, but a Turkish woman - when he was in Turkish captivity. There is another version: the Indians were not going to kill him at all, but, on the contrary, they wanted to accept him into the tribe. Part of the ritual was a mock execution, from which he was "saved" by Pocahontas.
One way or another, but in the presentation of Smith, Pocahontas became a real good angel of the colony of English settlers in Jamestown. Thanks to her, relations with the Indians improved for some time. Pocahontas frequented the fort and maintained friendly relations with John Smith. She even saved his life one more time by warning that Chief Powhatan wanted to kill him again. In the winter of 1608, the Indians brought provisions and furs to Jamestown, exchanging them for axes and trinkets. This allowed the colony to hold out until spring.
However, in October 1609, Smith had a mysterious accident - he was badly wounded in the leg by a gunpowder explosion and had to return to England. Pocahontas was informed that Captain Smith had died.
Among the pale-faced
After Smith's departure, relations between the Indians and the colonists began to deteriorate rapidly. In the autumn of 1609, Powhatan gives the order to kill 60 settlers who have arrived in Verawokomoko. Around the same time, Pocahontas marries his tribesman Kokum and goes to live in an Indian settlement on the Potomac River. Little is known about this period of her life (still, there was no John Smith), as well as about the further fate of her husband.
In 1613, one of the residents of Jamestown, the enterprising Captain Samuel Argall, found out where Pocahontas was, and with the help of one of the minor Indian leaders (he received a copper cauldron for betrayal), he lured the daughter of the High Chief Powhatan to his ship, after which he demanded her father - in exchange for her daughter - to release the British captured by the Indians, as well as to return the weapons stolen from the settlers and pay a ransom in corn. After some time, the chief sent part of the ransom to Jamestown and asked that his daughter be treated well.
From Jamestown, Pocahontas was transported to the city of Henrico, whose governor was then Thomas Dale. The governor entrusted the Indian woman to the care of pastor Alexander Vaytaker. After some time, Pocahontas converted to Christianity. She was baptized into the Anglican faith under the name Rebecca. Around the same time, another white man appeared on the scene, who played a significant role in the life of Pocahontas - the colonist John Rolfe.
John Rolf
When John Rolfe and his wife Sarah sailed from England to Jamestown, a storm threw them into Bermuda. During her stay in Bermuda, Sarah gave birth to a girl, but both - Rolf's wife and his newborn daughter - soon died. There, in Bermuda, Rolf picked up grains of local tobacco, and, having arrived in Virginia in 1612, he crossed it with local coarse varieties. The resulting hybrid gained immense popularity in England, and the export of tobacco ensured the financial well-being of the colony for a long time. Of course, Rolf has become one of the most respected and wealthy residents of Jamestown. The tobacco plantation he owned was called the Bermuda Hundred.
Pocahontas met John Rolfe in July 1613, after tobacco had brought him wealth and the respect of the colonists. Canonical legend claims that Pocahontas and Rolf fell in love and got married - with the blessing of Governor Thomas Dale and Pocahontas' father, Chief Powhatan. However, authentic historical documents (in particular, the surviving letter from Rolfe to Governor Dale) allow us to conclude that this marriage was only a political union, and the very pious John Rolfe not only did not want, but even feared an alliance with a pagan and agreed to it only "for the good plantations, for the honor of the country, to the greater glory of God and for their own salvation "and only after Pocahontas converted to Christianity. For Pocahontas, consent to marriage could be a condition for release.
One way or another, but on April 5, 1614, the 28-year-old widower John Rolf and the Indian princess Pocahontas got married. The wedding was attended by relatives from the side of the bride - her uncle and brothers. The leader Powhatan himself did not appear at the celebration, but agreed to the marriage and even sent a pearl necklace for his daughter. In 1615, Pocahontas, now Rebecca Rolf, gave birth to a son, who was named Thomas, after the governor. The descendants of Pocahontas and Rolf were known in the US as "Red Rolfs".
In 1616, in his Narrative of Virginia, Rolf calls the next few years "blessed" for the colony. Thanks to the marriage of Pocahontas and Rolf, peace reigned between the colonists of Jamestown and the Indians for 8 years.
In the civilized world
In the spring of 1616 Governor Thomas Dale traveled to England. The main purpose of the trip was to seek funding for the Virginia Tobacco Company. In order to impress and draw public attention to the life of the colony, he took with him a dozen Indians, including Princess Pocajonas. Her husband and son accompanied her on the trip. Indeed, Pocahontas was a great success in London and was even presented to the court. It was during her stay in England that John Smith wrote a letter to Queen Anne, in which he told the story of his miraculous salvation and in every way extolled the positive role of Pocahontas in the fate of the colony. Then Pocahontas and John Smith met again. Sources disagree on the atmosphere in which this meeting took place. According to Smith's notes, Pocahontas called him father, and asked him to call her daughter. But the leader Roy Crazy Horse in the authentic biography of Pocahontas on the site powhatan.org claims that Pocahontas did not even want to talk to Smith, and at the next meeting she called him a liar and showed him the door. True or not, Pocahontas and John Smith never met again.
In March 1617, the Rolf family began to make their way home to Virginia. But while preparing to sail, Pocahontas fell ill - either with a cold or pneumonia. Some sources even list tuberculosis or smallpox among the probable ailments. On March 21, she died and was buried in Gravesend (Kent, England). She was, according to various sources, 21 or 22 years old.
Epilogue
Father Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan, died the following spring of 1618, and relations between the colonists and the Indians soured completely and irrevocably. In 1622, the Indians, led by a new leader, attacked Jamestown and killed about 350 settlers. The British responded to aggression with aggression. Even during the lifetime of the peers of Pocahontas, the Indians living in Virginia were almost completely exterminated and scattered across America, and their lands were ceded to the colonists. Soon, similar methods of dealing with the redskins spread throughout the continent.
Jamestown, meanwhile, prospered. John Rolf continued to successfully cultivate tobacco. In 1619, he was one of the first to use the labor of Negro slaves on the plantation, in general, he was a progressive-minded person for his time, and as a result, he forever entered the history of the tobacco industry and the history of America. In the same year, 1619, Jamestown became the capital of the state of Virginia. However, in 1676, the city was almost destroyed during one of the largest Indian uprisings in American history, the Baconis Rebellion, after which it fell into relative decline and in 1698 lost its status as the state capital.
Pocahontas' son, Thomas Rolfe, was brought up in England in the care of his uncle, Henry Rolfe. However, at 20, he returned to his mother's homeland, became an officer in the local militia, and commanded a frontier fort on the James River.
John Rolfe died in 1676, the year of the rebellion, but whether he died a natural death (and he must have been about 90 years old) or was killed during the massacre perpetrated by the Indians in the city is not exactly known.
In subsequent years, the story of Pocahontas, Captain Smith and John Rolfe gradually became one of the favorite Virginia and then All-American myths. Many people in Virginia and beyond are descended from Pocahontas, and references to her and her descendants are found in many literary works. Here is what Mine Reid writes, for example, in the novel Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles: “I have an admixture of Indian blood in my veins, since my father belonged to the Randolph family from the Roanoke River and descended from Princess Pocahontas. He was proud of his Indian origin - almost boasted of it. It may seem strange to a European, but it is known that in America whites who have Indian ancestors are proud of their origin. Being a mestizo is not considered a shame, especially if the descendant of the natives has a decent fortune. Many volumes written about nobility and grandeur of the Indians, are less convincing than the simple fact that we are not ashamed to recognize them as our ancestors. Hundreds of white families claim that they are descended from the Virginian princess. If their claims are true, then the beautiful Pocahontas was a priceless treasure for her husband. "
The image of Pocahontas still adorns the flag and seal of the city of Henrico.
Well, after cinematography was invented, the myth of Pocahontas - the Indian woman who helped the pale-faced - was repeatedly and in different versions captured on film. The first film about Pocahontas was the silent film of the same name in 1910, but the last one at the moment is Terence Malick's New World project.
http://christian-bale.narod.ru/press/pocahontas_story.html
Illustrations by Smith, E. Boyd (Elmer Boyd, 1860-1943), 1906 .
Found here:
Pocahontas is one of the official Disney princesses and the only squaw (female Indian) among them. Pocahontas is also the first Disney princess of American origin (the second was Tiana from the cartoon The Princess and the Frog).
Character
The name Pocahontas is translated as "little darling" or "naughty". The image of this heroine is based on a real historical figure.
Pocahontas is depicted as a noble and free-spirited girl. She has wisdom beyond her years and kindness. Most of all she loves adventure and nature. In the film, Pocahontas has shamanistic powers, as she was able to communicate with nature, speak with spirits, empathize with animals, and understand unknown languages.
Appearances
Pocahontas
A ship leaves from England to North America. Most of the crew is driven by the desire for profit, as they are haunted by the fact that the Spaniards, who arrived in South America decades earlier, found huge amounts of gold there. The ship sails to the land of the tribe whose princess is Pocahontas, where she meets a young and very handsome young man named John Smith. Their relationship develops against the backdrop of a war between white people and natives.
Pocahontas 2
Princess Pocahontas learns the sad news: John Smith died in his homeland. On the seashore, in an English settlement, she meets John Ralph, who has just arrived from England, but the meeting was very cold. They later meet in the girl's hometown. Pocahontas offers John Ralph his services as a diplomat to negotiate with King James to resolve the conflict between whites and Indians. The girl has a long journey across the ocean, to see a lot of new things, to get acquainted with English etiquette and ... to meet an old enemy. If only he could hear his heart again...
mouse house
The princess is a frequent visitor to the Mouse House. Her friend Miko the raccoon can be seen in the cutscene along with Goofy. And in the storage of personal belongings of the guests you can find a box with the inscription "Flowers of the Wind" ( Flowers of Rains).
Aladdin 3: And the King of Thieves
When the Genie finds out that Aladdin is the son of the King of Thieves, he cannonaded the American troops. As a prank, he jumps from a helicopter in the guise of Pocahontas, yelling "Let's go!".
The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata
At the end of the cartoon, Timon and Pumbaa are joined by Disney cartoon characters. The silhouette of Pocahontas can be seen next to Peter Pan, who is crowing in the air.
Portrait showing Pocahontas a year before her death, in England. Although Simone Van de Pass gave her a European look, she was a full-blooded young Algonquian Powhatan girl, and all high-status Indian women wore face tattoos.
1585 watercolors of women. Here we see full lips, dark skin, black eyes and hair, as well as tattoos on the face. A close-up of Algonquian women by John White, ten years before Pocahontas was born. He accompanied an English expedition to Powhatan lands in 1585 and captured more accurate female facial features, including traditional tattoos, which may be closer, in fact, to Pocahontas' actual appearance, based on her ethnicity. The image created by de Pass was openly propagandistic.
Powhatan names: Amonute (translation unknown), Matoaka (Bright Stream Between the Hills), Pocahontas (Little Playful One).
English baptismal name: Rebecca. She was sometimes called "Lady Rebecca".
Marriage: Her first husband was Kokoum (powhatan) in 1610. At that time, Pocahontas was 15 years old, and this was the age when girls were married off. The first marriage lasted three years; the early English chronicles do not mention children from this marriage. It is likely that information about children was deliberately removed from "official documents" for propaganda purposes.
Her second marriage was to John Rolfe, an English widower, in 1614. There is no historical mention of a divorce from Kokoum and, most likely, Pocahontas was married to Powhatan at the time of her abduction by the colonists, in 1613. John Rolfe and Pocahontas had a son - Thomas.
So, Pocahontas (Matoaka) years of life: 1595 (?) -1617. Favorite daughter of Chief Powhatan, leader of an alliance of 32 Indian nations, the Powhatan Confederacy, as she was called by 17th-century English colonists in the New World of Virginia (Tsenacommacah (Sen-ah-cóm-ma-cah) as she was called Indian communities.) Most of the historical information about Pocahontas comes to us from English sources of the colonial era.There is very little information about it, except for that contained in the notes of the adventurer John Smith, who first mentioned it in his report to the Virginia Company in London (a capitalist enterprise hoped to export goods from Virginia to Europe, in addition to taking land from the Indians.) He detailed the story of the young Pocahontas, highlighting her crucial role in saving her life when Powhatan ordered his execution, as well as the aid for the starving that followed. and the defense of Fort James (Jamestown) His accounts of the influence of Pocahontas on Powhatan can of course be exaggerated. Pocahontas was presented as John Smith's "savior" in records from 1624, after her death. (His story of being rescued by a "beautiful lady" was repeated many times in later writings. Smith's rescuers were usually "beautiful ladies" of high social standing who turned a blind eye to the meanness of his own.) Smith's notes on Pocahontas contain highlights of her life during her youth, when she was friendly towards the English settlers. (Many Indians believed that the image of Pocahontas had become an "icon for assimilation").
In 1613, a girl visiting the Patavomeks was kidnapped by the British. This happened thanks to the collusion of the leader Japazaus with Samuel Argall (the captain of the ship). The name Pocahontas was given at baptism is not accidental. Rebecca is a biblical character, the wife of Isaac, who left her native people for her husband. In 1614 Pocahontas marries John Rolfe. For two years after their marriage, they lived on Rolf's plantation, not far from Henrico. January 30, 1615 they had a son - Thomas Rolf.
In 1616, Pocahontas is hired by the Virginia Company in London as a "celebrity" (Virginia at that time needed a lot of investment). John Rolfe, Pocahontas, their son Thomas and eleven other Indians went to England. On June 12, they arrived at the port of Plymouth, then moved to London. In London, the girl became a real "star", where she was presented as the messenger of the New World. She even attended the reception of the king and brought a huge profit for the company. At the beginning of 1617, at one of the receptions, Pocahontas accidentally met John Smith. As Smith himself wrote later, their conversation was rather cool. For the Virginia company, this trip brought a lot of money, and Pocahontas it cost her life. She died in 1617 at Gravesend, where she went ashore on her way home. John Rolf wrote that before his death, Pocahontas told him: "Everyone dies sometime, the main thing is that our son remains alive." The Church of St. George, where she was buried, became the temple of Pocahontas, as a tribute to the memory of the "mother of American history." The exact location of her grave is unknown, but a monument to the famous girl was erected next to the Gravesend Church.
Now I would like to present to your attention an excerpt from the thesis of Kyros Old, a descendant of Pamunkey, Tauksenents and Taino, who graduated from Howard University in 2008. This is the first substantiated study of the history of Pocahontas by a Powhatan Indian descendant.
Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, is undoubtedly part of the pantheon of Indian men and women who contributed to European colonization. She joined the ranks of doña Marina and Squanto; the first was a guide and interpreter for Cortes, the second taught the pilgrims how to grow corn and served as their messenger. Their lives and deaths are noteworthy as they played a pivotal role in setting the course of colonization in the Americas. It's safe to say that the colonization of the area that became known as Virginia would not have been as successful for the British if not for Pocahontas. Unlike the Spaniards, who came with an army of conquistadors and priests, the British, in anticipation of reinforcements from their densely populated homeland, resorted to diplomatic relations. Sensing the same danger, they used extreme tactics of kidnapping, April 13, 1613, and demanded a ransom for Pocahontas.
For the foundation of Jamestown, in 1607, the British chose an unfortunate place: lowland, swamp, malaria. And in addition to that, they were ill-prepared for basic survival. Instead of planting crops and digging wells, most of the colonists preferred to look for gold and other precious metals. The first years were difficult, it is known that in July and August they were starving. In the summer of 1608, corn supplemented their meager diet. Stocks of wine ran out and the British began to drink brackish water from the James River, which led to numerous cases of typhoid fever, dysentery and poisoning. The situation was so catastrophic that many colonists began to seek salvation in Indian cities. And the Indians helped them.
Pocahontas first appears in the notes of Captain John Smith. In the last years of his life, the captain wrote that on December 10, 1607, she saved his life from certain death, since her father, the leader Powhatan, ordered that he be executed. It should be noted that this event is not mentioned in Smith's earlier accounts. This (though controversial) first appearance of Pocahontas shows her unconscious service to the interests of the British colonists and the beginning of her journey as a colonial tool. But, the reliability of these events is not so important, because in the future Pocahontas gives the impression of impeccable readiness to sacrifice himself to those who became the harbinger of the fall of her people. The girl changed the balance of power in Virginia in favor of the British.
With the help of several patavomeks, on April 13, 1613, Pocahontas was abducted by Captain Samuel Argall. The records of Ralph Hamor testify to how the girl was lured onto the ship and kidnapped. For their help in the kidnapping, this pair of Patawomeks received an iron kettle from the captain. Through them, Argall sent a message to Powhatan about the kidnapping and the terms of the ransom. From that moment on, the British began to use Pocahontas as a political hostage. Powhatan paid part of the ransom and promised to give the rest when his daughter was released. There was a three-month lull between the British and Powhatan, and according to Ralph Hamor's notes, Powhatan was in disarray. The British took advantage of this and made even higher demands on the leader, insisting that Powhatan surrender all British weapons, all tools, give up all deserters and fill the ship with corn as compensation. Governor Dale, taking advantage of the leader's indecisiveness, went even further. Accompanied by 50 people and Pocahontas, the governor went up the river, penetrating the lands of the Powhatan confederation. Chief Powhatan failed to meet with Dale, his brother, Opechancanough or Opchanacanough (1554-1646), the Powhatan tribal leader did. Approx. Per. Dale made a series of demands and sailed downriver unhindered, unhindered by the overwhelming number of warriors awaiting command from their superiors. The key to survival in the ensuing struggle was again the use of Pocahontas as a hostage. After negotiations with Opechancanogue, the resolution of the hostage situation was put on hold.
One could easily blame Powhatan for deliberately putting Pocahontas in danger by allowing her to act as an intermediary. However, such an argument does not take into account the possibility that this was the fulfillment of her duties as the chief's daughter, and Powhatan may not have expected such a betrayal from a prospective trading partner. John Smith sufficiently appreciated the importance of learning the local language in order to engage in trade and diplomacy. Smith followed the standard practice of sending English boys to Virginia as servants to learn their language and customs from the various local communities. Apparently, Pocahontas served in a similar way as a child. She often accompanied her father's emissaries when she sent food to the English and gained some knowledge of their language. However, Powhatan did not use his daughter when he was on bad terms with the British. He removed his daughter from contact with the British for a period from childhood to adulthood. The kidnapping of Pocahontas was not a direct result of Powhatan sending her to the British. John Smith testifies to this fact, claiming that she was found and stolen by an English merchant ship in 1613. In the period leading up to her abduction, Pocahontas did not serve as a potential intermediary and was not in any threatening situations. To continue to maintain that Powhatan remains responsible for the kidnapping of his daughter is like asserting the guilt of the victim of a crime committed by the British with the assistance of a few Patawomec opportunists.
Immediately after this, John Rolf made an offer to the governor of Dale, he asked for the hand of Pocahontas and permission to marry her. At this time, Pocahontas was in her teens (around sixteen or seventeen, according to some accounts) and Rolf was a widower with a child, so the marriage was more political than based on love or physical attraction. This is confirmed by Hamor, who called the aforementioned union of a friend "an imaginary marriage." However, this behavior contradicts Hamor's earlier assertion that John Rolfe was "a gentleman of stern demeanor and good manners". John Rolfe's own words seem more paradoxical than the same said by Hamor, for the divine, which is sacred marriage, should not be used for material ends. Both agreed that the marriage was for the "prosperity of the Plantation". These sentiments may seem contrary to modern ideas about marriage; however, this was in keeping with the institution of marriage in English society. During this time, women were often required to prove to people that they could bear children by getting pregnant before marriage. In a society where there were more women than men, competition for wealthy husbands was high. A marriage based on love and physical attraction between partners was a rather unusual phenomenon.
According to Smith, Rolf was not the first English colonist with the idea of marrying Pocahontas to secure better relations with the Powhatans. Smith speaks of her as providing provisions for the English at their Fort Jamestown against her father's wishes. Some scholars believe that her "rebellious nature" was nothing more than Smith's invention, but let us say that here, as that is not the point at all. This is one of those times when she was vulnerable to the whims of the English, even if it was her choice. At this time, it was said that many colonists "could have made themselves kings by marrying Pocahontas". After demystifying the existence of the possibility of becoming such a "happy colonist", Smith did not take into account the possibility of obtaining such a high status through marriage to Pocahontas. He also believed that her father would not have elevated Smith or any other English to such a high position. This assumption was confirmed in her actual marriage to John Rolfe. This holy union was not recognized by the Indians of Virginia during the Opechancanogue Rebellion of 1622, in which Rolf was one of the victims.
The marriage of John Rolfe to Pocahontas and her baptism were the beginning of acculturation, making the girl a "right-thinking savage." In addition, the baptism of Pocahontas and the accompanying adoption of Christianity contributed to her further Anglicization, since she was baptized as "Lady Rebecca". As is always the case, acculturation is not the same as assimilation. Pocahontas was not accepted by the English as if she were English. This is evidenced by the fact that her Native American name was used more often and preferred to the one she received at baptism. The memoirs of her English contemporaries are proof of this fact. Interestingly, Pocahontas was either about to marry or was already married to a warrior named Kokoum at the time of her capture. If the latter is true, then she is the first actual Virginia woman to have two husbands. However, this fact was not significant for Christians of that (or any other) time, since pagan marriage was annulled at baptism. This was implied both in Christian teaching and in English.
The Reverend Alexander Whitaker's judgment on the marriage and transformation of Pocahontas is characteristic of cultural imperialism. There is no mention of class or race differences in marriage. Whitaker assumes the persona of "God's man", however, only the English, praising Pocahontas for renouncing "his idolatrous country" and confessing faith in Jesus Christ. That is, the missionary impulse takes precedence over all others. His judgment may be similar to that of a representative of the Church of England, who would later have the same intolerance of interracial marriages between Europeans and Africans in the Virginia colony. One can interpret this marriage as the beginning of a bleaching process for the Virginia Native people that continues to this day. Technically, Pocahontas was not the first Native American Virginian to be intermarried with a white. There have been a number of unrecognized connections between the English and the Virginian Indians since 1607. However, Pocahontas, along with the doña Marina, play an important role, as they are known for being the first mothers of American Euro-Indian hybrids, at least in their region. Other accounts of the time echo Whitaker's feelings.
Hamor was less supportive of the marriage than some of his companions. He describes this union, which was one of the illumined ones, as "one of the examples of bad breeding, barbaric manners and the influence of a damned generation, beneficial only to the prosperity of the plantation." Such a vicious statement speaks of the priority of racial over class in the society of colonial Virginia, serving as an example for future generations. The fact that Rolf is a commoner married to a princess seems to be less of an issue in the colonies than in the mother country. In the case where a British commoner marries an "Indian princess", only the fact of racial conformity is taken into account, not class. This marriage is an example of a colonial class-racial dynamic, possibly the result of a frontier mentality. This can be interpreted as one of the prerequisites for a sense of white superiority among the lower strata of the white population - among those for whom the elite of non-white society is on the same level as the average white male.
On June 16, 1614, in a letter addressed to a cousin and fellow priest, Whitaker reported that the colony remained stable. In addition, despite the opposition from the Americans, it was possible to expand the Virginia Company, which began to develop tobacco products for sale. According to Hamor, the marriage between Pocahontas and John Rolfe brought additional benefits, as Rebecca taught her husband the Powhatan method of harvesting tobacco. It was this factor that allowed Virginian tobacco to successfully compete in the European market. As a cash crop, tobacco strengthened the colony's economy, thus strengthening the colony itself, and luring more and more English people to try their luck in Virginia.
Up to this point, the Virginian colony had not suffered significant losses from the attacks of the Powhatan Confederacy. The use of Pocahontas as a political tool ensured that this would continue until the Indians were wiped out. Until then, it was in the interests of the colonists to increase their numbers in the region. The most attractive option was to bring in servants from England, many of whom were willing to risk their lives to fulfill their contract and amass a fortune. Before 1630, everyone had a good chance of getting rich. The management system provided the masters with 50 acres for each servant, and the colonies continued to expand. This was not the only method of motivation for would-be colonists, as the Virginia Company had the perfect ambassador in Pocahontas.
In June 1616 Rolf arrived in London, where Pocahontas became a living icon. She was the epitome of a "right-thinking savage" who renounced paganism, converted to Christianity, worked for the good of the colony and supported the Virginia Company. The Virginia Company in London brought Pocahontas into the limelight and introduced her into high society. In addition to attending social events such as dinners and games, Pocahontas entered a lottery sponsored by the Virginia Company. (Each winning ticket allowed one hundred acres for every 12 pounds, 10 shillings, 5 "pence" allocated to the purchaser's share). The level of participation in this is greater than most historians realize. Pocahontas' active participation in the sale of her native lands - a treacherous act against her people - is what made her an icon, an accomplice to the colonization of Virginia.
It can be argued that the British would have succeeded in colonizing Virginia without the use of Pocahontas, but this argument does not matter as much as the evidence to the contrary. The kidnapping of Pocahontas took place and Powhatan's ability to rule his people was reduced as a result. Such a turn of events was even to provoke an uprising equal in scale or even greater than that launched by Opechancanogue in 1622.
Records show that Pocahontas died on March 21, 1617 as "Rebecca Roth, wife of Thomas Roth, nobleman" and was buried in Gravesend, England. If John Smith's calculations were accurate, she was about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. The burial of Pocahontas in England also encourages the British to appropriate her in an even more complete sense. Despite the great fire of London in 1666 that destroyed all routes to the exact location of Pocahontas' tomb at St. George's Cemetery Church, its fame continues to draw travelers from all over the world.
In life, Rebecca Rolfe was the epitome of the perfect "right-thinking savage," and in death, she became what many people call the "good Indian." St. George's Church and the town of Gravesend profit from tourism and the fame that Pocahontas' tomb brought them. In a sense, it continues to serve the purposes of the British, their descendants in Virginia, and those who came later. The most famous descendants of the union of Pocahontas and John Rolfe are among the first families of Virginia. This is a privileged group in Virginia, whose role is especially noticeable in politics, in particular in the state determination of who is a member of the white race.
Translation for the site "Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island" -WR. Text editor: Kristina Makhova.
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