The Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten), or Powhatan Renape (literally, the "Powhatan Human Beings"), is the name of a Native American tribe, and also the name of a powerful confederacy of tribes that they dominated. They spoke an Algonquian language, and lived in what is now Virginia at the time of the first English-Native encounters. (The word "Renape", which means human ^*, is very similar to the word Lenape, used by the (also Algonquian-speaking) Delaware Indians of what is now New Jersey and Pennsylvania.)

Powhatan was also the original name of the town that Wahunsunacock (the Chief Powhatan) came from (today the site of Richmond, Virginia), as well as the name of the river where it sat (today called the James River). According to the Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Powhatan is an Algonquin word meaning "at the waterfalls"; the settlement of Powhatan was at the falls of the James river. See also ^*

When Wahunsunacock created a powerful empire by conquering much of Virginia, he called his lands Tenakomakah and himself the Powhatan. Besides the town of Powhatan, another capital of this confederacy was called Werowocomoco.

History

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The original six constituent tribes in Wahunsunacock's Powhatan confederacy were: the Powhatans proper, the Arrohatecks, the Appamattucks, the Pamunkeys, the Mattaponis, and the Chiskiacks. He added the Kecoughtans to his fold by 1598. Another closely related tribe in the midst of these others, all speaking the same language, was the Chickahominy, who managed to preserve their autonomy from the confederacy.

In 1607, when English soldier and pioneer John Smith arrived, he was captured by Opchanacanough, the younger brother of Chief Powhatan. According to Smith's account (which in the late 1800s was considered to be fabricated, but is still believed by some to be mostly accurate—although several highly romanticized popular versions cloud the matter), Pocahontas, Powhatan's daughter, prevented her father from executing Smith. It is believed that this was a ritual intended to adopt Smith into the tribe.

After Smith left Virginia for England in 1609 because of an injury sustained in a gunpowder accident (never to return), the nervous tribe attacked and killed many Jamestown residents. The residents fought back, but only killed twenty.

However, within a few years both the Chief and Pocahontas were dead from disease. The Chief died in Virginia, but Pocahontas died in England, having been captured and willingly married to the tobacco planter John Rolfe. Meanwhile, the English continued to encroach on Powhatan territory. After Wahunsunacock's death, his younger brother Opitchapam became chief, followed by their younger brother Opechancanough, who in 1622 and 1644 attempted to force the English from their territories. These attempts invited strong reprisals from the English, ultimately resulting in the near destruction of the tribe.

Characteristics

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The Powhatan lived east of the fall line in Tidewater Virginia. Their houses were made of poles, rushes, and bark, and they supported themselves primarily by growing crops, especially maize, but also by some fishing and hunting. Villages consisted of a number of related families organised in tribes that were led by a king or queen, who was a client of the Emperor and a member of his council.

Powhatan today

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Approximately 3,000 Powahatan people remain in Virginia. Some of them live today on two tiny reservations, Mattaponi and Pamunkey, found in King William County, Virginia. However, the Powhatan language is now extinct. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the vocabulary of the language; the only sources are word lists provided by Smith and by William Strachey.

The American entertainer Wayne Newton (b. 1942 in Norfolk, Virginia) is of mixed Powhatan, Cherokee, Irish, and German ancestry.

Powhatan County was named in honor of the Chief and his tribe, although located about 60 miles to the west of lands ever under their control. In the independent City of Richmond, Powhatan Hill is traditionally believed to be located near the village Chief Powhatan was originally from, although the specific location of the site is unknown.

Powhatan in film

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The Powhatan people are featured in the Disney animated film Pocahontas (1995). An attempt at a more historically accurate representation of them appears in The New World (2005).

External links

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• The Anglo-Powhatan Wars
• Powhatan Renape Nation — Rankokus American Indian Reservation
• UNC Charlotte linguist Blair Rudes restores lost language, culture for 'The New World'
• How a linguist revived 'New World' language

Eastern Algonquian languages | Extinct languages | History of Virginia | Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands | Languages of the United States | Native American tribes | Richmond, Virginia | Powhatan Confederacy

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