Answer to Question #306851 in History for Diyar

Question

Explain early encounters in North America, i.e. Chief Powhatan’s encounter with Captain John Smith, as reported by Howard Zinn.

Answer 1

The first meeting of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith is a legendary story, romanticized by Smith in his later writings. He was leading an expedition of the new Virginia colonists in December 1607 when he was taken captive by some Indians.

Over many days he was marched through woods and swamps to the official residence of Powhatan at Werowocomoco, which was only 12 miles from Jamestown as the crow flies.

According to Smith, he was first welcomed by the great chief and offered a feast. Then he was grabbed and forced to stretch out on two large, flat stones. Indians stood over him with clubs as though ready to beat him to death if ordered. Suddenly a little Indian girl rushed in and took Smith’s “head in her arms and laid her owne upon his to save him from death.”

The girl, Pocahontas, then pulled him to his feet. Powhatan said that they were now friends, and he adopted Smith as his son, or a subordinate chief. Actually, this mock “execution and salvation” ceremony was traditional with the Indians, and if Smith’s story is true, Pocahontas’s actions were probably one part of a ritual.