The Real Story of Pocahontas
Episode 4: The Humanity Archive Podcast
Pocahontas, born Matoaka, was born around 1596 in the tidewater area of modern Virginia. Matoaka meant “flower between two streams,” as she likely was born between the Mattaponi and Pamunkey (York) rivers. Captured and held for ransom by English colonists in 1613, her life was one filled with tragedy and foreshadowed Native American displacement.
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Who Did Pocahontas Marry
According to records, Pocahontas was first married to a Native American man named Kocoum. In his History of Travaile into Virginia Britannia William Strachey (1575–1621), a secretary of the Jamestown colony, listed among the favorites of Powhatan, “younge Pocohunta, a daughter of his, using sometyme to our fort in tymes past, nowe married to a private Captaine, called Kocoum.”
After being kidnapped, she then married the English colonist John Rolfe in 1614. Some say that Rolfe was Under financial pressure to marry Pocahontas. He was twice her age and part of her group of captors. A strong theory is that Rolfe married to reassure the English royals that diplomatic relations were positive between the Powhatan and Jamestown colony.
What Tribe Was Pocahontas From
When Pocahontas was born to Powhatan, also called Wahunsenacah, who presided over the Powhatan Confederacy. The group was made up of at least 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes. Powhatan’s chiefdom is estimated to have had between 13,000 and 34,000 people.
How Old Was Pocahontas When She Died
Pocahontas would have been around twenty-one years old when she died. She was taken to England in 1616, and presented as lady Rebecca. Oral historians theorize that this was equal parts charade and parade. She was presented as the princess of the great King Powhatan, married to English captain John Rolfe.
Presented as living proof of the excellent diplomatic relations and peace between the two communities. This would have settled any fears of the crown and appeased them to continue funding the American experiment. In this way, Rolfe would amass a tobacco empire.
Pocahontas then dies in 1617. The official story places her cause of death as an illness she suffered in Gravesend, England (dysentery or pneumonia). But the oral tradition of her tribe states that Pocahontas was murdered. Possibly by Rolfe and other conspirators. She would never return to her American homeland again. Never see her family again. She was laid to rest in England but will forever be America’s first tragic heroine.
Pocahontas Facts
In the podcast episode, we explore:
Who were the Jamestown, Virginia Settlers, and what conditions did they survive?
What is the backstory on Pocahontas and her early life?
Is the history we’ve been taught the real story of Pocahontas or a lie?
How did the catastrophe of English settlement start the decline of Native American life?
What are some facts about Powhatan, Pocahontas’s powerful father
Why didn’t the tribes unify to defeat the English in an all out war?
What continued role did Pocahontas play in relations with the English?
How did Pocahontas survive a kidnapping and brutal treatment?
Was her marriage to an Englishman for love an peace, or the ultimate power move by the colonists?
What impact would this story have on the rest of American history?
Research & Reading List
HOST & COURSE INSTRUCTOR
Jermaine Fowler
Jermaine Fowler is a history author and self-proclaimed intellectual adventurer. Challenging dominant perspectives, Fowler goes outside the textbooks to find stories that are recognizably human.