Indians of the Chesapeake Region

1. Indians of the Chesapeake Region Anthropology

2. Objectives • Be able to describe the political nature of the Chesapeake Bay Indian Tribes • Be able to describe how the Indians of the Chesapeake region lived in terms of housing, food, tradition

3. Objectives continued • Be able to identify the importance of the following people: • Powhatan • Pocahontas • Capt. John Smith • John Rolfe • Opechancanough • Describe the series of events that lead to the Massacre of 1622

5. Language Groups Two major languages predominated Algonquin: All tribes except the susquehanocs Iroquois

6. Indian Tribal Confederations • Algonquins- South of the Potomac River a. Powhatan Confederation b. Piscataway Nation: Western Shore centered near the Potomac River c. Nanticoke Nation: Eastern Shore centered near the Choptank River • Susquehanocs- North of the Potomac River eventually became the Iroqois Nation

8. Indian Council Headed by Chief Powhatan

10. Housing • Longhouses • Wigwams • Sweet Houses

11. Land • Belonged to Manitou (GOD) • Tribes had villages that had a fortified region (stockaded), gardens, and hunting grounds

12. Food Corn, Beans, Squash Fish, Deer, Snake, Bobcat

13. Fishing:NetsHook & LineWeirsFencesSpears

14. Water Travel

15. Important People Chief Powhatan Chief Powhatan was the supreme ruler of most of the indigenous tribes in the Chesapeake Bay area from north of the Mattaponi River, a tributary of the York River, to the lands south of the James River. Chief Powhatan was the highest authority the colonists faced when dealing with the tribe. He died in April 1618

16. Important People Pocahontas was an Indian princess, the daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia. She was born around 1595 to one of Powhatan's many wives. They named her Matoaka, though she is better known as Pocahontas, which means "Little Wanton," playful, frolicsome little girl.

17. Important People

18. Important People Rolfe, John (1585-1622), English colonist of Jamestown , Virginia, who was married to Pocahontas, the daughter of the Native American chief Powhatan. Rolfe was born in Norfolk, England. He arrived in Virginia in 1610 and became a planter, cultivating the strain of tobacco that became Virginia's staple crop. In 1614 Rolfe married Pocahontas, bringing an eight-year peace between the colonists and Native Americans. In 1616 the couple went to England where Pocahontas died. Rolfe returned to Virginia in 1621 and was killed in the massacre of 1622.

19. Susan Constant God Speed Discovery

20. Story of Pocahontas • Jamestown established in May, 1607. 140 colonists. • Indian Princess saves life of Captain John Smith, prominent figure of the Jamestown Colony. • Indian Princess falls in love with John Rolfe, cultivator of Tobacco • Pocahontas marries Rolfe in 1614 to bring peace • Happy couple have kids and move to England where Pocahontas meets the Queen, converts to Christianity, and changes her name to Rebecca. • Pocahontas dies in 1617

22. Massacre at Jamestown • Chief Powhatan dies in 1618, Opechancanough becomes chief of Powhatan Confederation • By 1619 several thousand colonists had arrived in Jamestown (~3000) • Opechancanough leads a massacre against the colonists on March 22, 1622 (Good Friday). 347 settlers killed

25. Massacre at Jamestown • Most Jamestown colonists were spared because of Chanko, an indian of the Pamunkey tribe, who warned a Jamestown friend John Pace. • After Massacre, the Powhatan Conferedation was dispersed by the colonists • 1634: over 5000 colonists had settled. • 1644: Opechankcanough shot (in the back) after leading a second rebellion

26. Powhatan Tribe Today

27. References • Theodore De Bry Copper Plate EngravingsIndians of North America • www.powhatan.org • Noel Hume, I. Jan. 1982. New Clues to an old Mystery. National Geographic. • http://www.inna.net/pocahontas/ • http://www.jamestowne.org