Pocahontas Research Paper

Pocahontas was born in 1596 to the daughter of an Indian chief leader of Virginia, named Powhatan (Egloff). In the year 1617, she died from a terrible illness at the age of twenty-two years old (Pocahontas, 1595-1617). Chief Powhatan had many children, but Pocahontas seemed to be the most liked. Pocahontas nickname meant “the playful one”. She was often called “Amonute,” and also called Matoaka (NPS). Pocahantas will always be remembered as an important person in history that participated in the colonization of the town in Virginia called Jamestown. In this little town, she helped to keep it from being extinct with her peaceful agreements along with cooperation efforts between the Powhatan Indians and the colonists in the new settlement of
Jamestown. Pocahontas as a young girl would always spend most of her day in her mother’s village either playing with others or learning the basic work that the Indian women had to do every day (NPS). Some of the daily work that Pocahontas participated in were farming, making clothes, gathering materials, cooking, preparing meals, bearing and rearing children, building houses, and learning how to collect plants for different types of uses in the village (NPS). The daily duties of the women had to be taught to her by the time she turned thirteen years old, which was the expected age from her tribe for women (NPS). According to Egloff, her tribe, the Powhatan Indians, were grown into a matrilineal society where the females would receive everything from the female line only not the father. If Pocahontas father died, she wouldn't receive anything. During Pocahontas life, when she visited Jamestown, she met a man named John Smith. John's important role in the Jamestown colony was an explorer and leader (Pocahontas, 1595-1617). It was then during that time that John Smith was captured by the Powhatan Indians, and Pocahontas had apparently saved him from his death. Many have known that this myth of Pocahontas saving Smith was untrue because it was believed that the Indians captured him to make him go through a ceremonial ritual. Pocahontas was the key person with the Powhatan Indians and the colonist in Jamestown because she helped bring food to the colonist when there food was scarce.
According to Biography, Pocahontas would bring the colonists corn and was a secret messenger to them by warning them of attacks from the Indians. Once she had told John Smith about an attack that was placed upon him by warriors of her tribe.
In 1613, Pocahontas was kidnapped by Samuel Argall, an English soldier, at the age of eighteen years old. The reason why he kidnapped her was because he wanted to bring back the English prisoners that were held by her father along with getting supplies such as weapons that were taken by the Powhatan Indians (Egloff). While captured by the English colonists, Pocahontas learned English and was taught about the Christian religion by John Rolfe. Pocahontas also was given her American name, Rebecca and was the first Native American to be a Christian (Pocahontas, 1595-1617).
Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614 and was the first Native American woman to marry a white man. John Rolfe and her had a son in 1615, named Thomas (Pocahontas, 1595-1617). This marriage soon caused a peace agreement involving Pocahontas. This agreement led to an end in the turmoil between the English and Powhatan Indians
(NPS).
Pocahontas became gravely ill after traveling to the Thames River after the family was returning back to Virginia, and John Rolfe helped her back to shore. Later on, Pocahontas died of an illness in 1617 which was unnamed. She was buried at the St. George’s Church in Gravesend, England (Egloff).
Even though Pocahontas’s life was cut short, she left behind a strong legacy of resolving conflicts between the colonist and Powhatan Indians that led to friendship between the two cultures. Her visitation to the Jamestown settlement helped spark attention to many of the English settlers about the colony. According to manythings.org, there are numerous art works of her in the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Some of these paintings portray Pocahontas being baptized in a ceremony and becoming a Christian (Pocahontas, 1595-1617). The other art works are when she helped save Captain John Smith (Pocahontas, 1595-1617). Also, Pocahontas has been honored by her brave efforts by being named after ships and being displayed on ships by the Whale hunters in the nineteenth century (Pocahontas, 1595-1617).