Pocahontas
- For the towns in the United States, see Pocahontas, Illinois or Pocahontas, Iowa.
Pocahontas (about 1595-1617) was the childhood nickname of Matoaka, daughter of Powhatan.
She saved the colony of Jamestown, Virginia from extinction by supplying it with food, and is said to have prevented her father from executing colonist John Smith. (Although Smith's account was long considered to be a fabrication, recent research has shown that there is little reason to doubt his veracity; however, the veracity of several highly romanticized popular versions is doubtful.) Whether or not she actually saved Smith's life is debatable, given that she was only ten years old at the time. Smith did not even speak the Powhatan language at that time and may have been completely unaware of what was actually going on. In 1612, she was captured and held hostage at Jamestown. Her marriage to one of the colonists, John Rolfe, on April 5th 1614 created a climate of peace between the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan's tribes for several years. Prior to her marriage, she was baptised and was known by her Christian name thereafter, Rebecca Rolfe.
She created a sensation in England when she toured there as an "Indian princess" in 1616, but she died in Gravesend of smallpox. Her only child was Thomas Rolfe, through whom she has living descendants, including President George W. Bush. Thomas Rolfe remained in England.
The 1995 Disney cartoon Pocahontas presents a highly romanticized and distorted view of the events surrounding Pocahontas' meeting with John Smith. See Pocahontas (movie) for a list of films surrounding this story.
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