Powhatan
|
FOUR
DIRECTIONS INSTITUTE
Powhatan |
| Ethnie: | POWHATAN |
| Language: | Powhatan |
| Family: | Eastern Algonquian |
| Stock: | Algonquian |
| Phylum: | Algic |
| Macro-Culture: | Eastern Woodlands |
| Speakers | None |
| The Powhatan were a sedentary hunter/farmer confederacy. They lived in the tidewater section and eastern shore of Virginia from the Potomac to the James River. They experienced good relations with the first colonists around Jamestown highlighted by the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe. The peace soon deteriorated into a fourteen year war. They took more losses in wars with Iroquoian peoples and the Whites in the following years. |
| Aboriginal Locations: Subdivisions (Villages) |
| VA Accohanock, Accomac, Appomattoc, Arrohattoc, Chesapeake, Chickahominy, Chiskiac, Cuttatawomen, Kecoughtan, Mattapony, Moraughtacund, Mummapacune, Nansemond, Nantaughtacund, Onawmanient, Pamunkey, Paspahegh, Pataunck, Pissasec, Potomac, Powhatan, Pappahannock, Secacawoni, Tauxenent, Warrasqueoc, Weanoc, Werowocomoco, Wicocomoco, Youghtanund (124) |
|
| Year | History |
| 1498 | Cabots probably among first visitors |
| 1570 | Spanish Jesuit mission established but soon extinguished by Indians |
| 1607 | Jamestown settlement |
| 1618 | Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas married John Rolfe |
| 1622 | Opechancanough, Chief Powhatan's second successor led uprising destroying all White villages except those around Jamestown; 14 year war ensued |
| 1636 | Peace agreement |
| 1644 | Opechancanough led second destructive revolt, he was killed , tribe placed on reservations |
| 1656 | Pamunkey band assisted colonists in invasion of inland people |
| 1670 | Smallpox epidemic sometime after this year |
| 1675 | Wrongly accused of Conestoga (Susquehannock) depredations, many unauthorized attacks on tribe led by Nathaniel Bacon |
| 1676 | Large number of men, women, children storm victims massacred near Richmond; peace made with survivors on condition of annual tribute to be paid by each village |
| 1722 | Colonists made treaty with Iroquois for them to stop attacks on Powhatan |
| 1831 | Powhatan band on eastern Virginia shore had become intermixed with Negroes, driven away as a result of slave uprising under Nat Turner |
| 1935 | Surviving bands: Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Nansemond, Pamunkey, Potomac, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Upper Mattaponi, Werowocomoco, Wicocomoco |
| Year | Total Pop. | MD | VA | Source | |
| 1600 | 9,000 | Mooney estimate | |||
| 1669 | 2,000 | Census | |||
| 1700 | 1,500 | 100 | 1,400 | NAHDB calculation | |
| 1775 | 1,000 | Mooney estimate | |||
| 1800 | 1,000 | 100 | 900 | NAHDB calculation | |
| 1900 | 850 | 50 | 800 | NAHDB calculation | |
| 1923 | 822 | US Indian Office | |||
| 2000 | 1,500 | 100 | 1,400 | NAHDB calculation |
| Other speakers of the same language: |
| Chowanoc, Hatteras, Machapunga, Moratok, Pamilco, Weapemeoc |
Last updated 10/10/05 Copyright © 2005 by Four Directions Press