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(about 1595-1617)
As a young girl, Pocahontas helped the people living at the Jamestown Colony. Jamestown was an English
settlement started in 1600s in what is now Virginia. She may have saved the settlers’ lives several
times. She was the daughter of Powhatan, a Native American chief in the area now known as Virginia. One
of her father’s favorite children, Pocahontas was a Native American princess. Her name meant “playful
one.”
Pocahontas met the colonists at Jamestown in 1607. John Smith, an English adventurer, was captured by
her people. He later said that Pocahontas asked her father not to kill him. Some historians question whether
this story is true or not. It is known that Smith was let go and Pocahontas and Smith became friends.
Pocahontas did help the colonists survive in their new home by giving them gifts of food. She even warned
them when some of her people planned to attack the colony. When Smith left in 1609, Pocahontas stopped
visiting Jamestown.
A few years later, Sir Samuel Argall took Pocahontas prisoner. He hoped that her father would do anything
to get her back. Argall wanted to trade Pocahontas for some English prisoners and some weapons. He also
thought it would be less likely that her father’s people would attack the colonists while they had
Pocahontas. While being held by the English, however, Pocahontas converted to Christianity. She even took
a new name—Rebecca. She married John Rolfe in 1614, and they had a son, Thomas, a year later.
In 1616, Pocahontas and her family traveled to England. She was celebrated by the English and attended
a lot of parties. She became sick on the trip back to America. Pocahontas died on March 21, 1617, in Gravesend,
England.
© 2006 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved.
Related people
John Smith
John Rolfe
Powhatan
Sir Samuel Argall
Related Websites
Learn more about Jamestown
http://historicjamestowne.org
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