Preview

How Did Powhatan Culture Clash

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
541 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Powhatan Culture Clash
Pd.3 09/11/11

Culture Clash in the Chesapeake By the time the English arrived, Powhatan was the head of the Indians, dominating a few dozen tribes in the James River area. Initially, the Indians considered the English as potential allies because the English helped them to control other Indian tribes in the region. However, the relationship between them aggravated as time went on. One of the reasons is because the different languages and cultures caused general precautions. But, more importantly, it was the confliction upon the matter of survival. Since the majority of the early colonists were adventurous gentlemen who were highly educated and not accustomed to hard labors, there were insufficient labor forces for farming and domestic affairs. Therefore, the initial colonists often confronted significant food deficiencies, which
…show more content…
The raids, ordered by a capable leader, John Smith, played a major role in deteriorating the harmony between the two settlers. The winter of 1609, known as “the Starving Time” marked another step to disharmony. The native Indians, infuriated by the constant raids and other hostile actions by the English colonists, monopolized all the food supplies in the wood and enclosed the colonist in their palisade. The colonists had to find anything edible such as snakes, dogs, cats and rats in order to maintain their lives. In 1610, the growing tension culminated with the outbreak of the First Anglo- Powhatan war. The new governor of the colony, De La Warr had pulled the trigger of the war on Indians. They raided Indian villages, burned houses, looted foods, and destroyed their habitats. In 1614 the war was peacefully ended with the marriage of Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, to the Englishman, John Rolfe. Pocahontas worked as the translator to compensate the situation. The peace perpetuated until 1622. However, with the demise of Powhatan in 1622, the new leader

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In 1607 King James of England issued a royal charter to colonize America. They built a fort around the Chesapeake Bay and named it Jamestown in honor of their king. The region of the Chesapeake they were settling on was already home to over 20,000 Algonquian Indians. Their leader, Powhatan, immediately confronted the new English settlers asking them to establish an alliance. Powhatan believed that he could stat a valuable trade with the English and also help support them as they begin to settle. The Jamestown colony began to go down hill, they started to rely so much on the Algonquians for supply’s that they became unable to support themselves. Jamestown became so dependent on the Algonquian stores that John Smith and his men went out and attacked and raided other surrounding Indian villages for food and other supply’s. Powhatan realized that al the English came for was to invade and take their land, not to trade with them. So Powhatan decided to starve the colonists. During the winter 1609-1610 large amounts of colonists in the Jamestown settlement starved and a number of them resorted to cannibalism. Out of the 900 colonists that had been sent to Virginia to settle it, only 60 remained. The English however were determined to keep the colony going. The Virginia company sent more men, women, children, and livestock to the Jamestown colony. This time they were prepared to fight Powhatan and his tribe. Because the new colonists were prepared to fight and to help themselves with farming and trading they turned the colony’s failure to success. In 1613 the colonists had firm control over the areas between the James and York rivers. The Algonquin Indians were so rundown from all the warfare and disease, they became forced to sign a peace treaty with the English. The English now started to grow bigger and bigger. They introduced tobacco production. This became a very merchantable commodity. The English started out relying on the Indians to do everything for them, and they…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the winter of 1609-10, things could have been better, yet 500 settlers were starving from lack of harvesting. The result…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Quebec

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The English first settled in Jamestown, Virginia, a very unhealthy, swampy area. As a result, many people died and there was a very harsh winter. John Smith saved the colony by enforcing the “work to eat” rule, but chaos soon returned when he was…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    threatening animals. The English settlers had to deal with problems, such as finding a place to settle, growing crops, fighting with the natives, and disease.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * In the Chesapeake colonies such as Virginia (Jamestown) Natives originally showed them how to grow crops and even asked the English settlers to align with them to fight other Indian tribes. However, as Jamestownians kept taking more and more land their relationships turned bitter and the powhatans revolted in 1622 and 164…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1993 DBQ essay

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Economy was a crucial factor in leading New England and Chesapeake to develop incongruously. Chesapeake was vastly devoted to mining gold and exploiting for a better economy. Hence as according to document c almost all the Chesapeake settlers’ were young single men. Whereas New England had a much differentiated purpose in coming to the “New world”. The New England settlers’ came for religious freedom and creating a model city or society for the rest of the new comers, as supported by document a and b; “we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a new hill”. Thus for them to prosper and expand as an exemplary society, most the New England settlers were joint families. Both New England and Chesapeake settled and expanded in different parts of America. The land and climates in the Chesapeake and New England regions were different, so the societies grew crops which suited their area, which led to differences in their social structures. The Chesapeake area was swampy and not well suited for the typical crops; however, it was discovered 5 years after their arrival that tobacco grew very well, so the economy structured itself around the growth of tobacco. It was exported as a cash crop to England, and as a result, they had much better amends with their mother country. Also as a result of the growth of tobacco, the Chesapeake colony had a need for cheap labor to work in the fields. They developed a system of…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the 17th century, the newly settled colonies in North America continued to identify themselves as Europeans. But as colonial expansion progressed they assumed different identities. By the 1700’s, the typical religious spirit and family oriented lifestyle in New England set itself apart from the Chesapeake region, whose fertile land and extended growing season attracted a distinct group of diverse settlers who had different political ideas about government. These unique societies had different reasons for coming to the new world as well. The New England and the Chesapeake regions differ in social, economic, and geographical aspects.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tratner is a professor in the English department at Bryn Mawr College. His article discusses how Pocahontas and the Powhatan tribe fall into a deep infatuation once they experience something new. Tratner quotes, “Indians fall into a love which causes them to give away treasure, the British in these works are presented as always able to control their own emotions.” This article explains how the Indians would let loose of their riches and valuables in exchange of something more modern. This process between the colonists and the Native Americans is an example of colonial expansion. The settlers practiced maintaining its control over the Indians by continuing this type of trade. This control they pursued, especially came from establishing settlements, such as Jamestown, or exploiting resources, such as the Powhatan Indian’s treasured historical items. The English were victorious in their efforts in converting the Native Americans into some type of their personal control units. Tratner explains how Pocahontas and the other natives are part of a mercantilist era. The value of the Indians treasures ultimately increased whenever they handed it over into the hands of the colonists of Jamestown. These people are part of a new era simply because of how the objects value increases from one culture onto the next. The Powhatan treasures were inconsistently valued in England than they would be at Jamestown. As…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1604 in the narrative from Thomas Harriot he talks about a disease that killed a lot of the natives. “The disease also so strange that they neither knew what it was, nor how to cure it, the like by report of the oldest men in the country never happened before, time out of mind”. The natives even believed that the English were some sort of God because none of them got the disease. He does not mention anything regarding the land but he said some of the natives were their friends so this means they still had a good relationship with the natives. Three years later in 1607 John Smith’s narrative talks only about the struggles they had with the natives. He mentions that they called this period “the starving time”. According to him there was not much food that even one man killed his wife and ate her. “As for corn, provision and contribution from the savages, we had nothing but mortal wounds, with clubs and arrows”. In this narrative you could see how the natives are no longer friendly and now they are…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Iroquois Indian Exchange

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Its first settlement at Jamestown, Virginia was established a year before France's arrival. The early colonists first named the Native Americans incorrectly as the "Powhatans" under the name of their powerful leader. Soon, the Old and New World began to mix. The settlers brought new plants and animals with them such as grass, dandelions, pigs and horses that the Indians later used. They also adopted Indian crops such as corn, beans, and potatoes which later revolutionized the whole world. Relations stayed peaceful if not stable. But soon settlers who were too busy searching for gold and forgot to plant food began to starve. They took to raiding Indian villages for supplies which angered the Natives and shattered the relationship between the two. With the arrival of Lord de la Warr, the colonists began to take military action against the Indians, leading to a war against the Indians. Englishmen raided villages, burned houses, and plundered. Although a peace settlement concluded this First Anglo-Powhatan War and an interracial union was created when John Rolfe and Pocahontas were married, the fragile respite that followed was broken when the Indians struck back in 1622. They had been hard pressed for land and ravaged by English disease to which they had no defense to and couldn't take it anymore. After failing to uproot the English, the Indians fell into a sullen trade relationship with the Englishmen. Firearms and…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The reason everything was going good for them had left. John smith had a peace with the indians. Pocahontas would bring food for the colonists as long as john smith was there. Which led to the starving times.…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    After Chief Powhatan's death in 1618, hostilities with colonists escalated under the chiefdom of his brother, Opechancanough, who sought in vain to drive off the encroaching English. His large-scale attacks in 1622 and 1644 met…

    • 4465 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jamestown

    • 1494 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jamestown failed because of strained Indian relations, including conflicts over food, water, and land resources. Jamestown was settled on an island so that the colony could be fortified from Indian attacks. Also, none of the Powhatans, a strong confederacy of natives, were not settled there, so the English colonists thought it would be an ideal location. Despite their “ideal” choice, the colony still suffered Indian attacks, the first being by a group that did not trust the white settlers (Doc. E). Also, the settlers arrived right in the middle of a horrible drought. This drought was later called The Jamestown Drought, and it had severe effects on the Jamestown and the colony’s relations with the natives (Doc. B.). Most colonists did not farm and relied mostly on the Powhatans to trade food supplies. The drought lessened this vital trade. A drought brought crops that would have withered and died from the lack of rain essential to the plants. Another incident with natives included a man named Francis West. The colonists were starving because of the Jamestown Drought, and needed some source of food. Thus, West sailed to the Chesapeake Bay, and hoped to trade with the Patawomeke Indians for grain. This particular group of natives had not heard very much about the English, and were friendly. West loaded the boat with grain, but in the process he beheaded two of the Indians and cut off other extremities (Doc. D.) The ship returned to Jamestown, leaving the Patawomke stewing and furious…

    • 1494 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diseases such as small pox and influenza had decimated Indian population in the New England region. Furthermore, the Natives lacked key supplies: guns and ammunition. The Indians did have one rather large advantage; they were fighting for their land. Land they knew much better then the invading British forces. Rowlandson hints at this when they cross the river, “I was so weak and feeble, that I reeled as I went along, and thought there I must end my days at last, after my bearing and getting through so many difficulties (from crossing the river); the Indians stood laughing to see me staggering along.” The Indians easily crossed the river, while the British were unable to find a crossing to continue to chase the Native group. Another major advantage the Indian’s had was the use of guerilla tactics against the British. These tactics were foreign to British soldiers, causing them to be unable to defend themselves effectively against it. Guerilla warfare is simply, ambushing your opponent when they are least prepared, inflict as many casualties as possible, then retreat swiftly before the enemy can organize. These tactics allowed their relatively small Native force to take on the much larger British army. In order to procure the proper supplies to fight the British, the Natives would raid small frontier towns and capture inhabitants to be ransomed later. This proved to be…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hollitz Chapter 1

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Indians definitely aid the settlers in many ways. First, by not aiding them right off the bat in the starvation period, gives the settlers a bit of a backbone and a realistic outlook on this venture. A view such that this place is not like Spain, they have to start from nothing and actually work to survive or they will die, surely. With this outlook on the entire journey, the Indians supply a sense of relief when they reach out to the settlers to form some sort of agreement to aid each population. The Indians gave the Englishmen food to keep them from being wiped out from famine and “hoped to acquire guns, hatchets, and swords,” (Norton 17) however this relationship did not workout properly and the Indians did not receive their weapons.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays