|
The Pamunkey Native American tribe has been in existence since pre-Columbian times. It is one of the two currently existing tribes that were part of the Powhattan Confederacy. They inhabited the coastal tidewater of Virginia, near Chesapeake Bay. The Pamunkey reservation is currently located on the site of some of its ancestral land on the Pamunkey River adjacent to King William County, Virginia. This tribe is significant to American history because of its early contact with American settlers and adaptable forms of self preservation throughout its existence. This article is about the Algonquian tribe. ...
This article is about the U.S. state. ...
The Chesapeake Bay - Landsat photo The Chesapeake Bay where the Susquehanna River empties into it. ...
The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about 90 mi (145 km) long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. ...
King William County is a county located on the Middle Peninsula in the state of Virginia. ...
Way of life
Subsistence and relationship to the land The traditional Pamunkey way of life is subsistence living. They have always lived through a combination of fishing, trapping, hunting, and farming. The Pamunkey River was a main mode of transportation and food source. It also provided accessibility to hunting grounds, other tribes, and a defensive view of local river traffic. Access to the river was crucial because Pamunkey villages were not permanent settlements. Because they did not use fertilizer, fields and homes were moved about every ten years. Permitted use of unoccupied land was open to anyone, but understood as under Pamunkey jurisdiction.[citation needed] This proved a major source of conflict with the English because it was the antithesis of their land ownership model.[citation needed] The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about 90 mi (145 km) long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. ...
Homes Coined by the English as “longhouses”, Pamunkey structures tended to be long and narrow. They were relatively simple structures made out of bent saplings and covered with woven mats. Homes of families of higher status were also made of bark. By changing the strength of indoor fires and the amount of mats or bark, these houses were adaptable to all weather conditions and comfortable.[citation needed]
Government The tribe is governed by a weroance (Chief) and a tribal council composed of seven members, elected every four years. [citation needed] An ethnology written in 1894 by Jno. Garland Pollard, on behalf of the Smithsonian Institute Bureau of Ethnology, stated “The council names two candidates to be voted for. Those favoring the election of candidate number 1 must indicate their choice by depositing a grain of corn in the ballot-box at the schoolhouse, while those who favor the election of candidate number 2 must deposit a bean in the same place. The former or the latter candidate is declared chosen according as the grains of corn of the beans predominate”.[citation needed] Typical laws are mostly concerned with but not limited to intermarriage, preventing slander, bad behavior, and land use.[citation needed] There are no corporal punishments such as incarcerations or chastisement.[citation needed] Rather, punishments are only in terms of fines or banishment (usually after the third offense).[citation needed] A weroance is a tribal chief, leader, commander, or king, notably among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. ...
History The Pamunkeys are part of the larger Algonquian family. This family represents a number of tribes that spoke variations of the same language, although most of their language is lost now. By 1607 the Powhatan Confederacy was formed, of which they were the largest and most powerful tribe. Both Chief Powhatan himself and his famous daughter Pocahontas were Pamunkeys. The Algonquian (also Algonkian) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family (others are Wiyot and Yurok of northwestern California). ...
Chief Powhatan (detail of map published by John Smith (1612) Chief Powhatan ( 1547— 1618) , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh or (in seventeenth century English spelling) Wahunsunacock, was the leader of the Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten), a powerful tribe of Native Americans, speaking an Algonquian language, who lived in...
For other uses, see Pocahontas (disambiguation). ...
Initial contact with Europeans was around 1570. “And from [1570] on at ever briefer intervals until the first permanent English colony was established at Jamestown in 1607, the Powhatan Confederacy was visited and plagued by white men: Spanish, French, and English” (Barbour, 5). There were an estimated 14,000 members of the Confederacy by the time of English arrival. It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Jamestown Settlement. ...
The Pamunkeys were formally recognized by the outside world since treaties with King William I of England in the second half of the 17th century. Colonists of the first successful English settlements, based at Jamestown, had an interesting relationship with Virginia Native Americans. Chief Powhatan was very close to Captain John Smith and initially dealt with the colony through him. If not for Chief Powhatan, Jamestown would not have survived through the first winters. As the settlement expanded, the friendly nature of interactions steadily decreased. William I of England (c. ...
John Smith (1580-1631) was an English soldier and sailor, now chiefly remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English colony in North America, and his brief association with the Native American princess Pocahontas. ...
Chief Powhatan’s half brother and successor, Opechancanough, launched attacks in 1622 and 1644 in an effort to expel them from the area. The first, known as the Indian Massacre of 1622 destroyed settlements such as Henricus and Wolstenholme Towne and nearly wiped out the colony, although Jamestown itself was spared due to a warning of the impending attack. After the capture and assassination of Opechancanough, the Powhatan Confederacy was disbanded. Opechancanough or Opchanacanough was a chief of the Powhatan tribe, becoming chief after his older brother, Wahunsonacock, died. ...
Events January 1 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of March 25. ...
// Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ...
Indian massacre of 1622, depicted as a woodcut by Theodore de Bry The Indian massacre of 1622 (also known as the Jamestown massacre) occurred in the Virginia Colony on March 22, 1622. ...
The Citie of Henricus was a city founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around Jamestown Settlement, Virginia. ...
Wolstenholme Towne was a fortified settlement in the Virginia Colony with a population of about 40 settlers of the Virginia Company of London which was located about 9 miles downstream from Jamestown. ...
The Virginia Colony continued to grow and encroach on Indian land making it impossible to sustain their traditional lifestyle. Many Pamunkeys were forced to work for the English or enslaved. As the settlement grew so did their fear of Native Americans and subsequent racist tendencies and anger. This culminated in Bacon's Rebellion which began in 1675 as the colonists and Royal Governor William Berkeley disagreed about the handling of conflicts with the Indians. During the subsequent reprisals for an incident which took place in what is currently Fairfax County, the Pamunkeys were among many other innocent tribes which were wrongfully targeted. These themes of militancy and encroachment continued throughout much of American history. Although the tribe was divided in the 18th century, many Powhatan tribes including the Pamunkey secretly kept their identity. The 1609 charter for the Virginia colony from sea to sea The Virginia Colony refers to the English colony in North America that existed during the 17th and 18th centuries before the American Revolution. ...
Bacons Rebellion or the Virginia Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony, led by Nathaniel Bacon. ...
Sir William Berkeley (pronounced bark-lee) (1605-July 9, 1677) was a Governor of Virginia, appointed by King Charles I, of whom he was a favorite. ...
Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia, in the United States. ...
Primary Impressions
 Pamunkey tribal members re-enact the story of Pocahantas. Photo taken in 1910. A piece of the Pamunkey story is often told through Pocahontas, but from an English perspective. When comparing primary documents from the time of English arrival, it is apparent that initial contact was characterized by mutual cultural misunderstanding. Primary documentation characterizes the Virginia Indians through a series of paradoxes. It is apparent that there is great respect for Chief Powhatan but the other Indians are repeatedly called variations of devils and savages, such as “naked devils” or they were standing there “grim as devils”. There is a great fear and appreciation coupled with distrust and uneasiness. The following quotation from John Smith’s diary exemplifies this duality. “It pleased God, after a while, to send those people which were our mortal enemies to relieve us with victuals, as bread, corn fish, and flesh in great plenty, which was the setting up of our feeble men, otherwise we had all perished” (Southern, 35). Smith makes it apparent that without Chief Powhatan’s kindness the colony would have starved. However, Smith still considers Chief Powhatan’s people his enemies. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
For other uses, see Pocahontas (disambiguation). ...
This general distrust from the English permeated throughout many tribes, but a sense of honor and morality is attached to the Pamunkey. “There custom is to take anything they can seize off; only the people of Pamunkey we have not found stealing, but what others can steal, their king reveiveth” (83). Even though it is apparent that the Pamunkeys meant no harm until they were pushed to seek revenge, they were repeatedly wronged.
Chief Powhatan could not understand the English need to claim everything and their overall mindset. "What it will avail you to take by force you may quickly have by love, or to destroy them that provide you food? What can you get by war, when we can hide our provisions and fly to the woods? Whereby you must famish by wronging us your friends. And why are you thus jealous of our loves seeing us unarmed, and both do, and are willing still to feed you, with that you cannot get but by our labors?" (Southern, 97). This question posed by Chief Powhatan was translated in Smith’s writings. He could not understand why the British would want to taint relations with his tribe. They were providing Jamestown with food, since the colonists refused to work, and could not otherwise survive the winter. It is apparent that these Indians only went to war as a last resort. They did not understand why the only tactics of the British were force and domination.
Pamunkeys now The Pamunkeys have been able to survive because of their remarkable ability to adapt as a tribe. In modern times they have changed their interpretation of living off the land, but still uphold the central value of subsistence living. They continue to hunt, trap, and fish on what’s left of their reservation grounds. In order to supplement these activities they have turned traditional tribal pottery into profit generating ventures, while continuing to rely on their natural environment. The pottery is made from all natural clay including pulverized white shells used by their ancestors.
Also, the Pamunkey Indian Museum was built in 1979 to resemble a traditional Native American long house. Located on the reservation, it provides visitors with an innovative approach to the tribe throughout the years through artifacts, replicas, and stories. Their history is so rich that the Smithsonian Institute recently selected the Pamunkeys as one of 24 tribes to be featured in the National Museum of the American Indian. Later day Iroquois longhouse housing several hundred people Interior of a longhouse with Chief Powhatan (detail of John Smith map, 1612) Longhouses were built by native peoples in various parts of North America, sometimes reaching over 100 meters long (330 ft) but generally around 5 to 7 meters wide (16...
The Smithsonian castle, as seen through the garden gate. ...
National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., viewed from the northeast Interior view looking down toward the entrance. ...
Further reading - Southern, Ed. The Jamestown Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605-1614. John Blair: North Carolina, 2004
- Barbour, Phillip. Pocahontas and her World. Houghton Mifflin Co.: Boston, MA, 1969.
- Hatfield, April Lee. Atlantic VA: Intercolonial Relations in the Seventeenth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, PA, 2004.
- Pollard, Jno. Garland. “Pamunkey”. Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institute: 1894.
- “The Unofficial Pamunkey Indian Website” http://home.earthlink.net/~pamunkey/
External links
See also |
Feeds |
Contact