Who is the Powhatan Tribe?
The Powhatan is an indigenous tribe that lives in Virginia. (The Powhatan is sometimes spelled without the “h” as Powhatan. Powhatan means “Waterfall” in the Algonquian language.) They are known to have been associated with the Jamestown colony. There once lived a chief by the name of Chief Wahunsonacock, whom we have come to know as Pocahontas’s father. Today, the Powhatan tribe lives along the Pennsylvania and New Jersey border. They were driven by the English settlers northwards and became known as part of the Algonquian tribe. After removal from their land, their language was lost and the culture itself is barely visible, mostly belonging to the Algonquian tribes. These tribes include the Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Chickahominy tribes along with the Powhatan. They have similar language and culture but are considered to be independent from one another. The Chief Powhatan brought the villages together. Their alliance became known as the Powhatan Confederacy in the 16th Century. Chief Wahunsonacock was the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy. In the Disney film, the Powhatan tribe once resided near Jamestown, a town named by the settlers. Until the European explorers came to the newly found land, the Powhatans lived as a strong tribe and used their own culture and language as depicted by the film.1
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