Pocahontas: I can't leave you. John Smith: You never will. No matter what happens to me, I'll always be with you, forever.
Much to her surprise, Pocahontas encountered Captain Smith (whom she thought was dead) in London. Although she was overcome with emotion upon seeing him alive and called him “father,” she also reportedly chastised him for his treatment of Chief Powhatan and her people.
Smith led a trading party to Werowocomoco in January 1609, and when negotiations with Powhatan turned sour, Pocahontas snuck through the nighttime woods to Smith's camp to warn him that her father had ordered Smith killed.
In the midst of negotiations, all of a sudden Chief Powhatan disappeared. The English were fairly certain they were about to come under attack. And indeed, Pocahontas herself, according to John Smith, came and gave him a warning that he and his men were in peril.
4. Myth 4: Pocahontas and Smith fell in love. Despite what Disney (and numerous authors going back to the early 1800s) would have you believe, there is no historical basis for the claim that Pocahontas and Smith were romantically involved.
Pocahontas would later marry another Jamestown colonist, John Rolfe when she was 17 or 18 (her exact birthdate is unknown). John Smith was in his early 30s. Needless to say, any romantic relationship between the two would have been unacceptable even in the 1600s.
Of course, the way Disney depicts this story in a beautiful way, where Pocahontas wanted to experience conquest however realistically, Pocahontas was only 11 years old when she met Smith and was later sexually assaulted and trafficked.
Pocahontas was her nickname, meaning “the naughty one” or “spoiled child.” Her real name was Matoaka. The legend is that she saved a heroic John Smith from being clubbed to death by her father in 1607 – she would have been about 10 or 11 at the time.
Pocahontas's birth year is unknown, but some historians estimate it to have been around 1596. In A True Relation of Virginia (1608), the English explorer John Smith described meeting Pocahontas in the spring of 1608 when she was "a child of ten years old".
According to Smith, during this visit Pocahontas again saved his life by running through the woods that night to warn him her father intended to kill him. However, as in 1607, Smith's life was not in danger.
Pocahontas spoke a variant of the Algonkian, or Algonquin, language classified as Virginia Algonkian. This language was common among the tidewater tribes in the Virginia area.
After unsuccessful efforts to return to America, Smith increasingly focused on writing. He published more books that detailed his time abroad, pushing for imperialism and the colonization of New England.
Pocahontas's only known portrait was created in England, during the last few months of her life. The only surviving record of the sitting is an engraving by Simon van de Passe.
The Pocahontas turquoise necklace is sacred, as it was a gift from her late mother. This stone was chosen because it has been said that turquoise brings good luck and good fortune to the one who possesses it. Other gems encourage self-meditation, self-reflection, and to dissolve negative energy.
The exact location of Pocahontas' burial is unknown as the medieval Church of St George burned down in 1727 during a great fire that destroyed most of Gravesend. It is thought she lies beneath the rebuilt Georgian church, which is already Grade II* listed.
The settlers fared badly because of famine, disease and Native American attacks, but were aided by 27-year-old English adventurer John Smith, who directed survival efforts and mapped the area.
Pocahontas reflects a shift in media portrayal of American Indians from racist and discriminatory falsehoods to romanticized distortions. Though Pocahontas does not contain overt racism like Peter Pan, the film falsely romanticizes the relationship between the Powhatan tribe and the early English settlers.
At the time of their marriage, Rolfe was 29, and Pocahontas was 18.
John Rolfe, Tomocomo, the governor and other surviving Native Americans returned to Virginia. Stuckley later transferred custody and care of Thomas Rolfe to his uncle, Henry Rolfe. After returning to Virginia, John Rolfe married a third time, to Jane Pierce, and gave Thomas a younger half-sister, Elizabeth.
At the time of her capture she would have already borne her daughter Ka-Okee with Kocoum, and her capture started the chain of events that led to the birth of her son Thomas Rolfe.
The marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614 changed the demographics of Virginia residents. Their only child, Thomas Rolfe, was the first descendent in a line that now spans over seven generations.
Not only has Disney inaccurately portrayed the life of Pocahontas - they have also romanticized her life, and in extension, sugarcoated the trauma Indigenous peoples faced through colonization. The life of Pocahontas was filled with sorrow and is not one that should be seen as a love story.
The white appearance of Pocahontas in this portrait relates to the concept of the “Indian Princess,” an American figure that serves to represent America and its values (Green 702-703). The Indian Princess is not rendered like other Natives.
“Que que na-tor-ra” is Algonquin and means “you will understand.” It is remarkable, though a coincidence, that the word na-to-ra, meaning “to understand,” resembles the word natura, or nature, thus indicating that nature and to understand mean the very same thing. However, for Pocahontas this is true.