Pocahontas

American native woman

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Lived 1596–1617, aged 21United States

United States WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
63 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1596–1617
Aged 21

Summary

Updated 2026-08-23

The daughter of a paramount chief, she was taken hostage at seventeen, converted, married an English planter, and paraded through London as proof that the Virginia colony could transform the "savage" — then died at twenty trying to sail home.

Biography

About

Born Amonute around 1596, daughter of Wahunsenacawh who controlled the Powhatan Confederacy across Virginia's Tidewater, she became a bargaining chip when English colonists captured her for ransom in 1613. During captivity she was baptized Rebecca and in April 1614 married tobacco planter John Rolfe; their son Thomas was born in January 1615. The Rolfes traveled to London in 1616, where she was presented to English society as the "civilized savage" meant to lure investors to Jamestown — she attended a masque at Whitehall, became a celebrity, was elaborately entertained. In 1617, preparing to r…

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