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The Mattaponi and Powhatan Confederacy
SOMETIMES IT SEEMS LIKE THE EASTERN NATIONS ARE INVISIBLE. WHILE THE NAMES OF THE WESTERN NATIONS, SUCH AS THE APACHE, THE LAKOTA, THE CHEYENNE, ARE HOUSEHOLD NAMES. NOT SO EASILY RECOGNIZED ARE THE MATTAPONI, POWHATAN, NANSEMOND, CHICKAHOMINY, OR THE PAWMUNKEY. YET, THE WORDS USED BY THE POWHATAN CONFEDERACY ARE IN COMMON USE TODAY; TOMAHAWK, MOCCASIN, RACCOON, AND OPOSSUM. THESE VERY TRIBES, AND OTHER LIKE THEM, HAD A SOPHISTICATED SOCIETY AND PLAYED MAJOR ROLES IN THE EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT OF NORTH AMERICA.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE POWHATAN CONFEDERACY
The Mattaponi were one of 32 tribes of the Algonquin speaking nations who settled along the Virginia tidewater area or its coastal plain. The tribes were drawn to these region's rich resources in both fresh and salt water fish, varieties of forest game and ease of transportation among the Chesapeake's inlets, rivers, tidal basins, and marshes.
These same qualities also attracted Europeans and around 1560 the Spanish moved to establish a settlement in this area. By 1571 violence broke out between the Spanish and the Nations. Relations did not improve much when the English arrived about ten years later. The native people initially welcomed the English with signs and substance of hospitality, the tobacco pipe. They did not consider the English much of a threat, observing that they could neither distinguish among the various tribes nor could they meet their own survival needs.
At the same historical time of the first serious contact with Europeans, the Virginia tidewater tribes were being organized by Powhatan (1547-1618), a leader whose leadership skills would become legendary both among the English and the Virginia tribes. Powhatan became known for his favorite city on the shores of the Pawmunkey River, but his personal name was Wahunsenacawh. He was not just a werowance (local chief), but a mamanatowick, a "great lord". He inherited tribal loyalties from some tribes (Arrohattoc, Appomattoc, Mattaponi, Pawmunkey, Powhatan, and Youghtanund) and forged his Confederacy by political alliances with over 20 more tribes. The Confederacy was a powerful statement in the face of increasing European encroachment.
For some years, the Powhatan Confederacy practiced a foreign policy of benign neglect with increasing suspicion toward the new, European settlements. The Jamestown colony was established in 1607...