Danielle Gailey

History 1700
10/6/15
Settlement of Jamestown

Many people get confused about the history of Jamestown because they get the wrong
perception of what happened from the Disney movie Pocahontas. The Disney version of the
settlement of Jamestown is told from Pocahontas point of view. This makes it seem as though
writers and film producers were using the story to make a political statement. They twisted
events and came up with a fictional storyline to portray their opinion of English settlers. The
movie showed the greed of the settlers and the lack of respect or inhumanity of Europeans to the
Native Americans. They portray John Smith as being the tall blonde hair blue eyed Hitler dream
boy who goes to Virginia to collect gold but ends up falling in love with the beautiful Indian
princess who is adventurous and playful and outspoken. Although, there is such thing as a real
Pocahontas and John Smith encounter in history it didnt quite happen as it is shown in the
Disney movie and they did not fall in love with each other. In fact most of the Disney movie is
inaccurate. In reality Pocahontas did play an important role but her story was only a little portion
of what happened in the settlement.
John Smith was the dictator of Jamestown Virginia. He grew up as a farm boy but
wanted to be more adventurous so he left home to become a soldier. While fighting with the East
European nations against the Turks he was promoted to captain in 1601. The Turks captured him
and sold him as a slave but he was able to escape to Russia and later return to England.
In 1606 he joined a group that would sail to Virginia to establish a new colony. London
business people believed there was gold and silver in America and instructed them to transport it

back to England. The colonists landed in Virginia in 1607. They founded a settlement they
named Jamestown, which was named in honor of King James I. John Smith is credited as being
the dictator of Jamestown.
In the beginning of Jamestown settlement many of the colonists were too lazy to work or
were unable to. They also suffered quite a bit from starvation, disease and Indian attacks. In 1608
John Smith became the president of the colony. He was able to enforce order, and get the colonist
to work and trade with the Indians. Under his stern leadership, starvation and disease decreased
by a lot. Many times he would treat the Indians harshly which made them fear him. At first it
caused less attacks but didnt always stop the Indians.
There is a famous story told of Pocahontas saving John Smiths life. He was fated to be
beheaded with a stone war club by the Indian chief Powhatan. John Smith claims that
Pocahontas, who was Powhatans daughter, stood between her father and John Smith and Smiths
life was spared. This is a brief description told in the words of John Smith from his book True
Relation of Virginia. The King's most dear and well-beloved daughter, being but a child of
twelve or thirteen years of age, whose compassionate pitiful heart, of my desperate estate, gave
me much cause to respect her. At the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her
own brains to save mine, and not only that, but so prevailed with her father, that I was safely
conducted to Jamestown. Some people argue that this story did not really happen since this is
the only account written by John Smith and there wasnt any evidence or proof to back it up.
After this situation Pocahontas remained friends with John Smith and would warn him of other
Indian attacks. She also came realize that she could try to calm the tension between her people
and the settlers by explaining each others culture and feelings. In fact this is part of a letter that
chief Powhatan wrote to John Smith showing that he wanted peace between the natives and the

settlers Captaine Smith, you may understand that I having scene the death of all my people
thrice, and not any one living of these three generations but my selfe; I know the difference of
Peace and Warre better than any in my Country. But now I am old and ere long must dieLet
this therefore assure you of our loves, and every yeare our friendly trade shall furnish you with
Corne; and now also, if you would come in friendly manner to see us, and not thus with your
guns and swords as to invade your foes.
Shortly after their encounter, or within the next couple of years, John Smith became
wounded in a gunpowder accident and went back to England to treat his wound. Fighting broke
out between the Indians and the white settlers. Pocahontas was taken on an English ship and
temporarily held captive. While she was on that ship she fell in love with the English settler John
Rolfe. John Rolfe was a planter who was experimenting with a new crop of tobacco, which was a
little different than the native crop grown there. At that time tobacco was very popular in
England therefore, curing tobacco became a bases of Virginias economy along with corn and
hogs. John Rolf and Pocahontas moved to England. The English thought of her as the Indian
princess. Pocahontas was converted to Christianity and changed her name to Rebecca. She
became the first Native American to convert to Christianity in Virginia. Pocahontas and John
Rolfe got married in 1614. This marriage was also good for Jamestown because it made the
Indians friendly toward the settlers and temporarily brought peace for about 7 years to the land.
They moved to London and had a son named Thomas. As she was waiting to sail back to
America she became ill and died of smallpox when she was about 20 years old.
Jamestown continued to expand and grow. It was the first permanent English settlement
in America. In 1619 the population of Jamestown was about 1,000 people. Many of these people
were male and there were very few women. The women who did live in Jamestown at that time

were married or female servants. The London Company would send young beautiful and well
educated maids to encourage the men to marry and settle in the new colony. This helped the
success and the growth of Jamestown in fact two of the most important reasons for success was
the development of family life after women settled in the colony and the colonist learned to
produce their own food.
In conclusion even though the Disney movie wasnt an accurate history storyline it still
helped me realize it is important to look at situations from other peoples perspective. Many
times in history we only look at one side of the story and look at things from that one
perspective. For example in most history books this story is told it is told from the settlers point
of view so we tend to side with them but in the movie Pocahontas it shows a little bit of what its
like from the natives perspective of what its like for people to take over their territory. In order
to understand why people do the things they do, in history or in present times, we should learn to
look at the situation through their eyes. You can relate this to a bear protecting her cub. If a
human comes across a bear who has her cub nearby the mother will go into protective mode and
will do anything she can to ensure her cub is safe. The human may not know that the bear even
had a cub and may assume all bears are mean and vicious when they come across a human. But
if you look at this story through the bears eyes you will come to understand why she did the
things she did. We should take this into consideration and look at others perspective before
assuming things and turning it into a bias story. Now days in the media many reporters only tell
what they want you to believe but we need to learn to filter out the bias opinions and learn to
gather from many sources and look at other perspectives to know the true version of the story.

Works cited

Parrish, Ann. "Pocahontas." Pocahontas (2005): 1. Biography Reference Center. Web. 7 Oct.
2015.
Pocahontas. Pocahontas (Primary SourceDocument) (2009): 243. Biography Reference Center.
Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Powhatan. "Speech to Captain John Smith." Letter to John Smith. 1608. Student Research
Center. Great Neck Publishing Ipswich MA 01983 United States of America, 1 Oct. 2009.
Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Smith, John, and Charles Deane. A True Relation of Virginia. Boston: Wiggin and Lunt, 1866.
Print.
Smithsonian. Sep2015, Vol. 46 Issue 5, p68-80. 13p. 6 Color Photographs.
Vaughan, Alden T. "'Expulsion of the Salvages': English Policy and the Virginia Massacre of
1622." William and Mary Quarterly 35, no. 1 (January 1978): 5784.