Description
The Powhatan people are Native Americans who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. In 1607, an estimated 14,000 to 21,000 Powhatan people lived in eastern Virginia when English colonists established Jamestown. The term Powhatan is also a title among the Powhatan people. English colonial historians often used this meaning of the term. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a mamanatowick (paramount chief) named Wahunsenacawh forged a political confederacy by uniting 30 tributary tribes, whose territory included much of eastern Virginia.
Language
Powhatan or Virginia Algonquian was an Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian languages
Culture
The Powhatan lived east of the Fall Line in Tidewater Virginia. They built their houses, called yehakins, by bending saplings and placing woven mats or bark over top of the saplings. They supported themselves primarily by growing crops, especially maize, but they also fished and hunted in the great forest in their area. Villages consisted of many related families organized in tribes led by a chief. They paid tribute to the paramount chief (mamanatowick), Powhatan. Powhatan men were warriors and hunters, while women were gardeners and gatherers. English colonial accounts described the men, who ran and walked extensively through the woods in pursuit of enemies or game, as tall and lean and possessed of handsome physiques.