Message to Captain John Smith - Chief Powhatan (1609) - The Starving Time

Extract

[...] And finally, he insists on promoting peace between the Powhatans and England. First, Powhatan speaks about his family, his heritage in the tribe and how the tribe, theri civilisation and their traditions will continue after his death since his brothers then sister then their daughters will receive power as he said " I am now grown old, and must soon die; and the succession must descend, in order, to my brothers, Opitchapan, Opekankanough, and Catataugh, and then to my two sisters, and then their two daughters . [...]

[...] Message to Captain John Smith - Chief Powhatan (1609) - The Starving Time The Powhatans were farmers, hunters, and fishermen. They had long rectangular houses covered with mats and bark. They grow corn and tobacco. Their lives were rich and easy. They formed a confederation of nations established in several hundred villages. They were a former confederation of Algonquian tribes from North America who lived in Eastern Virginia today, the language they spoke was Powhatan, which is part of the eastern branch of Algonquian languages and has not been spoken since the 19th century. [...]

[...] Why should you destroy us . Through this part of his speech, he tries to understand the reason for resorting to war instead of coexistence and acceptance of other especially that they are giving everything the Englands need " What can you get by war? . You see us unarmed, and willing to supply your wants . Furthermore, we can notice how much peace it is important to Chief Powhatan and how he insists and tries to get away from war and live peacefully. [...]

[...] As we know from history, the Anglo-Powhatan wars were a series of wars which pitted the colonists of the English colony of Virginia against the Amerindian confederation of the Powhatans from 1610 to 1646. And we know that Chief Powhatan died in 1618. So, we can conclude that he couldn't reach his goal through his famous speech as he wanted to end war and live in peace, but the war was present through the years after the moment of the speech that we have in our text. [...]

[...] Smith, this might be soon your fate too . " so he sort of gave him a choice between peace and his own life. All in all, the speech is full of personal emotions and experiences that the author, Chief Powhatan, used to send a clear message to his "ennemie" the Captain Smith. We can say that his first aim and goal of this speech was to show his power and his insistence about living with the English people in peace away from wars. [...]