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Pocahontas was named Amonute at birth and went by the name Matoaka. She supposedly earned the nickname Pocahontas, which means “playful one,” because of her happy, inquisitive nature.

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Pocahontas was a Native American woman born around 1595. She was the daughter of the powerful Chief Powhatan, the ruler of the Powhatan tribal nation, which at its strongest included around 30 Algonquian communities located in the Tidewater region of Virginia.

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Pocahontas tried to promote peace between the Powhatans and the English colonists. She saved the life of Captain John Smith a couple of times. She even converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe, a Jamestown colonist, a union which helped bring the two groups together.

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The couple decided to marry, likely for both love and political purposes – although the decision wasn’t an easy one for the staunchly Christian Rolfe until Pocahontas converted. hey sent word to Chief Powhatan that they wanted to marry; he consented as did the Virginia governor, Sir Thomas Dale. It’s unclear what happened to Pocahontas’ first husband, but divorce was allowed in Powhatan culture.

Pocahontas married Rolfe in April 1614. The match was considered an important step towards re-establishing positive relations between the colonists and the Indians. Indeed, the marriage brought a season of peace to the region.

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In London, Pocahontas was revered as a princess and referred to as “Lady Rebecca Wolfe.” She attended plays and balls and was even presented to the royal family.

Much to her surprise, Pocahontas encountered Captain Smith (whom she thought was dead) in London. Although she was overcome with emotion upon seeing him alive and called him “father,” she also reportedly chastised him for his treatment of Chief Powhatan and her people.

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In March 1617, Pocahontas, her husband and son set sail for Virginia. But they had hardly made progress when she became gravely ill and was taken ashore at Gravesend, England.

It’s uncertain what disease struck her down. Some speculate it was tuberculosis, pneumonia, dysentery or smallpox; others believe she was poisoned. According to Rolfe, Pocahontas said on her deathbed, “All must die. But ‘tis enough that my child liveth.”

Pocahontas was buried at St. George’s church in Gravesend on March 21, 1617. Rolfe returned to Virginia, but her son Thomas remained with relatives in England. He returned almost two decades later at age 20 to claim inheritances from his father and grandfather and became a successful gentleman tobacco farmer.