Chronology of American Indian History

the disease, die in huge numbers. The total Indian
population of the region falls by perhaps as much as
90 percent. Some tribes virtually cease to exist.

June

Pocahontas begins touring England.
To raise funds for the fledgling colony of James-
town, the Virginia Company sends Pocahontas and
her family (see entry for APRIL 5, 1614) to England.
There she is welcomed as an Indian “princess” by
the English elite and granted an audience with King
James I. During her English tour she is nicknamed
“la belle sauvage” (“the beautiful savage”). Accord-
ing to one eyewitness, she “carr[ied] herself as the
daughter of a King, and was accordingly respect-
ed... [by] persons of Honor.”

1617

March 21

Pocahontas dies in England.

As Pocahontas, accompanied by her husband John

Rolfe and her infant Thomas, sets sail for Virginia,

she falls ill in Gravesend, England. There, at the age

of 21, she dies of a disease that she contracted dur-

ing her tour of England (see entry for JUNE 1616).

Pocahontas is one of millions of Indians who will

lose their lives to European diseases.

March 24

King James endorses the establishment of

Indian churches and schools.

In James I’s royal charter to the Virginia Company

(see entry MAY 1607), he charged the firm to bring

Christianity to Indians who “as yet live in darkness

and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and

worship of God.” Disappointed by the colonists’

slow progress in creating Indian converts, King James

orders the archbishops of Canterbury and York to

collect funds for the building of Indian churches

and schools in Virginia. Even with these efforts, few

Indians will show much enthusiasm for the whites’ re-

ligion. Parents will be especially resistant to the idea of

sending their children to English-run schools intent

on indoctrinating pupils in the Christian religion and

other white beliefs and customs.

1618

April

Opechancanough becomes the leader of the

Powhatan tribes.

At the age of about 70, Powhatan, the powerful

leader of a confederacy of tribes in present-day Vir-

ginia (see entry for MAY 1607), dies of natural causes.

With his demise, the hope for a lasting peace be-

tween the English and the Powhatan dies as well. He

is succeeded by his brother Opechancanough, who is

Pocahontas in an engraving made during her 1616–17
tour of England. It is most likely the only image of
Pocahontas for which she posed. (Virginia Historical
Society, Richmond, Virginia)